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The Neurodivergent Writer’s Guide to Fun and Productivity

(Even when life beats you down)

Look, I’m a mom, I have ADHD, I’m a spoonie. To say that I don’t have heaps of energy to spare and I struggle with consistency is an understatement. For years, I tried to write consistently, but I couldn’t manage to keep up with habits I built and deadlines I set.

So fuck neurodivergent guides on building habits, fuck “eat the frog first”, fuck “it’s all in the grind”, and fuck “you just need time management”—here is how I manage to write often and a lot.

Focus on having fun, not on the outcome

This was the groundwork I had to lay before I could even start my streak. At an online writing conference, someone said: “If you push yourself and meet your goals, and you publish your book, but you haven’t enjoyed the process… What’s the point?” and hoo boy, that question hit me like a truck.

I was so caught up in the narrative of “You’ve got to show up for what’s important” and “Push through if you really want to get it done”. For a few years, I used to read all these productivity books about grinding your way to success, and along the way I started using the same language as they did. And I notice a lot of you do so, too.

But your brain doesn’t like to grind. No-one’s brain does, and especially no neurodivergent brain. If having to write gives you stress or if you put pressure on yourself for not writing (enough), your brain’s going to say: “Huh. Writing gives us stress, we’re going to try to avoid it in the future.”

So before I could even try to write regularly, I needed to teach my brain once again that writing is fun. I switched from countable goals like words or time to non-countable goals like “fun” and “flow”.

Rewire my brain: writing is fun and I’m good at it

I used everything I knew about neuroscience, psychology, and social sciences. These are some of the things I did before and during a writing session. Usually not all at once, and after a while I didn’t need these strategies anymore, although I sometimes go back to them when necessary.

I journalled all the negative thoughts I had around writing and try to reason them away, using arguments I knew in my heart were true. (The last part is the crux.) Imagine being supportive to a writer friend with crippling insecurities, only the friend is you.

Not setting any goals didn’t work for me—I still nurtured unwanted expectations. So I did set goals, but made them non-countable, like “have fun”, “get in the flow”, or “write”. Did I write? Yes. Success! Your brain doesn’t actually care about how high the goal is, it cares about meeting whatever goal you set.

I didn’t even track how many words I wrote. Not relevant.

I set an alarm for a short time (like 10 minutes) and forbade myself to exceed that time. The idea was that if I write until I run out of mojo, my brain learns that writing drains the mojo. If I write for 10 minutes and have fun, my brain learns that writing is fun and wants to do it again.

Reinforce the fact that writing makes you happy by rewarding your brain immediately afterwards. You know what works best for you: a walk, a golden sticker, chocolate, cuddle your dog, whatever makes you happy.

I conditioned myself to associate writing with specific stimuli: that album, that smell, that tea, that place. Any stimulus can work, so pick one you like. I consciously chose several stimuli so I could switch them up, and the conditioning stays active as long as I don’t muddle it with other associations.

Use a ritual to signal to your brain that Writing Time is about to begin to get into the zone easier and faster. I guess this is a kind of conditioning as well? Meditation, music, lighting a candle… Pick your stimulus and stick with it.

Specifically for rewiring my brain, I started a new WIP that had no emotional connotations attached to it, nor any pressure to get finished or, heaven forbid, meet quality norms. I don’t think these techniques above would have worked as well if I had applied them on writing my novel.

It wasn’t until I could confidently say I enjoyed writing again, that I could start building up a consistent habit. No more pushing myself.

I lowered my definition for success

When I say that nowadays I write every day, that’s literally it. I don’t set out to write 1,000 or 500 or 10 words every day (tried it, failed to keep up with it every time)—the only marker for success when it comes to my streak is to write at least one word, even on the days when my brain goes “naaahhh”. On those days, it suffices to send myself a text with a few keywords or a snippet. It’s not “success on a technicality (derogatory)”, because most of those snippets and ideas get used in actual stories later. And if they don’t, they don’t. It’s still writing. No writing is ever wasted.

