About W O R D | C u r i o u s

Cynthia, Brooklyn, NY

I recently decided to work on building my vocabulary. I feel a little self-conscious admitting that since I’m embarking on a freelance writing career and worked as a business writer and editor for a major financial services company for the past 14 years. But who couldn’t use a vocabulary refresher now and then, writer or not?

This isn’t one of those blogs were I set out to learn a certain number of words and use them in a sentence for a year. In stead, it’s about my curiosity about words, my efforts to master their gradations of meaning, and the original (and not so original) ways writers use them. From time to time, I may throw in thoughts on freelancing, writing, what I’m reading, knitting or cross-stitching, or anything else that catches my interest.

So, I’ll leave you with this thought:

“You’ll never make your mark as a writer unless you develop a respect for words and a curiosity about their shades of meaning that is almost obsessive. … Master the small gradations between words… . Learn to use them with originality and care. Value them for their strength and their precision.”

~  William Zinsser, On Writing Well