To my wonderful students: These paragraphs are a revision of advice recently given to a student writer. 

Writing is a craft we all must master. And we all will. You are young: enthusiasm and energy come through in your writing: keep that and add to it. Become a better writer by growing as a writer and as a person. It took me time to become a decent writer. I hope you become better than me, and in less time. Every paper, report, memo, email, text is opportunity: take it and become a better writer.

The best writing instruction ever: Good writing is bad writing rewritten. I got it from Stephen King. Where Stephen King got it, I don't know. I'm giving it to you. You tell your students.

Write your first draft. Now go back, edit and revise. Rinse and repeat. 

Academics must write with accuracy. Compulsively read and re-read each sentence you write and game the sentence: Pretend to be an intelligent reader, but ignorant of the background. Search for multiple interpretations. Many first drafts have multiple meanings. Then put your re-write hat on and fix the sentence. One sentence at a time. Ditto: Does this sentence say what you want it to say? Ditto: Does this sentence belong here? Or elsewhere in this paper? Or in a different paper altogether? 

Density. Good writing has high information content per word. Find the words that don't convey meaning and delete them. You can eliminate 10% of the words from a first draft. Now go back and eliminate another 10%. Have you said something before? Delete it.

Writing is work. Successful writing: a pleasure.