Legal Writing

Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, also wrote of the first business how-to books in English: The Complete English Tradesman, published in 1745 (!).

In that book, he wrote:

A tradesman's letters should be plain, consise, and to the purpose. . . . He that affects a rumbling and bombast style and fills his letters with compliments and flourishes makes a very ridiculous figure in trade.

This week, as you revise, see if your style is "rumbling and bombast." Make sure is is not, but rather "plain, concise, and to the purpose."