A Word Diary
I have never made any serious attempts to increase my vocabulary. I figured that as an avid reader my vocabulary would naturally increase over time. This was certainly true in my younger days, and I would maintain its veracity today if I read more.
Everyone else thinks your book looks like this.
Unfortunately I do not read as much as I used to. I know it’s important to read as a writer, and I do as much as I can. I enjoy it, after all, so it’s not like I avoid reading. But, as anyone who has leant me a book will know, it does take me ages to finish reading it. I was never a fast reader anyway. I tend to savour a book – I will take my time, and I will reread paragraphs that “don’t go in”.
So, I want to get the most out of every book I read, from a “learning to write” perspective. One of the ways I do that is to have a few leaves of rough paper (A5 size or thereabouts) tucked away in the back of the book. If I read a passage I particularly like (or dislike), I will make a quick note about it on one of those pieces of paper, along with the page number, and tuck it into the book (I note the page number in case the paper slips out later). Once the book is finished I may go back and read through those notes and the passages in question.
Something else I am about to start is a word diary. This will be a collection of words I had not come across before. It need only be a small notebook – easy to carry around alongside the book I’m reading. When I come across a new word (or if I am unsure of its meaning) I will jot it down, and either look it up straight away, or save it for when I have a dictionary or internet connection to hand.
Obviously as a writer it’s important to have as large an arsenal of words at your disposal as possible. This is especially true in modern English, mastery of which requires a conciseness and exactness – the more words you have to hand, the easier it is to pick the perfect one over four less-than-perfect words.
What about you? I’d like to know if you have any tips on how to get the most out of the reading you do. Do you study each book, or read rapidly to get the most books read in the shortest time? Let loose the comments!