Vocabulary Challenge For Writers

One of the best ways to ensure your writing remains purposeful is to review its impact. That means a bit of self-reflection and a lot of revision. It’s so easy to become distracted by other things when your job is writing-based. So now that we’re heading into the summer months, it’s time to embark on a vocabulary challenge for writers.

One of the simplest ways I like to try and boost my writing flow when I’m going through a creative rut is with a vocabulary challenge. It’s a simple but effective way to rewire your brain for powerful writing that conveys your message concisely. Sometimes it’s easy to allow the standard of your writing to slip, especially when life gets overwhelming. Perhaps you’re not writing as frequently as you used to. Or maybe you’re a bit too focused on creating SEO-optimized content and forgetting your style.

Either way, vocabulary is our most important tool. As writers, it’s crucial to stay abreast of our sentence structure and wordplay. When these skills start to feel less intuitive than they used to, it’s important to act on that.

I like to set myself a task to boost my recall with a simple vocabulary challenge for writers. It’s fairly simple really. All you’re going to need is your bullet journal or jotter, or just something that you can regularly add to.

I’d suggest a diary or little notebook of some kind that you can keep in your bag. The last thing you want to happen is to start off doing this at full pelt and then put your book down somewhere and forget all about it. Let’s jump in and see how this vocabulary challenge for writers works.

How to start a monthly vocabulary challenge

The challenge itself is straightforward. On the back page of your notebook, you need to write down any five (or more) words that excite you, every single day. You do need to be consistent with doing this or you won’t see the full benefit.

These words don’t have to be hugely adventurous at first, but it helps if you try to extend the challenge a little bit each day if you can. Additionally, you can write more than five words at a time if you feel like it. You don’t have to be reaching for a thesaurus either; just write down whatever words come to mind first.

This might seem like a fairly simple challenge, but believe me, it gets harder as the days go by!

Progression through vocabulary

After a month, you should have a personalised vocabulary journal. What’s more, it’ll be packed full of fascinating, compelling and downright exciting words that your brain has created for you each day. You’ll probably surprise yourself with how many you can get in there over 30 days.

This task will help you to become a better writer too, as undoubtedly you’ll be able to refer back to your new and shiny lexicon of vocabulary when writing your next page, chapter or blog post. Vocabulary choices matter, especially in the world of content creation.

So, this challenge can be helpful to all kinds of writers as a point of reference when it comes to boosting your SEO without sounding completely robotic. It’ll also come in handy when you set about improving your blog posts and reviewing your content themes.

Why is vocabulary building important for freelance writers?

Vocabulary building is a key skill that we should never stop working on. Having a greater range of words at our disposal is something that can elevate communication abilities. It’s probably one of the most often overlooked areas of writing and also one of the easiest to improve upon.

Even if you’re not a writer who’s working on a novel, thesis or long-form piece, vocabulary-building strategies like this are important. Good blog posts aren’t solely down to the topic and content. Your use of language is equally, if not more important when it comes to your posts being read, understood and enjoyed.

As the power behind all comprehension, vocabulary matters. Especially in the field of freelance writing, where your strength of appeal needs to be in your ability to create clear, concise and engaging copy for a range of different audiences. So, while this may not seem like much of a key task, to begin with, I believe you’ll notice a tangible difference in your writing style 30 days from now.

Are you up for a vocabulary challenge?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Have you ever taken part in any vocabulary-building exercises before? If you have any tips and tricks then feel free to share them with us here.

Also, if you know anyone who would find taking part in the vocabulary challenge useful then please share this post with them, or give it a pin on Pinterest.

As always, if you’re looking for some further inspiration about vocabulary building or other lexical tips, you can check out my Pinterest board dedicated to all things creative writing.