I have never found dictionaries or even a thesaurus particularly useful as part of the writing process. I like to blame this on my lack of creative careful writing.
But just maybe, I have simply been using the wrong dictionaries. It is hard not to be seduced by the seeming superiority of Webster’s original style. A dictionary that is one-part explanatory and one-part exploratory provides a much richer experience of English as an enabler of ideas that transend meager vocabulary.