Writing & ADHD

 It's Monday. It's raining. It's chilly. If you're anything like me, your brain is swirling with all the things you want to get done this week, and your coffee has been empty for hours. Honestly, it's offensive. I need my bean juice to last longer, y'all. 

I wracked my brain over what I would write about today. I have brainstorming lists to choose from, but I wasn't feeling any of the topics. I went for a lunch walk, listened to TAKÉNOBU, and searched my soul for what was really going on, and it occurred to me, I haven't written at length about what it's like to write with ADHD.

Hello, I'm Kit, and I have ADHD. I write words (and draw, skate, hula-hoop, knit, crochet, paint, craft, etc., etc.) There are a LOT of creatives in the ADHD community but most of us will tell you we have the struggles. 

Writing schedules? Uhhhhhhhhh

Finishing Projects? Ummmmmm. 

Goal setting for projects? Sure, let's do that! And at the end of the year, I'll have tossed them aside and down 4 other things.

It's rough, y'all. Especially when so many successful writers go on about 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO BE A GOOD WRITER and they're literally all tips on how to be neurotypical. 

So how do you manage your writing, when you're ADHD, and you ran out of hyperfocus gas? This isn't rhetorical, if you have some brain hacks you want to share I WANT TO HEAR THEM. 

These are ways that I currently tackle it:

1. Forgiving myself and being kind when I don't live up to my own expectations. It's so easy to fall down the feelings pit when I stumble in my craft. I'm all over the place with projects & ideas and most of them don't stick. That doesn't make me a bad person, a bad writer, but it does mean I have to be radically kind to my little inner critic. Sometimes I'll list projects I have finished and thrust into the world, or I'll review the list, to remind myself that I am capable of completing projects and that they're pretty darn good. 
   
   
2. I created this very blog to help motivate myself to consistency, to inspire myself, and to keep myself writing. I had grand plans, of course, when I started it. I've given myself so many different writing schedules for this blog. Right now, I'm trying to write once a week (Mondays, what whaaat!) I go through periods where I write my thoughts on the craft, where I write actual poetry or prose and share it, but I try to keep it flexible. I use my blog to ground me, and sometimes it works. Sometimes I forget about it and get lost in writer's block. When that happens, I have to go back to #1.
   
   
3. I've recently started listening to the Start With This podcast and tackling the 2 assignments per episode (1 to consume, 1 to create). Podcasts about writing have been a good way to kick my brain into plotting & scheming. If you have some good writing podcast suggestions I would LOVE to hear them!
   
   
4. Permission to fail. Permission to succeed. Permission to look at fear of failure and fear of success in the eye and stare them down. Permission to look them in the eyes and have a little cry & a nap, as long as I dust myself off and get back up afterwards.

Well, my lunch break is almost over, so I better wrap this up! I hope y'all enjoyed reading and if you also struggle with writing & ADHD, I hope this helped or helped you feel less alone (and please, please, please share them tips 'n tricks, y'all!!)

As always, if you like (love) this content and want to support my writing outside of the big bad projects, and read supporter-only content, you can buy me a cuppa at ko.fi. You can also purchase my chapbook & audible of poetry, a record of night at Amazon. If you're so inclined, you can also follow my author page at goodreads or follow me on Twitter. 

Please show me some love and leave a comment, review, or rating on any of these platforms! Have an awesome day, my friends.