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The good news is that all of us can improve our writing skills.

The bad news?

There really is no bad news if you love the craft of writing, enjoy learning, and are willing to put in a little time and effort. No matter what your present skill level, if you sincerely desire to improve, you can and will.

And nothing is as inspiring as the feeling of progress.

If, on the other hand, you enjoy having written, but hate the process of writing; if you want to discover a secret technique that will in five short minutes transform you into a writing genius; or if you are lazy and don't want to bother with writing that takes effort, then stop reading now. Your time would be better spent washing dishes, walking the dog, or starting a defense fund for ex-Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.

Improving your writing skills is within your grasp, but it will take some time and effort. The key to developing your writing skills will be focus (which, strangely enough, is also the key to good writing).

First, clear your mind of the vague concept of becoming "a good writer."

There are thousands of different kinds of writing, and no one writer is good at all of them. Heaven help us if Norman Mailer had set out to write a user's manual for your toaster. I have no doubt that it would be an interesting read. But it would be 400 pages long - disastrous when you want to quickly determine whether the black smoke rising from the bowels of the appliance is carcinogenic.

Decide what kind of writer you want to be, and be specific.

Don't merely say you want to be a non-fiction writer. What kind of non-fiction writer? Do you want to write books or magazine articles or academic essays? What topic do you want to focus on: nature, nurture, or nano-technology? What approach do you want to take: humorous, scientific, emotional?

Don't be afraid of getting too specific. The choice you make won't lock you in for the rest of your career. It is only meant to be a beginning. Baby steps.

Now, once you've narrowed your field, it is time write. Choose a topic and make your best effort. Resist the urge to judge what you're writing. Just write. This document will be your baseline, and later you will look back at it not to cringe at how inept it seems, but to revel in how much you've improved.

After you have finished your baseline, it's time to do some research. Go and find writers who are acknowledged as masters in the area you've chosen. These writers may come from different backgrounds and have different writing styles,

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