Improve Your Writing With The Thesaurus Game

A thesaurus can be a freelance writer's best friend. Just like the blogosphere or sites like Bukisa , I can get lost in mine for hours sometimes. Most writers have pet words. There are a lot of words that can become habit to repeat and it can make your writing stale.

Is Your Writing Getting Stale?

The writing might not be stale to your readers but when you read your own work and feel less than excited about it, this can suck the passion out of writing.  When you feel like your writing is getting stale or if you simply want to take the time to develop and nurture your writing skills you can play a game I like to call the thesaurus game.

Play The Thesaurus Game

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Step 1: Get a thesaurus

Step 2: Get out a piece of writing you've already done

Step 3: Pick five words on the page and decide to find a new word for them

Step 4: Hunt through your thesaurus for suitable replacements

The words you choose can be words you've repeated in the text or words you just don't find all that exciting.  By taking the time to hunt for replacement words, you could find that you discover words you haven't used much of (or really, at all.) Words can be like old friends or delicious recipes we've sort of forgotten about and taking the time to change a half a dozen words on an article could breathe new life into it.

You can use thesaurus.com if you like but for me, I prefer to use a hard copy.  I keep a thesaurus on my desk right beside my monitor as a constant reminder that I have the ability to develop my writing skills and produce better written words whenever I choose to.

Write Better and Have Fun Writing Again

When I look into the thesaurus in hard copy instead of on my screen, I don't just get the word I want, I often spot other words as well that I'll save to use for later. It can be a lot of fun and help me break repetitive cycles in my writing.