Do I really have to do 12-17 different things with these goofy words I find in WA?

Simply put, yes but ....

Usually you chunk a bunch of these together in a natural progression of thoughts, conversations or writing things down.

Lets take the word thread as an example. In WA world a thread has nothing to do with a needle!

Here is a sample: Look for a thread in the forums and follow it through.

1. SAY it aloud.
2. Re-read the sentence.
3. Say to yourself, "May-be it has to do with..." (an idea or a topic?)
   
4. WRITE it down in your notebook
5. LOOK UP the meaning in Help>WApedia OR ASK what it means inn the WA Forum
A Forum member may start a new topic of discussion with a specific subject which other Forum members may view and respond to. These responses are also published as part of the topic, much like an Email reply, except that all Forum members can see and participate in the dialogue as it progresses. This is commonly known as a thread.
6. REPEAT it a few time and then SUMMARIZE ( a topic people keep responding back and forth to on the forums)
7. Write that down in the notebook
   
8. Make a CONNECTION between the meaning you knew and the real meaning. Try to see how they go together. ( well a thread is long and goes back and forth when you sew a hem)
   
9. VISUALIZE--get a picture in your head (I've seen the forums and read a whole line of comments on one post)
10. Make an off the wall connection --be silly with it! (Those conversations I had with my children about letting us know where they are, now that's a thread that would take up an entire book)
    
11. Create a SILLY picture, like a cartoon, either in your head or a quick sketch ( I see a needle and thread coming out of my computer screen with post it notes attached to it with conversations written on them.)
    
12. Use it in a silly sentence-or mnemonic (memory trick) (Spread the thread through my head)
13. Use it in a real sentence (I learned about Ezine submissions on a forum thread)
14. Use it in a real sentence but base on what you are learning at the time (I joined a thread in the forums about membership ranking)
    
15. TELL someone what you learned about this new twist on an old word. (I told my husband!)
    
16. When you see it again, stop and say "Oh there it is again, AHA I know it!"
17. ---and think of what you did for one of #8-14 and say, "That's the one where I pictured a____." or "That's the one where I made up______."

You will not go through this whole "thread" each time you run across a new word, but if you string together a group of these activities, it will help you remember these new terms. Have some fun with it!

Next page is an example