Review: The Emotional Wound Thesaurus

I was thrilled when I heard Ackerman and Puglisi had another thesaurus coming out, but—as much as I love the other installations—this is the one I’ve been waiting for, the one that I knew would take my writing the directions I want to go. Using this book will help writers, and thus readers, dig even deeper into the murky waters of the human experience.

How I approached my first read of TEWT:

Reading a thesaurus is a unique undertaking, because the “cover to cover” approach is so dissimilar from the way I’d naturally use a resource like this. With that in mind, I made a list of some of the more obscure emotional wounds I have (for reference) and my characters have (for ideas). So, of course, plan in hand, I promptly lost myself in the opening pages instead, because just after the foreword comes a brief on “self-care for writers.”

If you get nothing else out of this review, go buy this book just to read this one page. If that doesn’t spike your curiosity, your Human may be malfunctioning. #sorrynotsorry

Fully hooked, I checked my list again. Tough choice: jump ahead and sate my curiosity, or see what else these amazing ladies have in store?

All right, I peeked a little, then I came back to the lessons and how-to. I’m no expert, but I have read the majority of my psychologist mother’s library, and nothing struck me as out of line with current psychological canon. Further, the lessons were accessible and easy to follow.

What I don’t recommend is *coughs* what I did, because I then read it cover to cover, just like I planned on not doing. I couldn’t help myself (refer to various emotional wounds which hamper self-control and addiction, lol).

I may never be surprised by another story line again, but I’m on fire to inflict my own characters with authentic emotional wounds now. This is my new go-to resource!