Not a writer, but I definitely picked up most of my vocabulary from reading, and still do -- although now sometimes it's reading online as well as in books!
There's nothing wrong with employing the less-common usages of words to express nuance. That's one of the best things about English as a language IMO -- that we have so many different ways to say the same thing, and they all carry their own subtle connotations. For example, I love that line about the wind being so cold that the ice sublimated; I know how cold my freezer is, and you've just told me that the pass was at least as cold as that, and windy to boot. *shiver!* That's a genuine visceral reaction, which wouldn't have been evoked nearly so well by any other description.
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There's nothing wrong with employing the less-common usages of words to express nuance. That's one of the best things about English as a language IMO -- that we have so many different ways to say the same thing, and they all carry their own subtle connotations. For example, I love that line about the wind being so cold that the ice sublimated; I know how cold my freezer is, and you've just told me that the pass was at least as cold as that, and windy to boot. *shiver!* That's a genuine visceral reaction, which wouldn't have been evoked nearly so well by any other description.