William Safire's "Great Rules of Writing"

Some excellent advice from William Safire, author of New York Times Magazine column "On Language" from 1979 until his death in 2009:

Do not put statements in the negative form.

And don't start sentences with a conjunction.

If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.

Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.

De-accession euphemisms.

If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.

Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.

Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

Funny... but it's true.  Good writing is simple writing.  My rule of thumb: If there are words that can be removed from a sentence without changing the meaning, remove them.  

Example:  I originally wrote "My general rule of thumb:  If there are words that can be removed from a sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence, then you should remove them." 

You get the point.  I'll be adding these to my wish list: