I have written a number of letters of recommendation for both friends and associates and the one thing I have found to be of crucial importance is to tell the truth in what you right.

I am not sure I would trust JohnQPublic to write a letter of recommendation for anyone. He seems unable to tell the diference between the homonyms "write" and "right"

I have written a number of recommendations for students and agree with the overall sentiment that John Q. suggests. Honesty and brevity, though, do not always meet. Therein lies one problem. I tend to use just enough words to make my point clear, and stop.