tommus wrote: I am going to start with a number of L2 words that I find difficult to remember even though they are common and I see them a lot.
I have started! It is actually a lot of fun. Plain writing can get boring, but this is interesting, coming up with an idea for a simple drawing that represents the sense of the word or the mnemonic. No artistic ability required but it would probably be an asset. Stick people and crude cars, buildings, actions. It doesn't take much. Brevity is good.
It is too early to know how much it will improve my recall. But it seems to be an effective way to visualise those words that otherwise refuse to stick. And as I said, it is fun, so it might just continue.