This is the best idea I have had in a while. Anytime I encounter a word that I do not know or would be at all hesitant to use in a sentence I write it down. The word then gets an index card with a dictionary definition, which will often surprise me and allow for a greater understanding of a word I am clueless about or only partially understood. Then when I am bored i.e. playing flash games or staring at my story vacantly waiting for it to write itself I will flip through them. I have been doing this for about a year now and the stack is a few inches high.
I often find that people will scoff at some of the words that I have in the pile as exoteric and commonplace, but when I take the cards away from them and quiz them they can never get the dictionary definition. Being precise and having the right words helps to make a good writer.
I often find that people will scoff at some of the words that I have in the pile as exoteric and commonplace, but when I take the cards away from them and quiz them they can never get the dictionary definition. Being precise and having the right words helps to make a good writer.