I'd like to improve my writing skills, any ideas of how to go about doing this?

You've got a good start by reading. Read everything you can get your hands on. Pay attention to the grammar and punctuation that authors use.

Read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, and On Writing by Stephen King.

Join a local writing group. Most meet weekly or monthly and critque each other's works.

Write a LOT. Practice writing different aspects of a story, for instance, a character sketch, or a description of a setting. Close your eyes and try to imagine what you're writing. Research what you're writing.

Don't freak out if you hate what you write at first. One of the most helpful things I ever learned was just to get it down, and if the first draft is crap, that's why it's a first draft.

If you get stuck on a story, don't despair. Skip ahead to a different scene, or write something different for a while. Or try to find inspiration in a song or a passage of another story.

Best of luck to you!

First, start a daily journal and faithfully keep it up. Don't bother to start with any kind of story narrative. If nothing else, start with a rehash of the day's schedule, a list of events. Eventually, stick in some opinions about what happened. (why did that guy start yelling at his kids? What could it have been about? Where did someone get the idea to invent Rocky Road ice cream? Why is it called that. If I could invent a flavor ...) I don't recommend you share this journal, especially at the beginning. You don't want to become self-conscious about it. Eventually, chase down some ideas. If something piques your interest, do a little research and write down your findings and opinions. Don't obscess about anything. If half way through an idea, something else come up, follow the new train. Later, as you read through the journal, then you can follow up on your unfinished thought. A few weeks down the road, take one ot your journal entries and develop it further. It may take the form of an editorial, an opinion piece, an essay, a story, etc. Write it. Edit it. Polish if off and then file it. At the end of summer, find someone to read your "finished" pieces. Pick someone who can provide constructive criticism, such as a teacher or somone else who you think of as a good reader, or writer. Go back and see if the critiques can be applied to improve the pieces. And, keep up the journal. The journal is your mental file cabinet. Its a place to store ideas to be developed later.

Ooo, this is my field. I am entering college and I am planning to major in English, probably certifying in education.

Anyways, to work on grammar, all you need to do is learn what coventions and verb tenses do; and, you need a basic understanding of which are which. You can do this by accessing the help of Writer's Inc.

As for being concise, what you need to do is make a list of the important things that will benefit the reader in knowing. Only include these things when you right, with proper transitions, of course.

Analysis is often made to be scarier than it is. When analyzing, notice what is correct, what is incorrect, and what can be done for improvement in whatever you are criticizing. Begin by giving acknowledgement to the subject's limited logic. Next, point out the flaws of the subject, without being condescending. And lastly, explain what should be done to the subject to correct the flaws.

Read these two books:

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

What If? by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter

They have writing exercises in them.

READ THE CLASSICS! Write everyday about something, anything.

To improve vocabulary

http://www.freerice.com/

The guy who created this website did it to help his son study for the verbal part of the SAT. It 's pretty impressive and donates to a good cause.

The biggest thing that has helped me is getting involved in a critique partnership. Other writers critique your work and you critique theirs. I've learned so much: about pacing, character development, scene descriptions, grammar, punctuation, using the 5 senses, writing active rather than passive, etc, etc.

You can find many on the internet.

good luck.

You sound like you've gotten it under control. Read a lot of different genres and practice writing using different styles and techniques. Remember, nobody will see what you write unless you show it to them so it is the perfect opportunity to branch out, experiment and try new things. Best of luck and have fun!

I've been writing 100 word drabbles and slightly longer short stories in a bid to improve my descriptions. It's really helped a great deal, and because you've got so few words to use, you really *think* about what you're writing, and find yourself really tweaking (editing) your work to get it working. It's a great tool, wished I'd done it years ago!