Editor (and occasional writer) with ADHD here and 1000% in the same boat! Your reminder about not over-researching really got through to me—I knew I was using it to procrastinate, but never realized that adding even more information was making the actual writing part more overwhelming, too. Definitely going to check out Focusmate also. Thanks for sharing your (incredibly relatable) process with us :)
I am not alone in my struggle to get things done & live life. I will do the tasks I have been putting off for the past 3 years due to health situations now resolved. I will do these tasks, thinking of you & others also digging in deep. Thank you!!
Thank you for sharing what you are doing and how it is working! Focusmate sounds amazing-- I long ago had a friend recommend having a friend over to just be company, while paying bills, or doing laundry, or getting somewhere with a list-- just for a morale booster, but I never had that friend I wasn't embarrassed to ask for such a weird basic need, as I saw it then. Also, as a person who loves food and restaurants, and so chose that as a career, and then realized, Oh, you never really get to eat out again, when you work in restaurants! Like loving to write and choosing it-- it changes the nature of your relationship to the thing that you love. And yes, love Getting to do, not Having to do. Still wonderful, but, fraught. Cheers to you!
Lord help me, I needed this today. I have to keep reminding myself that I there is a reason I chose to "be a writer" and "write a book" and that is because, in theory, I like writing. But a lot of days it feels like drudgery. And man, I wish I was in the position to turn down other work...someday!
Thank you for this. I just recently got an inattentive ADHD diagnosis and as someone who wrote one book & is thinking about starting the process of writing another... it is a lot to take on with this brain. Your words here are so encouraging and practical, and so appreciated.
Really appreciated the part about the research trap. As someone with ADD, I get caught in those ALL the time. Your stating it so clearly made me start to see it as a form of work avoidance. I'm now trying to "catch" the bodily sensations that happen when I expand too far out into research. There's a literal anxiety, like I'm extending outside my body, and an urge to immediately release the tension by escaping into something else. It's helping. Thank you for sharing.
Oh man, you're giving me huge flashbacks to writing my dissertation, which was NOT FUN. And in very unexpected ways, because I wrote my masters thesis in an (undiagnosed) haze of ADHD hyperfocus so I thought the dissertation was going to be great process! IT.WAS.NOT.
So I'm extra grateful to you for pushing through the doubly-hard challenge of a) being a writer (because writing sucks even though having written is the best), and b) being a writer with ADHD, to make us things to read and think about and hopefully become slightly better humans. Can't wait for Mediocre to come out.
Thank you for this! I’m curious, do you take medication to support you with ADHD? I used to but felt a lot of shame, but feel some of my possibilities are limited without it. Would love to hear about your supports.
I once heard someone say, "No, you don't want to write a book; you want to have written a book," which anyone who has ever tried to write a book knows is true. Finishing a manuscript, then editing it, has been one of the most excruciating experiences of my life. Thanks for commiserating.
Editor (and occasional writer) with ADHD here and 1000% in the same boat! Your reminder about not over-researching really got through to me—I knew I was using it to procrastinate, but never realized that adding even more information was making the actual writing part more overwhelming, too. Definitely going to check out Focusmate also. Thanks for sharing your (incredibly relatable) process with us :)
As a person who writes and has ADHD, I think I needed to read this today. I recognize every bit of it and I'm cheering you on. Thank you.
"Turns out that writing is only really fun when it’s the thing you aren’t supposed to be doing right now.'" So true and so funny/not!
I am not alone in my struggle to get things done & live life. I will do the tasks I have been putting off for the past 3 years due to health situations now resolved. I will do these tasks, thinking of you & others also digging in deep. Thank you!!
Thank you for sharing what you are doing and how it is working! Focusmate sounds amazing-- I long ago had a friend recommend having a friend over to just be company, while paying bills, or doing laundry, or getting somewhere with a list-- just for a morale booster, but I never had that friend I wasn't embarrassed to ask for such a weird basic need, as I saw it then. Also, as a person who loves food and restaurants, and so chose that as a career, and then realized, Oh, you never really get to eat out again, when you work in restaurants! Like loving to write and choosing it-- it changes the nature of your relationship to the thing that you love. And yes, love Getting to do, not Having to do. Still wonderful, but, fraught. Cheers to you!
Lord help me, I needed this today. I have to keep reminding myself that I there is a reason I chose to "be a writer" and "write a book" and that is because, in theory, I like writing. But a lot of days it feels like drudgery. And man, I wish I was in the position to turn down other work...someday!
Thank you for this. I just recently got an inattentive ADHD diagnosis and as someone who wrote one book & is thinking about starting the process of writing another... it is a lot to take on with this brain. Your words here are so encouraging and practical, and so appreciated.
Really appreciated the part about the research trap. As someone with ADD, I get caught in those ALL the time. Your stating it so clearly made me start to see it as a form of work avoidance. I'm now trying to "catch" the bodily sensations that happen when I expand too far out into research. There's a literal anxiety, like I'm extending outside my body, and an urge to immediately release the tension by escaping into something else. It's helping. Thank you for sharing.
Oh man, you're giving me huge flashbacks to writing my dissertation, which was NOT FUN. And in very unexpected ways, because I wrote my masters thesis in an (undiagnosed) haze of ADHD hyperfocus so I thought the dissertation was going to be great process! IT.WAS.NOT.
So I'm extra grateful to you for pushing through the doubly-hard challenge of a) being a writer (because writing sucks even though having written is the best), and b) being a writer with ADHD, to make us things to read and think about and hopefully become slightly better humans. Can't wait for Mediocre to come out.
Thank you for this.
Thank you for this! I’m curious, do you take medication to support you with ADHD? I used to but felt a lot of shame, but feel some of my possibilities are limited without it. Would love to hear about your supports.
I once heard someone say, "No, you don't want to write a book; you want to have written a book," which anyone who has ever tried to write a book knows is true. Finishing a manuscript, then editing it, has been one of the most excruciating experiences of my life. Thanks for commiserating.
Wishing you all the luck and success in the world with the writing and the new book.