Thank you for reading, Denise. I hope you got something helpful out of it.

True J.H., knowing your emotions absolutely doesn't mean you can always find the right word for your writing. How nice your wife can help out. And oh boy, do I feel what you mean about not being able to "fix" your weaknesses. But awareness is a really good thing! Thank you for sharing.

I've spent so much of the "free time" in my life in introspection, it's sometimes a debilitating nuisance. One thing I've learned, though–to my dismay–is no matter how well you might understand your own weaknesses, it hardly guarantees you'll act to fix them. Sometimes you just look at them again and sigh.

Ellen, psychology is always helpful training to be a great observer. I'm so glad you've gotten a great story idea from this.

The university I attended required a lot of psychology for teacher training, especially for the Masters program. I tend to use that background as well as observations of people of different ages, life stages, and cultures.

You've given me a great idea! I haven't used blind spots yet and feel that it will be useful for a story that's been lurking about in my head.

Thank you for the lovely post!

Sorry for the confusion, Alicia. I wasn't as clear as I could have been. Robert Plutchik, identified eight core emotions, later psychiatrists decided six were core.

I love how your phrase, "emotional capital." That's what it is. Thanks.

My own method for dealing with the emotional component of writing is part of my process: when everything that will be in a scene is listed, I try to channel the character who has the pov in this scene, and work on it until I (and my readers, I hope) can LIVE through the scene as that character.

When it clicks, the writing gets polished and a final edit, and that piece of the story has been told by one of my three main characters. That step - BECOME the character - is hard, as I want to provide enough clues so it's easy for the reader.

On the other side of the process, and especially because I am chronically ill and rarely get out, plus need to control my own physical reactions to emotions very tightly, because otherwise the adrenaline gets to me and takes days for my body to get rid of, I catch emotions as they happen to me, acknowledge them and write everything down about them, and then I can use them later, like a method actor, to create the same emotions in a character. I have a long handy list, and have trained myself to notice new ones as they happen.

So I don't suppress my emotions - they would fester - but instead make sure I don't lose my emotional capital, and then use as much of it as possible in my novels.

What you learn to do when you have few choices!

A few from my list:
...terror, panic, fury
frustration, stress, walking on eggshells
reluctance
fear, emotional abuse
gullibility
fragility
self-pity
relief...

Learning to sit and acknowledge your own emotions after being raised to suppress and ignore them is HARD. Rest assured Lisa, you are not alone in this. Hugs. And please know your hard work is paying off because your characters practically vibrate with emotions.