Writing practice

I feel the urgent need to brush up on my writing skills.  Upon graduating college many years ago, I had few chances to concoct together coherent and succinct essays, and my writing skills have gone downhill.  Yes, posting indelible pictures on blogspot is fun, but my urgent need lies in resurrecting my writing skills.  I suppose this is my desert for letting life pass me by.

I don't know why I use big words when I tell myself to write better.  I think it's elementary to believe that good writing primarily comes from larger vocabulary, especially nouns and adjectives.  Of course, nouns and adjectives are important to a degree, but I believe factors such as verb choice, utilization of phrases over clauses, coherent logic, and succinct expression play bigger role in developing a sense of elegant style. 

First things first, I must rid of all forms of "to be's" in my writing.  Well, everything except for the progressive form that is.  But since I feel like going out for a smoothie, I shall write more about this matter later...