A little help with business correspondence

In the office, I often sit, staring at a near-empty computer screen while contemplating just the proper phrasing for an email message. I want to be precise but not verbose, and I don't want to sound impolite. I want to walk the fine line between good business language and good English. Ordinarily, I can articulate a thought with ease, but this world of professionalism gives me pause. A solution presents itself: be a character. I am a writer (by nature, not by trade or training), so I can search my thoughts to determine what I'd have a character in my circumstance say.