I guess I'll devote this entire thread to obtuse ways for improving writing. I'll try to update this with as many handy tricks as possible, but for now, it'll be pretty sparse.

1. Read Critically

When you read something, you should try to enjoy it for the story and all that. But at the same time, it's a good idea to closely examine each paragraph, sentence, and even word, keeping an eye out for things that you as a writer would like to emulate. After awhile, this will probably wind down to simply acquiring new vocabulary words, but sometimes you might get surprised. I had never read a Tom Clancy book in my life before two days ago, but since then I've become intrigued with his style of writing. I can't really describe it, but I'm going to try to implement it in my next few posts. I also remember when I first read a few of Lighteria's posts. His style of writing is uniquely comical, and I've tried to incorporate that style into my own as well. To summarize, you should always try to learn from what you're reading.

2. Build Strong Habits

Hmmm... that title is rather lame. Oh well. Here's something that you probably were too lazy to do, but it really does help. What I'm suggesting is that you should write as immaculately as possible in everything that you do. This includes IM conversations, GD posts, In-Game chats... everything. Anyone who has talked to me on instant messenger or played with me on World of Warcraft knows that I always type with the most perfect grammar that I'm able to muster. And when you don't know how to spell something, instead of taking a guess at it, maybe take a couple seconds to look it up on Dictionary.com, although this might seem a little extreme to many of you. This has helped me in some rather subconscious ways, but I believe that the benefit is very real.