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[writing-while-adhd]

A Writer’s Guide To Conquering Executive Dysfunction (Part I)

These tips were taken from the comments of a post by @mr-writes I’ve included commentary under each tip to further explain the benefits. Stay tuned for part II in the next few weeks.

Without further ado, here’s the list:

1. Leave your house—or, at the very least, crawl out of your bed/comfy gremlin nest. A change of scenery may encourage creativity and keep you from a more sedentary state. @antique-symbolism

2. Talk out your writing with a trusted friend or critique partner. Sometimes you need to get the brain jumble out of your head, find an outside perspective, and share in the fun of writing discourse @karolinarodrigueswrites

3. Make sure your basic needs are met. Is your room clean? Are you clean and in comfortable clothing? Have you eaten today? Are you in need of hydration? Have you taken your meds? You are your top priority. Physical and mental health difficulties often impact creativity, inertia, and motivation. @fenrir-kin

4. Remind yourself how fun writing is by crafting indulgent, low stakes scenes. Screw the outline— write whatever inspired you in the moment! Are you daydreaming of a scenario only loosely related to the plot? Write that instead! Holding goals and abiding by a schedule for your writing is admirable. But remember, enjoying the process of creating your art is the whole reason to create art in the first place. @karolinarodrigueswrites

5. Get comfy! Pull on your coziest clothes, grab a soft blanket, prepare a cup of tea or coffee, light a scented candle, turn on the mood lighting, queue up an atmospheric playlist— whatever works for you! The goal is to get relaxed, lower stress and pressure, and immerse yourself in your story. @thegroundhogdidit

6. Use prompts. Starting any new task can be daunting. Staring at the blank page is, as any writer will tell you, intimidating— and some days, it’s much less stressful to just not start at all. Writing from a prompt could reduce the stress of initiating a new task. You can find prompts in many locations: Pinterest, tumblr, writing blogs. I’ve asked friends for some in the past. Whatever option seems most interesting to you may be worth a try. @aninkwellofnectar

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Encouragment for writers that I know seems discouraging at first but I promise it’s motivational-

• Those emotioal scenes you’ve planned will never be as good on page as they are in your head. To YOU. Your audience, however, is eating it up. Just because you can’t articulate the emotion of a scene to your satisfaction doesn’t mean it’s not impacting the reader. 

• Sometimes a sentence, a paragraph, or even a whole scene will not be salvagable. Either it wasn’t necessary to the story to begin with, or you can put it to the side and re-write it later, but for now it’s gotta go. It doesn’t make you a bad writer to have to trim, it makes you a good writer to know to trim.

• There are several stories just like yours. And that’s okay, there’s no story in existence of completely original concepts. What makes your story “original” is that it’s yours. No one else can write your story the way you can.

• You have writing weaknesses. Everyone does. But don’t accept your writing weaknesses as unchanging facts about yourself. Don’t be content with being crap at description, dialogue, world building, etc. Writers that are comfortable being crap at things won’t improve, and that’s not you. It’s going to burn, but work that muscle. I promise you’ll like the outcome.

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This has been said before, but it bears repeating...

You are not less of a writer for:

abandoning wips

lacking motivation

not writing every day (it's about how much you write, not how often)

editing as you go (do what works for you)

doubting yourself or your skill

only writing one genre

being turned down by a publisher

using clichés or popular concepts (the interwebs is lying)

only writing fanfiction

writing only for yourself, with no intention of sharing it with the world (writing's first and foremost about having fun!!!!!!)

writing self-indulgent stories (see above. seriously. do what makes you happy)

not caring about the rules (tools. not rules!)

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This goes out to all writers: You're amazing. keep your head held high. The world's you create are phenomenal

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WWA TIPS

The greatest change I ever made was breaking my stories into Acts. Each act has a breakdown of what I want to happen plot wise, character wise, and action wise. It helps SO MUCH when I need a quick reminder of my characters mindsets and tone!

[writing-while-adhd]

me: I promise not to get distracted while writing

also me: *goes on Pinterest, Tumblr, Spotify, does literally anything else but writing*

me:

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Motivational Quote

I love reading this quote when writing feels too hard. It's common to try and make the first draft as perfect as possible, but that's not the goal. The goal is to get the story down.

Sometimes my first draft of a chapter is just dialogue and quick character movement descriptions and that's okay! The scene is on paper and THAT'S what matters! Write that nonsense scene. All writers make revisions!

[writing-while-adhd]

Neurodivergent culture is counting the seconds you make eye contact with people and being frightened because they're not looking away when you do. (Only doing this so I don't seem Off or dishonest tbh. It sucks.)

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[writing-while-adhd]

Understanding My ADHD

A little blub from my first post!

"For the first time in my life, I found myself surrounded by people who struggled with the same things I did! I learned what executive dysfunction was, time management problems, and the awful side effects of impulsivity when severely depressed. Rejection sensitivity! Suddenly the struggles I had been dealing with all of my adult life weren't because I was lazy, unmotivated, or just a slob! They had a clear explanation!"

Read the rest 👇🏾

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Writing While ADHD Tips

Set a timer! Constantly being aware of how many words I've written feels like too much pressure. Writing till the timer goes off keeps my head in writer mode! On a roll and have time? Add another 30 minutes!

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WRITING WHILE ADHD STRUGGLES

I can't even begin to explain how many WIPS I have. I'll black out and plot a whole story then can't figure out how to begin!