tarot spreads that tell me small secrets about myself that i already knew but want whispered to me anyway
to build a home playing quietly from my phone while i sit in the living room and write this
our garden at twilight when the suns sneaking away and the ants are biting my feet
my friends my friends my friends
girlhood and running and climbing and making poisons that we bury under your trampoline and this will kill our enemies you say and i wonder if you're serious but dont dwell we are so young we dont have the time
mum telling us about when she stopped a man from poking her eyes out in amsterdam because she had seen it done in duck soup
reading poetry on the train rephrasing the hills redefining myself in the eyes of strangers
catching up on my dreams paying attention to them letting myself sink into them snoozing my alarm for them
being patient and taking in each moment and planting spatulas in my garden
the ADHD writer's guide to actually finishing a draft (no, seriously) 📝
okay, tumblr, writers... we need to TALK about how to actually finish a damn draft when your executive functioning decided to pack its bags and leave for a permanent vacation in the bahamas.
i'm not here to give you that basic "just set a timer!" advice that makes me want to throw my laptop into the sun. we all know those productivity hacks that work for neurotypicals make us want to scream into the void. (been there, screamed that.)
so here's the ACTUAL guide from someone who's written three novels while her brain was actively trying to sabotage her the entire time.
FIRST: accept that linear writing is a capitalist construct designed to torture us.
i'm serious. whoever decided writers should start at chapter 1 and proceed neatly to THE END clearly didn't have dopamine playing hide-and-seek in their prefrontal cortex.
write whatever scene has your brain chemicals SINGING today. that climactic fight scene that's six chapters away? the tender moment between your characters that happens in the middle? WRITE IT NOW while your brain is actually interested. i have finished entire novels by writing them in chunks and stitching them together like the beautiful frankenstein's monster they are.
SECOND: the 10-minute lie (that actually works???)
tell yourself you're only going to write for 10 minutes. that's it. no pressure. your adhd brain can handle anything for 10 minutes, right? the secret is that once you start, momentum becomes your best friend. sometimes you'll actually stop at 10 minutes (congrats, you still wrote something!) but often you'll look up and realize it's been two hours and you've written 2,000 words. and yes i've seen this a lot, like everywhere, where they tell you "set a timer for 5, and by the time you realize it's 2 hours" i've seen this many times before, and it actually works. at first i thought it didn't but boy, i was wrong.
THIRD: use your hyperfixation powers for good, not evil.
we all know that adhd comes with the superpower of becoming obsessed with random things for unpredictable amounts of time. WEAPONIZE THIS. create artificial urgency around your project. tell people about your deadline. make elaborate aesthetic pinterest boards. create a spotify playlist that you only listen to while writing this specific project. trick your brain into making your WIP the shiny new hyperfixation.
FOURTH: body-doubling saved my writing career and it can save yours too.
find another writer friend (or any friend who needs to do focused work) and sit together - virtually or physically - while you both work. something about having another human witnessing your work process bypasses the executive dysfunction. i swear it's actual magic. discord writing sprints, zoom sessions with cameras off but mics on - whatever works.
FIFTH: embrace the chaos of your natural writing cycle.
some days you'll write 5,000 words in a frenzy at 3am. other days you'll stare at the document for an hour and write "the." BOTH ARE VALID WRITING DAYS. the only consistency we need is returning to the document, not some arbitrary daily word count.
SIXTH: create external accountability that doesn't make you want to die.
deadlines from publishers? great. deadlines you set for yourself? your brain laughs and says "or what?" find the sweet spot - maybe it's a writing buddy you check in with, maybe it's a public progress tracker, maybe it's promising your sister you'll take her to dinner when you finish a chapter.
SEVENTH: the frankendraft approach.
your first draft DOES NOT need to be good, coherent, or even make sense. it just needs to exist. leave yourself notes like [FIGURE OUT HOW SHE GETS FROM THE CASTLE TO THE BEACH LATER] and keep moving. your adhd brain will thank you for not getting stuck in research rabbit holes for six hours.
EIGHTH: find your optimal writing environment through shameless trial and error.
maybe you need complete silence. maybe you need to be in a coffee shop with specific ambient noise. maybe you need to write standing up. maybe you need to dictate your novel while pacing around your apartment. there is no wrong way to get the words out.
i personally write best when i'm slightly uncomfortable (weird, i know) so i often end up writing while sitting on my kitchen floor with my laptop balanced on a chair. whatever works, bestie. a finished messy draft is infinitely more valuable than the perfect novel still trapped in your head. your adhd brain is simultaneously your greatest challenge and your greatest asset as a writer. the connections you make, the unique perspectives, the creativity - all of that comes from the same place as the struggles.
you've got this. now go write something, even if it's just for 10 minutes. i believe in you. ✨ -rin t.
✦ A free (and actually helpful) guide to leveling up your first 10 pages ✦If you're unsure whether your opening is ✨doing enough✨ to hook re
A gothic prompt pack for writers who love cursed universities, secret societies, and scholarly rot.✎ Write the Darkness ✎A 75-prompt horror
Once again recommending that writers, especially newer writers, start ‘rubber ducking’
When you’re stumped and you don’t know what’s not working for your writing, or you don’t know where to go next, take out a rubber duck (or any equivalent friend/inanimate object, I like to use my dogs) and start explaining every single detail as if the rubber duck knows nothing about writing or about your story. Explain out loud what’s going on, what part you’re up to, why you’re stumped, and what you know you need to get to when you figure out how to get there
Somewhere along the line of putting it into words and externalising the thought process, it’s likely something will slot into place
Fanfic is a great way to practice self-indulgence while writing. It doesn’t even have to be good, it just exists purely for your pleasure, be a little freak about it. Worry about quality and what other people think when it comes to works you intend to publish in a formal setting
my phone broke btw. i’m really enjoying not being able to use it. ive been waking up earlier, and i’ve been recording myself more. i posted a video where i did some intuitive drawing. filmed and edited all in the same day, which is something i’ve never done before. phones really eat up our day. we must fight the eater, and consider ourselves as separate beings. extend our souls into greater pursuits.
i’ve been thinking about simulation swarm by big thief. the imagery is so evocative, like electric dreams and that wire–nature crossover; this strange world that intersects with the divine and that which we choose to worship. pocket gods and blue light.
Lighthouses are an underrated form of wizard tower. A grey-bearded old man spends all of his time tending to a light that must never go out, for if it does it will bring disaster? What else could that be?
“Go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
