I wanted to talk about vocabulary. Particularly, How does one expand it? This is something I've wanted to work on for quite some time myself. I think in order to write, my vocabulary needs to be better. More expansive. And though I've been trying, I still feel stuck in the habit of using mainly the same set of words over and over again.

Maybe you could try looking at vocabulary in a different light? A lot of new writers tend to use big, fancy words when simpler words would do, just to show that they can. Some of the best advice a teacher ever gave me was, "Don't ever use ten words to do the work of five"; the same could be said for using an obscure, 5-syllable word instead of a familiar, simple word that says the same thing. As long as you have the words you need, knowing Every Single Word of English isn't really neccessary, unless your aim is to force your readers to reach for their dictionaries.

As for finding new words...you said that you read a lot, and write down any words you don't know, but what are you reading? It makes all the difference. Lord of the Rings uses tons of what I still think of as "SAT words"; Harry Potter uses relatively few. Older books tend to be much richer; works by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and Willa Cather will all be more likely to contain words that you're not familiar with, than later authors. You can't expect to find a lot of "new words" by reading children's lit or "chick lit"-- trust me, I read plenty of both. If you find that the works you currently read aren't challenging your vocabulary, try going for older, more difficult books.

And don't use a word just for the sake of using them. It's painfully obvious when you do this, and it only means it looks awkward. When you build your vocabulary by reading, the new words will become part of your 'natural' language. Don't force your vocab, instead use the words that just slip off your tongue

I also think romance depends on the kind of romance, as well the author. The contemporary romance, chick lit, to me is mainly stuff published by Red Dress Ink. Well, for one example. But those books lack more than vocabulary. They're thin on pretty much everything, and are often quite poorly reviewed. However, historical romance, which is more preferable to me personally, I've found a lot more authors who're willing to dress it up a bit.

And don't use a word just for the sake of using them. It's painfully obvious when you do this, and it only means it looks awkward. When you build your vocabulary by reading, the new words will become part of your 'natural' language. Don't force your vocab, instead use the words that just slip off your tongue

I agree. This irritates me to no end. I have family members who'll randomly throw a word into whatever they're saying, and they don't even know what it means. They think they know, but then they'll be like "I think that's means. Right?" It just doesn't come across right when most of the words in your vocabulary are under 10 letters, and you use with 15 or more completely out of the blue.

What's worse, sometimes not only do they "not know the meaning of the word", but they don't know the pronunciation either. Which is really stupid if you're trying to sound intelligent. It's not another thing if you're discussing it's proper pronunciation. But it looks really bad both ways in my opinion.