A side note on high expectations, imposter syndrome, and perfectionism

Obviously, “Setting a ridiculously low goal” isn’t something I invented. I actually got it from those productivity books, only I never got it to work. I used to tell myself: “It’s okay if I don’t write for an hour, because my goal is to write for 20 minutes and if I happen to keep going for, say, an hour, that’s a bonus.” Right? So I set the goal for 20 minutes, wrote for 35 minutes, and instead of feeling like I exceeded my goal, I felt disappointed because apparently I was still hoping for the bonus scenario to happen. I didn’t know how to set a goal so low and believe it.

I think the trick to making it work this time lies more in the groundwork of training my brain to enjoy writing again than in the fact that my daily goal is ridiculously low. I believe I’m a writer, because I prove it to myself every day. Every success I hit reinforces the idea that I’m a writer. It’s an extra ward against imposter syndrome.

Knowing that I can still come up with a few lines of dialogue on the Really Bad Days—days when I struggle to brush my teeth, the day when I had a panic attack in the supermarket, or the day my kid got hit by a car—teaches me that I can write on the mere Bad-ish Days.

The more I do it, the more I do it

The irony is that setting a ridiculously low goal almost immediately led to writing more and more often. The most difficult step is to start a new habit. After just a few weeks, I noticed that I needed less time and energy to get into the zone. I no longer needed all the strategies I listed above.

Another perk I noticed, was an increased writing speed. After just a few months of writing every day, my average speed went from 600 words per hour to 1,500 wph, regularly exceeding 2,000 wph without any loss of quality.

Talking about quality: I could see myself becoming a better writer with every passing month. Writing better dialogue, interiority, chemistry, humour, descriptions, whatever: they all improved noticeably, and I wasn’t a bad writer to begin with.

The increased speed means I get more done with the same amount of energy spent. I used to write around 2,000-5,000 words per month, some months none at all. Nowadays I effortlessly write 30,000 words per month. I didn’t set out to write more, it’s just a nice perk.

Look, I’m not saying you should write every day if it doesn’t work for you. My point is: the more often you write, the easier it will be.

No pressure

Yes, I’m still working on my novel, but I’m not racing through it. I produce two or three chapters per month, and the rest of my time goes to short stories my brain keeps projecting on the inside of my eyelids when I’m trying to sleep. I might as well write them down, right?

These short stories started out as self-indulgence, and even now that I take them more seriously, they are still just for me. I don’t intend to ever publish them, no-one will ever read them, they can suck if they suck. The unintended consequence was that my short stories are some of my best writing, because there’s no pressure, it’s pure fun.

Does it make sense to spend, say, 90% of my output on stories no-one else will ever read? Wouldn’t it be better to spend all that creative energy and time on my novel? Well, yes. If you find the magic trick, let me know, because I haven’t found it yet. The short stories don’t cannibalize on the novel, because they require different mindsets. If I stopped writing the short stories, I wouldn’t produce more chapters. (I tried. Maybe in the future? Fingers crossed.)

Don’t wait for inspiration to hit

There’s a quote by Picasso: “Inspiration hits, but it has to find you working.�� I strongly agree. Writing is not some mystical, muse-y gift, it’s a skill and inspiration does exist, but usually it’s brought on by doing the work. So just get started and inspiration will come to you.

Accountability and community

Having social factors in your toolbox is invaluable. I have an offline writing friend I take long walks with, I host a monthly writing club on Discord, and I have another group on Discord that holds me accountable every day. They all motivate me in different ways and it’s such a nice thing to share my successes with people who truly understand how hard it can be.

The productivity books taught me that if you want to make a big change in your life or attitude, surrounding yourself with people who already embody your ideal or your goal huuuugely helps. The fact that I have these productive people around me who also prioritize writing, makes it easier for me to stick to my own priorities.

Your toolbox

The idea is to have several techniques at your disposal to help you stay consistent. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket by focussing on just one technique. Keep all of them close, and if one stops working or doesn’t inspire you today, pivot and pick another one.

