I’m always interested in learning new words, and quite enjoy reading the dictionary, but I’m really bad at remembering them. Frustrated with this, I had a hunt around for a tool that might help. I discovered Vocabulary.
Look up a word. Learn it forever.
Vocabulary.com is the quickest, easiest way to learn vocabulary. It combines the world’s smartest dictionary with an adaptive learning game that will have you mastering new words in no time.
It’s available on Android AND Apple, and via the google store cost me just $3.50 (nz). Holy heck this this application is addictive!
It works like a game, challenging you to match a word to a meaning, to slot a word into a sentence, occasionally it smacks you with a ‘SPELL IT’ challenge, and all the while your personal award count goes up. You get awards for getting so many in a row right, you get awards when you ‘master’ a word, AND, even when you have mastered a word, they’ll still sneak it in occasionally to make sure you actually remember.
I wish, so much, that I’d had this app at school!
If you’re looking to expand your vocabulary, test yourself, or if you suck at crosswords (*cough* me) and want something fun to do on the bus to and from work (when I’m not reading) this is it.
WARNING
You may find yourself tuning out all life around you as you attempt to navigate the next word. You may also find yourself screaming in fury at your phone when your stubby fingers accidentally hit the wrong answer. There are no do-overs in Vocabulary, just a cheerful ‘There you go, we knew you knew it!’ even while you swear and curse that you already knew it… *hee*
Writing woes
Not so much woes, just the realisation that in creating a story with many POV’s I have given myself the challenge of writing a book that is more like ten (or more – should count) stories entwined. This makes drafting a long process. I am wondering if I’ll have AfterBurn ready this year, and though the thought of not being able to really stresses me out, I want to get it right. So if it takes longer, it takes longer.
That said, occasionally I seem to stretch time and before I know it I have a draft. So who knows, only time will tell *grin* so far I’m at 80,000 words and counting. I think I’m about two thirds through the story, but with the varying lines I have to follow, I want to be careful not to miss anything. AfterBurn ties up everything so that I can proceed with the Voyager series without any lagging tales.
Kindle Unlimited
I’m watching the numbers on my stats page with curiosity. I believe, at this stage, that this new version of pay per page should be far more profitable for me than the previous version. But with that said, I won’t consider making anything other than the book ‘sets’ available on Unlimited, simply because although 85% of my readers are from Amazon, I still cherish that other 15%. Amazon really would solve some issues if they dropped that exclusivity cause.

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