Writing With ADHD
I’ve been working for two years to build new and better writing habits that account for my ADHD. I’ll say upfront that ADHD advice and writing advice both have the same issue: every writer is different, and every person with ADHD is different.
I stopped writing several years ago because I couldn’t manage my ADHD. In my own defence, I was undiagnosed, so I didn’t have the tools I have now. When I started getting treatment, I did an organization/planning course that was also group therapy. Another participant talked about being a writer and trying to finish a novel. I was impressed and encouraged them, but I also said “I will never write again. That’s out of reach for me.”
Two years ago, I changed my mind. NaNoWriMo was coming up, and I wanted to start writing again. I decided to do my own version of the writing event. I don’t remember what my original guidelines were, but it was something like:
Write as often as possible this month. Don’t worry about writing every day.
Keep coming back to it.
Keep it enjoyable.
I’ve now been doing that for two years. I think that the longest I’ve gone without writing has been a week. I’ve modified my guidelines, although to be honest, they aren’t written down anywhere. But those three principles are the core of how I keep writing.
I have a lot of little tricks and techniques I use to support these principles. As I said above, they are individual to me, so what I say may not be perfect for everyone. But maybe some of this will be helpful for some of you.
When someone gives you writing advice, consider what the purpose of it is, and find your own way to get there. The specific advice may not work for you, but understanding the purpose might help you create your own version. My number one example here is “write every day.” I heard this frequently, and my inability to do it made me think I wasn’t a real writer and contributed to me giving up. But the idea is related to goals there that are valuable. Practice. Write often. Keep on writing.
Accept that if you have ADHD, every system you put in place will eventually fail. Probably. That doesn’t mean it was a bad system. Move on to a new system, or retry an old system. Keep your failed systems in mind for the future when one of the systems you replaced it with fails. What’s old may become new again!
Schedule writing time. Schedule your start time to account for having already gotten into the right head-space, so that when you start, you are writing. A lot of people with ADHD like to have time to change gears to a new task. I have realized that I don’t need as much transition time as I think I do, but if I give myself open-ended transition time, I will never start. So I give myself a little, but when the schedule says start, it’s time to start.
Set a timer for how long you want to write, and stop when your time is up. Even if you want to keep going. If you stop when you are still excited to write, you will be excited to start again. If you push yourself until it becomes a chore, starting again will be a chore. If you reach a natural stopping point right at your time limit, pat yourself on the back for having finished that great scene/chapter/whatever. End it on a good note!
If you sit down at your scheduled writing time and are unable to write, don’t force it. Sometimes I say “today is not a writing day” and walk away. Don’t judge yourself. Some days aren’t writing days.
Make writing a reward. When I have something else I need to get done, I set daily goals for that thing. I only get to write if I meet the daily goal. More than once, I have used getting to write the thing I really want to write as a reward for doing the other writing that I need to get done.
Write with others. Find a writing buddy or group, or a body double, or something like that. This can give you both accountability and support. I do most of my writing in online co-working sessions organized by Cat Rambo’s “Academy for Wayward Writers.” This isn’t a paid promotion, I support Cat through Patreon, so if anything it’s the reverse. But these sessions have been unbelievably helpful for me. There are many, many other authors and organizations running similar events, so somewhere there’s one that will work for you.
If you get discouraged, reread some of your older writing. Some of it will be “good” and some of it will be “bad.” Your judgement is subjective, but that’s okay. Let the “good” remind you that you are a good writer. Let the “bad” remind you that you’ve gotten better since you wrote that. You know that both are true.
I think I’ve written more in the last two years than in the entire rest of my life. Certainly more than in any other two-year period, including university and when I was writing adventure games for money. I’m still working on improving my writing systems and habits, and I’ve got a lot to learn. I’m proud of how far I’ve come, and I don’t plan to stop.
This blog is my new NaNoWriMo project. I used to think I wouldn’t be able to maintain a blog, but now I think it’s worth a shot. I’m going to try and make writing it a part of my routine. I won’t just talk about writing or ADHD, but it seemed like the right place to start.