Hello again!

My latest book, The Cult of the Open Eye, has been out for a few weeks now. For a little novella side project put out with minimal marketing, I am very happy with how it has been doing. It may never be a bestseller, but it has been nice to see it selling a few copies and getting some positive reactions.

My productivity in Elixir of Power Book 2 has been lower than I would like, but it hasn't been zero. I'm now up to the 38% mark, which is a fair way into the 'second trimester', so to speak. The original deadline I set myself - September 13th - now looks like it was hopelessly optimistic. In the end, it doesn't matter all that much. It was an arbitrary deadline anyway, and I don't depend on the books for income.

My experience of writing books as someone with ADHD is that productivity comes and goes in cycles and seasons. If 'Summer' is the time when I type page after page at a furious rhythm, then 'Winter' is the time it is very hard to put two sentences together. I'm sure that accepting the warm and cool seasons as they come is the healthier option. Still, it's very difficult to actually accept them. There's always a less-than-healthy feeling of pressure that I 'should' be writing.

There's always a false feeling that I should be able to perform at my best, no matter which 'season' of ADHD I'm going through.

I think everyone goes through something like this. Good times and bad times; smooth sailing and rough seas. There are a few things I have observed in my particular case about what gets me through it. These will be rather specific to my situation—a writer fighting waves of ADHD like a very untalented surfer—but maybe some of it will resonate.

Sometimes the task is deceptively difficult

This book and this trilogy feel more difficult to write, and I keep forgetting to adjust my expectations. I have a leaky memory, so it's hard for me to keep track of all the minor characters and subplots and locations and all the other little details that have to be consistent over three books totaling 450,000 words and spanning years of writing. I also get much more interested in new things, new ideas, new books, compared to old ones. To stay on the same project for such an extended period is very challenging, and I keep feeling tempted to start something else.

The solution is to trying to remember: This might be easier for other people, but for me it is hard. Try to keep that in mind and treat yourself with forgiveness.

The toughest part is starting

Even on days when my concentration and motivation is below average, I find that if I simply sit at the desk and open the Word document, there's a chance I'll get something done. This works best if I trick myself a little bit. I say, "Hey Tim, just open the Word doc. You don't need to do anything—just open it. Hey, Tim, now that it's open ... maybe just read your notes a little. Hey, Tim, now that you've read your notes a little, maybe just type one little thing. One little thing—that can't hurt, can it?"

Works like a charm. I am such a gullible person that I even fall for my own tricks.

'Pre-imagination' and 'Dot Point Scaffolding'

I might have introduced these ideas in previous newsletters (I forget everything I've typed the minute I send the emails off) but I find they are crucial in keeping myself on task.

With Pre-imagination, I put my overly active, constantly daydreaming mind to a more productive purpose. Rather than shutting my daydreams off, I try and direct them to the task of laying out the scene I'm currently working on. What would this character say? What would this place look like? What kind of language and tone will suit this sort of scene?

All I need to do is use the quiet time between things to daydream about my book—while driving, in the shower, waiting for the kettle to boil, whenever!

I am finding that this technique is crucial for me in the way that my ADHD works. I get bored easily. My attention is a little scattered. My memory can be very patchy. Pre-imagination helps on all these fronts. If I have already formed a somewhat clear idea of what I'm going to type, then I'm able to sit down and simply put the words on the page. Since I'm not sitting there staring at the screen, I don't get bored. Since I don't get bored, my attention doesn't wander. Since my attention isn't wandering, I can keep my limited short-term memory on task and get the details consistent.

Dot Point Scaffolding is a related approach, where I basically prepare an increasingly detailed dot-point list of things that will happen in the scene. Every time I find that I'm unable to do any actual writing, I write more dot points further down the page, making all the vague parts more explicit. These dot points make a 'scaffolding' for the actual scene, and once I'm finished, the scaffolding is cleared away.

Say, for example, I have a scene in which Person A is convincing Person B. Originally, my plan for the scene might be 'Person A convinces Person B to cooperate.' If I haven't been able to Pre-Imagine (trademark pending) how exactly this is going to unfold, then there's a good chance I will get stuck.

Then I'll write out dot points until they look like this:

• First Person A appeals to their long-standing friendship. Person B expresses that they're still very uncertain.
• Person A persists, explaining everything that might go wrong if they don't cooperate. Person B gets irritated, defensive.
• Then, as the argument heats up, Person B blurts out something that reveals a previously hidden fear.
• Person A realizes that the conflict has been about that fear all along, and proposes a way of cooperating that will address the fear.
• Now that Person B has had their fears addressed, they accept.

It's a silly made-up example, but that sort of thing works really well for me. If I'm still stuck, I put even more detail into the dot points.

The great thing about this technique is that there are no stakes. Writing can sometimes be paralyzing when you feel that what you write has to be perfect. But the dot points never have to be perfect! Nobody will ever see them except me. They give me the space to flesh things out in a more concrete way before I have to 'set them in stone' as part of the actual draft.

Restructure things to align with your natural strengths

This is a more long-term technique, and it applies to more than just my writing.

I have a leaky memory and I am distractible. However, I am creative and intelligent in certain ways (not in any ways that pay well, unfortunately). I find coming up with new ideas easy. I have strong problem solving skills.

I mentioned above that ADHD comes in waves, and sometimes it sends a good wave. Sometimes I randomly get really enthusiastic about something. Sometimes I find myself filled to the brim with a kind of electrifying energy that just needs an outlet, and those are the times I can write a whole chapter in one sitting.

It has been a long road, but since I have come to understand that my brain has a particular way of functioning, with particular strengths and weaknesses, I have become better at structuring things to work with me, not against me.

In terms of writing, it has given me the idea to write a series that will allow for the sort of fun variety and challenge my brain craves. It's all centered around the idea of a fractured world, connected by a series of portals. Each mini-world has its own particular rules, its own magic, and the details and history of certain events is liable to change as you go from one to the next. I think I'll be able to bring a fun sense of variety into a series like that, while freeing myself of the burden of remembering dozens of fiddly little details.

I'm still working on the premise, but it will be something like a Fantasy, portal-world take on a Robin Hood style story, where a gang of lovable misfits traipse from place to place in search of adventure. (Maybe I've already mentioned this story idea in a previous email? It's hard to remember ...)

Oh! And speaking of memory—before I forget—below are some books by authors like me that I hope you'll enjoy!

Book Recommendations

Thanks for reading

Until next time!