A good lesson I learned from one of my patent attorneys was: "Never try to write claim language yourself." You're much better off writing it in straightforward language that you understand yourself, and let the lawyers translate it into good claims, which you can then review.

Of course this assumes access to lawyers who are familiar enough with the subject matter. But if you don't have that, then you're screwed, and your patents will be weak.

In my submissions to the patent lawyers, I have a section such as "proposed claims" and I write them in conversational language. I explain why I think each claim is important. This is also useful when other people such as managers have to be involved in deciding whether an invention is worth patenting or not.