I see you've added examples. Those suit the dictionary entries I posted about.

In most cases the answer is no, but there is one exception. Info from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary: take something <-> up 8) to return to an earlier subject or situation in order to continue it pick up on something 2) return to a point that has already been mentioned or discussed Note that use #8 of take up something is the same as use #2 of pick up on something.

My grandma would prevent me from bathing in the beach when I was a child because she was really afraid that I **would** drown. we need would + [present simple] because drowning is an unlikely event.

Maybe you're too focused on grammar? There is a lot more to learning English than grammar. For writing, vocabulary and style are very important. For writing lessons, I'm quite fond of Advanced Writing in Use by Oxford University Press. I think they also have Upper Intermediate and Intermediate versions of the book. The advanced level book does a very good job of teaching students how to write in a variety of styles and levels of formality. You'll learn to write letters of complaints, informal emails, fliers, descriptions of photos, and anything else you could imagine.

If it's for a title (an article or book, I assume), "Attempting Fluency" would be better.

Reading only will not improve your English very much. Writing and reading are different skills. To learn writing well, you really need to work with a teacher, who will give you models of good writing, help you notice the important features, give you a writing task, and then check your writing. For books about writing, I highly recommend the Cambridge First Certificate Writing Student's book. Your English level appears to be upper intermediate, so the First Certificate coursebook is the right one for you.

I saw the new Star Trek movie recently and thought it was riddled with plot holes. The plot was incredibly unbelievable -- even a child could see through it!

Both are fine. Deserted is much more common and is the one you would use most of the time, especially when speaking. Derelict is a bit more formal and probably wouldn't be spoken by anyone except professors at Harvard. It would be more common in writing, especially literature.