After a while, most “tools” run in the background once they are established. Things like surrounding myself with my writing friends, keeping up with my daily streak, and listening to the album I conditioned myself with don’t require any energy, and they still remain hugely beneficial.

Do you have any other techniques? I’d love to hear about them!

I hope this was useful. Happy writing!

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Just finished reading this story and now I want to go to Brighton 😁 I love authors who make the world around the characters alive. And I love Pulp, so this hits both spots! Such a nice read

everybody hates a tourist: fic playlist

Pulp - Common People

Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'

The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger

Sugababes - Freak Like Me

Electric Six - Gay Bar

Razorlight - America

Kaiser Chiefs - Oh My God

Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up to Dry

Bloc Party - This Modern Love

Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor

Franz Ferdinand - Michael

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps

Robyn - With Every Heartbeat

Édith Piaf - Non, je ne regrette rien

on spotify here! ⚓️

fic on ao3 here 🦀

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2025 SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN - THE TROPE COLLECTION IS LOOKING FOR YOUR FICS

The Destiel Trope Collection is a SELF-REC collection for destiel fanfic full of tropes. Every year the list is voted for by you and the highest voted gets listed for the 31 days of July. If you have any questions, please ask! *PLEASE NOTE: THE SCHEDULE IS DIFFERENT THIS YEAR*

Below (the readmore) is a list of the tropes that will be included in this year’s collection (all voted by you peeps!).

SUBMIT YOUR FICS HERE

WHAT CAN YOU SEND?

Completed fic? YES

Work In Progress? YES (if currently being updated)

Old fics? YES

New fics? YES

Fics written specifically for this collection? YES

Short fics? YES (over 1k words)

Long fics? YES (no max word count)

10 fics? YES

1 fic? YES

WHAT CAN’T YOU SEND?

A fic that wasn’t written by you - if you co-authored it, then that’s fine as long as you have permission of your co-author to submit it

A fic shorter than 1,000 words. Due to a popular result on the feedback form, the minimum word count is 1k.

The same fic several times in several tropes. A single fic is only allowed in one list, so, if it fits in several, pick the best one, or draw straws (up to you).

See the full rules and submission guidelines here

SCHEDULE

1st March 2025 - Submissions open

22nd June 2025 - Submissions close

1st July 2025 - Day 1 of the Trope Collection Posts

1st August 2025 - Masterpost goes up

QUESTIONS?

Send a message or IM to @destieltropecollection!

THE LIST ↴

Fix-it Fic (Canon Rewrite) Mutual Pining Friends to Lovers Everyone knows but them Wing Kink Case Fic Fake Dating to Real Dating Dean sees Cas' true form Cas is determined to show Dean he's loved Domestic Destiel Only One Bed Soulmates Empty Rescue Angst with a Happy Ending Enemies to Lovers Grace Kink Drunken Confessions MPreg BDSM Single Parents Established Relationship Medical AU Childhood Friends Time Travel First Kiss Omegaverse Firefighter AU Arranged Marriage Tattooed Cas with Wings Coffeeshop/Bookstore Not-so-secret Relationship

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I'm so invested now, I want to see you get it and have the opportunity to get about it with us

i asked a news outlet about a specific hour of footage from 1997. normally they don't respond or they say that there's nothing left from that time period. well, turns out they do have it. they got back to me yesterday and said it can be mine for the small fee of:

“$4,100 for up to 30 seconds and $5,100 for 31-60 seconds. Each additional second is $85.”

😂 yeah fucking right. i'm not even going to do the math on that. let's all hope it pops up one day for free on youtube.

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i make myself laugh

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Friendly reminder that AO3 is fighting AI data scrapers on behalf of all fanfic writers!

According to the post below, AO3 issued a DMCA takedown after finding out that all works before March 2025 were scraped and uploaded as a dataset to potentially train AI. The ability to take legal action against scum like this is the direct result of people donating to AO3 so they can keep functioning and they don't pocket any of it because they are a non-profit organization.

So when you see the AO3 donation drives, please remember that this is what the money is going toward and support it when you can!

