writing a book with adhd
plus, upcoming july workshops
Before I get into today’s post, I want to remind you that we have our monthly free writing workshop this Friday, July 5 from 7 - 8 pm et. Join us for some creative escapism. New faces are always welcome. At the end of this post, you can also find more opportunities to work on your creativity and write with us this month.
I often refer to myself as a slow writer.
Speed is subjective, of course, but I’m talking about taking months to write one essay. I’m watching all of that change this year as I’m writing my first full-length book. I don’t have months to write one chapter. Right now, I have six chapters left that I need to finish by September, so you can do the math on that. Needless to say, I’m in the thick of it.
I started off my writing journey as a blogger where I built up the endurance to whip out short-form content quickly and frequently. My motivation at the time was immediate gratification. Plain and simple. Even if I knew that I could potentially simmer on an idea for longer, I was driven to keep pumping out words to stay consistent and not lose my readership’s attention. In hindsight, I realize that I was also catering to my own short attention span.
I’ve written five books, but none of them were anywhere near the length of my current work-in-progress which will be about 60,000 words. As I was working on my book proposal, I knew that I was building new muscles and that I would have to continue to learn how to adjust my process so I could handle longer projects without getting impatient and losing my way (which I’ve done in the past many times!)
Author
wrote about this recently in a newsletter for her writing community Permission to Write:“Writing books, whether they be fiction or nonfiction, are about being in it for the long haul, friends. People spend years on books where in the past, I felt like I was doing good if I spent three days on a blog post. It was certainly a transition, but not one that happened overnight. It was one that took a lot of gradual steps to get to the point where I had the endurance to complete a whole book.
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The thing about longform content is that it takes patience and time. Two things that most of us in this generation are consistently trying to avoid. But I’ve had to learn to be patient with my work. Being both diligent to complete it, but also allowing it to come together as it wants to. Some days I don’t have it to write. There are things that still haven’t worked themselves out in my brain. I’m much more patient with that now, and I think we should be if we want to write things that are worthwhile.”
Patience and time management are two things that I’ve struggled with my whole life. I’ve always done better with these things when I have structure imposed on me which is why I did well in school and working in a corporate environment. Before my ADHD diagnosis last year, I could never figure out why I excelled in certain environments and circumstances and not others.
When I first started working for myself, I struggled with a disconnect between my ambitions and my ability to execute. Why did it seem like my brain was trying to sabotage me? I was spending crazy amounts of energy trying to mask these problems + manage the corresponding anxiety while trying to show up, pursue my dreams of writing books for a living, and remember to love myself as I am and trust the journey.
I’ve wanted to quit many times and what kept me going is my passion for the work. The learning curves led me to search for ways to grow and develop and create structure for myself.
Since my ADHD diagnosis, I’ve experienced this eye-opening clarity and newfound confidence which has allowed me to take on bigger challenges. So here I am in the middle of this realized dream, writing this book and aspiring to get it done in a healthy way without stressing myself and burning out.
Do you struggle with long-term writing projects?
For me, it was like working on a 1000-piece puzzle outside on a windy day. You have to keep finding and replacing the pieces that you’ve already placed because the wind keeps blowing them away.
It takes you much longer than you would like to complete the puzzle, and you can only finish by hyper-focusing and neglecting everything else in your life to keep the puzzle pieces in place so you can get to the big picture. Drained, you look up and everything else in your life has been neglected + you feel completely overwhelmed with how to catch up on what you missed.
Since my diagnosis, things are different. Yes, I’m medicated now, but there’s more to it than that. I’ve committed to studying myself and getting resourced with practices, habits, and tools that allow me to work with my brain the way it is.
This understanding is what enabled me to go from overwhelm, burnout, lack of direction, and time + energy scarcity to a lifestyle where my creative, personal, and professional life are all aligned and cross-fertilizing each other.
For those of you who have creative callings that are important to you, but you’re struggling with focus, mental health, or other limitations, don’t let the frustration or shame of these things keep you from pursuing your dreams.
If this post resonated:
Reflect and journal about any unnecessary shame you’re holding onto that could be getting in the way of you getting the support and development you need to make progress on your creative callings.
If you’d like to work closely with me on your long-term project, this August through October, I’ll be facilitating a small group coaching cohort for writers and creatives who want to build purpose-driven platforms for their work with their words and stories. If that sounds like you, you can sign up here to be notified when this offering opens.
You will find more helpful insights in these posts:
drop in and write with the community this month:
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July 5. Free Monthly Writing Workshop // 7 - 8 pm et
July 21. The Practice Session #17: Writing the Future w/ guest Jolie Doggett // 3:30 - 5 pm et (free registration for paid subscribers)
July 31. Vulnerability in Personal Storytelling Workshop // 5 - 8 pm et (free registration for paid subscribers)
I'm a slow writer, too! I feel seen (and relieved) whenever I bump into another slow writer because I used to think there was something wrong with me or that I wasn't as talented as I thought I was. This post indeed resonated. I, too, excelled in the classroom and in corporate America but I have the same disconnect between ambition and execution creatively, whether it's a short term or long term writing project. I do find that I'm okay with structure; it's the routine part that I always had a problem with. But I struggle with incorporating structure in my creative endeavors.