Writer's dashboard

Go to "Preferences" in Microsoft Word, select "Spelling and Grammar," and check the box for "Show Readability Statistics." Now, every time you spellcheck a document, you will also get a report showing your words per sentence, characters per word and percentage of passive sentences, plus your Flesch Reading Ease score and your Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. 

What we're going for is fewer words per sentence, fewer characters per word, and more active verbs. We want to be in the 70-to-79 band of the Flesch Reading Ease score. On the Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level, 6th grade is great.