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Dandelions have a symbiotic relationship with little kids who make wishes

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FYI your Destiel fic "Humble" was plagiarized on Kindle as the book "The Cupcake Conundrum" by Rey Luca

First, anon -- thank you so much for telling me. I never would have known.

Second, I AM FUCKING FURIOUS.

Third, I am EVEN MORE FUCKING FURIOUS because apparently in order to report this plagiarist for stealing my work I need to have an Amazon account. And I also had to unlock my fic so that they can view it to confirm that it is indeed stolen.

While I wait for Amazon to presumably do jack shit about this, if anyone who still has an Amazon account wants to leave a review on this asshole's page, please be my guest 👍

Screenshots below of the first few paragraphs from the stolen work on the left, and the first few paragraphs of Humble (my rule!63 pastry chef Destiel AU from forever ago).

Also their stolen listing is selling for $2.99, has a 4.4. star rating from 85 reviews, and is ranked #365 in "lesbian romance". So presuming that only a small fraction of people who downloaded it actually reviewed it (as is usually the case) they (along with fucking Bezos) made hundreds of dollars on my work during a time that I've been flat broke and struggling to find a job. So that's just great :)))))

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ITS GREAT LAKES AWARENESS DAY!!!!!

On this excellent day, be aware that this is the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world, covering over 95,000 square miles and reaching depths of over a thousand feet. They are beautiful freshwater seas.

Also when you die in these lakes, the very cold, oxygen-poor conditions at the bottom preserves you perfectly for all eternity. You will not rot and nothing will eat you. You will exist for as long as the Great Lakes do. Many shipwrecks still have the crew on board. Be Aware.

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In the spirit of encouraging people to comment on fanfics while also making it easier to do so, I feel obliged to share a browser extension for ao3 that has quite literally revolutionized the comment game for me.

I present to you: the floating ao3 comment box!

From what I've seen, a big problem for many people is that once you reach the comments at the bottom of a fic, your memory of it miraculously disappears. Anything you wanted to say is stuck ten paragraphs ago, and you barely remember what you thought while reading. This fixes that!

I'll give a little explanation on the features and how it works, but if you want to skip all that, here's the link.

The extension is visible as a small blue box in the upper left corner.

(Side note: The green colouring is not from the extension, that's me.)

If you click on it, you open a comment box window at the bottom of your screen but not at the bottom of the fic. I opened my own fic for demonstrative purposes.

The website also gives explanations on how exactly it functions, but I'll summarize regardless.

insert selection -> if you highlight a sentence in the fic it will be added in italics to the comment box

add to comment box -> once you're done writing your comment, you click this button and the entire thing will automatically copied to the ao3 comment box

delete -> self explanatory

on mulitchapter fics, you will be given the option to either add the comment to just the current chapter or the entire fic

The best part? You can simply close the window the same way you opened it and your progress will automatically be saved. So you can open it, comment on a paragraph, and then close it and keep reading without having the box in your face.

Comments are what keep writers going, and as both a writer and a reader, I think it's such an easy way of showing support and enthusiasm.

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Oh no, my friend's birthday is coming up.. whatever could I gift her...

Cycloom, a free crochet pattern designed by Nicole Kolasinski on Ravelry.

"A Cycloom is magical. With his big eye he watches you and everything that happens. But he does not judge you. He asks you to change places with him. To look at yourself or the situation from a different perspective."

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A German Standoff is when you are standing opposite of each other at a red traffic light and there are no cars in sight but nobody wants to be the first to commit an Ordnungswidrigkeit

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it is Fasnet/Fasnacht time in Germany, which is the traditional alemannic carnival. there was a post on my dash mentioning 'the Fool's guild', which regulates the carnival characters. Jester bureaucracy? yes, baby! Ordnung muss sein. so, I HAD to look it up.

well, there indeed exist local Jester Guilds (Narrenzünfte), some of which are part of a sort of a jester union type organisation, VSAN (Vereinigung Schwäbisch-Alemannischer Narrenzünfte). it's a big deal, not every guild is accepted into VSAN. to be eligible, the jester guild must show a commitment to preserving cultural heritage, and not randomly invent Fasnet characters and/or modify their costume.

the VSAN wikipedia page has a full member list by town/village with the correct Narrenrufe: jester calls that you should shout back at them (like Narri! Narro!)

