The Geiger Counter

Whether you're writing factual or fictional material, your goal should always be to make the reader want to read one more sentence, one more paragragh, one more page.
It's nearly impossible to make every sentence spell-binding - but it ought to happen every once in a while.
Here's a test you can perform on your work before anyone else sees it. Read over your work, concentrating only on content - no proofreading at this point. As as you're reading each line, follow along on the lefthand margin with a pencil. Start at the top of the page and slowly draw a line downward as you read each line. When you come to a sentence or word or phrase that jumps out at you, jiggle the pencil to create a wavy line and then move on. Do the same thing the next time you find a really good word or phrase. When you get done, hopefully you won't have a straight line from top to bottom on the page. If you have a few jiggles, take a look at what's on those lines that made them special. That's the Geiger Counter approach to good writing.