"I write like I talk, so I want to improve my writing style."
Whenever I hear someone making this comment, I respond, "Why change? You speak respectfully, clearly, and concisely. I understand you perfectly." Wow, does that comment stun them.
What's so bad about writing like you talk?
Assuming you are articulate and speaking at your professional best, as you would during a public course in which you are a participant, then you should strive to write with a similar style. When hanging out with old friends at a bar, you might say, "Yo, man, like I ain't feeling it when I'm rapping, and my scribing is all jive." But among professional peers, you would likely to say something like, "I tend to take a long time to get to the point when I'm speaking, and my writing is even worse." That's formal enough in our world today.
Do you always want a formal style?
You might say, "I need to write more formally." Fair enough. But if you ever open an email with "Hello Hal," "Hi Hilda," "Good day Gloria," or "Dear Dan," you are not writing formally. In fact, I hesitate to say, "Dear Dr. Davis" or "Dear Ms. Miller" is appropriately formal today because of preferred pronouns emerging from the gender identification movement. These days, a more gender-neutral "Dear David Davis" or "Dear Millie Miller" seems more the fashion. Even dropping Dear seems a better fit. (Sorry, old timers: things change.)
So if you see me hedging when you say, "I always want to write formally," it's because I'm trying to find a nice way to say, "No, you don't."