I also found scalding tea about a guild that got expelled, because they introduced some kind of witch costume, which I think did not have a historical prototype?

the guilds have Präsidenten and Zunftmeister and meet up regularly to discuss urgent jester matters, hold lectures, and check and approve costumes. (the Rottweil Narrenzunft president signs his announcements with 'Mit närrischen Grüßen')

anyone can become a guild member by filling in an official form and paying a yearly membership fee. members take part in the carneval itself (in full jester gear!), as well as jester meet-ups, and might have part-time volunteer duties, such as costume repairs. if you successfully climb jester career ladder and reach Narrenratsmitglied status, your photo in a delightful traditional hat will be featured on your local jester guild website.

Oberndorf jester guild also awards pretty enamel medals to committed jesters who took part in 10, 25 or 40 Narrensprünge.

okay, however endearingly German/Swabian this whole establishment is, it seems to have serious historical reasons other than a natural German penchant for tradition/bureaucracy. VSAN was originally formed as a form of political pushback against jester and Fastnacht bans and a collective attempt to save jester/carnival culture. cool!

I really recommend looking up local Narrenzunft websites and perusing the character galleries.

Entschuldigung, wenn ich was falsch verstanden habe! Ich weiß ziemlich wenig über die Fasnet, und außerdem ist Deutsch nicht meine Muttersprache. Also korriegiert mich bitte, falls etwas nicht stimmt! Danke

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English subs for the German remake of Ghosts will be gradually uploaded here

The subtitles are uploaded as a separate file that you have to add to your local media player*

Thanks to everyone who is proofreading them and helping me find alternatives for untranslatable puns so there will as few of those left as possible. I recommend coming back and checking for updated versions of the subtitles regularly, especially in the beginning. On that note, I also welcome any suggestions for changes.

*Tutorial for how to add a subtitle track below the cut

Download the episode AND subtitle file of that episode from the Drive link above

Open the episode in a media player on your device Depending on the media player you use, you either 2.1 Find a button labeled Subtitles or Captions at the top 2.2 Find a button labeled Subtitles or Captions at the bottom 2.3 Right click on the video and see an option for Subtitles or Captions

Click where it will say something along the lines of "Add Subtitle file" and pick the subtitle file you downloaded that goes with the episode OR

Skip steps 2. and 3. and find the subtitle file in the folder you saved it to and drag and drop it onto the video in the media player.

The subtitle file will automatically be synced to the video, no further steps required.

If you encounter any problems, feel free to ask me!

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More favourite numerical memes:

Implicit or implicit enumeration of uncountable things (example: taking inventory of the fucks which one gives)

Suggesting the divisibility of things which are not customarily thought of as able to be subdivided (example: "six whole people")

Using words that aren't numbers as numbers (example: "one William dollars")

Technically correct but contextually misleading estimates (example: looking at a group of several thousand things and observing that there are "at least three")

Incongruous qualifiers for apparently simple sums or tallies (example: she was twenty-seven years old, not counting 2014)

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Lately I've seen a lot of people using "Star Trek ending" as a shorthand way of saying "cheesy 60s ending where all the characters get together and laugh at some shitty one-liner until the freezeframe in order to wrap things up with a neat breezy bow" and, well. They're not wrong... but that's only half the episodes.

The other half of the episodes end you staring at the TV in haunted existential silence because the story's thesis was "Don't delude yourself that waging war with technology is any less brutal than committing murder with your bare hands. You are a mortal and an animal like any other and if you think you have a justified reason to kill you had better be prepared to face your enemy, and recognize him as an intelligent equal, and smash in his skull with a rock."

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Acetic acid is derived from the Latin a, meaning “without”, and cetos, meaning “whale”. This is an accurate name as whales are not usually found in vinegar.