To Thesaurus or not?

Makes me envision dinosaurs when I see that word. Whoever thought that name up must have been reading a book on dinos. Would love to see a thesaurus with blue/purple iridescent scales and bright red feathers.  It'd be 4 stories high and have every word in every language in it. Wouldn't that be grand?

Okay, I digress. But I'm curious. How many of you use a thesaurus to write?

I have a three inch thesaurus. The size of my thesaurus is no  match for any extinct reptile. My book is titled, The Synonym Finder by J. I. Rodale. Do I love it? You betcha!

The pages are marked with colored tabs (I put them there) to mark words I use too often. Yes, I have a terrible habit when I’m writing to use the same word over several times. The thesaurus helps me find another word in its place. I also think it adds a wonderful flavor to the story too.

I even found a name for my hero in the my novel Dragon Wish from this thesaurus. I searched the words brave, honorable, warrior. When I reached warrior, the name popped out. Paladin. Perfect match for my character so that's his name!

My thesaurus has over one million synonyms along with their acronyms. I’ve had it for about eight years now and the pages are a little yellow and bent. Did I say how much I loved this book? It was an excellent investment for my writing. I’ve tried the computer’s synonym finder but it’s not the same. The selections are small and don’t work well with what I’m searching for. Sort of like having an affair. I feel guilty using any other word search. Did I tell you I can be a little warped?

Do you have a favorite thesaurus? How often do you use it? Let me know.