ADHD and Writing: What Works for Me

I had a few thoughts recently on ADHD and writing, and I'm going to share some of them here.

Now that I've been diagnosed, I look back and think how was it missed for this long? It's just there in every facet of my life.

Time blindness, procrastination, falling down a rabbit hole on hobbies and interests, going all in on those hobbies and then abandoning most of them. I can go on and on giving examples.

School assignments? 10pm the night before they're due. I learned how to compose at the keyboard instead of writing longhand and typing it in later because I took a short story writing class in college and didn't start my stories until 11pm the night before they were due. Ten to twenty pages? No problem.

The other thing I find interesting now that I know I have ADHD is that I hacked my own life to make it function. Seriously, I watch these ADHD hack videos on YouTube and I either already do them or I've tried them and they didn't work for me.

Writing and ADHD has been a struggle for me even when I didn't realize I had ADHD. I started writing when I was fourteen and my past is littered with projects that I wrote a few chapters on, revised until I was happy with them, then got bored and started a new story. I had to learn not to revise until the first draft was done and that was hard!

I learned to focus one scene at a time. My mantra was It can all be fixed on revision to keep myself moving forward, because if I stopped, I'd never finish the book.

And then I sold my first book. My second book had a four-month deadline. My third book? A four and a half month deadline. The fastest I'd written a book before that was one year. Somehow I managed to finish these books on time.

Someone asked me how long it took me to write a book and I countered with What's my deadline? Because if it's eight months, I'll write the book in eight months. If it's a year, it will take a year. I don't think I could do less than four months--that was really pushing it--but I did do it.

I think every writer needs to find what works for them as a process regardless if they have ADHD or not. No two writers are the same. But here is what's worked for me.

• Focusing on one scene at a time - Trying to think about writing a full book is overwhelming. A scene isn't for me. And when a scene did feel overwhelming, I would think about it in terms of pages. I needed to break it down into small chunks. I think this would work for any writer if they feel overwhelmed by the length.
• Putting up a kanban board on my office wall - I load the board with each chapter I need to write for the book. I'm not a plotter, so I don't know what's happening in these chapters, but I've written for enough years now that I have a good idea of how long it will take to tell the story I'm writing. My Paladin League books are around 80,000 words--the first draft often longer before it's edited--and I aim for around 36 chapters. Again, some books end up with more chapters and I adjust my kanban board as I go. The idea is my progress and how far I need to go is in my face every time I leave my office.
• Moving the Post-it Notes on my kanban board - I love checking off boxes in my planner and I definitely love moving my kanban board Post-it Notes from the In Work section to the Finished section. If I didn't get a little hit of dopamine doing this, I'm not sure the kanban board would work for me, but I do and it does.
   
   
  This is an old picture of my kanban board. That word of the year is gone now and this is several books ago. If I'm not mistaken, this was when I was editing Wicked Suspicion and loaded the board for the next Paladin League book, Wicked Ambition, which is now on sale. Because this system works for me so well, I committed to it with vinyl section titles.
• Using a combination of Excel and OneNote to keep track of my books/series - I tried so many other tools, Scrivener, Notion, notebooks, etc, and while I'm sure if I just had unlimited time and dopamine, I could learn Notion. (I want to use Notion so badly!) But my patience level isn't there. I want a tool I can sit down and use now, not after months of learning. I wrote Wicked Obsession partially in Scrivener and was certain I'd use it for the entire series, so I have information missing out of my series bible and OneNote collection for this book. No matter what I tried or what templates I purchased, Excel and OneNote work for me the best. Right now.
• My new writing planner - I will do a full review post on this after I've used it a little longer, but currently it's working really well. (If you want to read about how I set up an Erin Condren planner as my writing planner, you can check out Part One and Part Two). I'm still figuring out some of my sections, but the weekly dashboard layout is doing well for me. Right now. I have to qualify it because I haven't used it long enough to know if it will work indefinitely or if it's a good for right now thing.
• Time Tracking - What am I doing with my time when I'm at home? Every half an hour, I record the primary use of my time in a vertical booklet meant for a traveler's notebook. It's accountability. As someone easily distracted, I need to hold myself accountable. I tried using another booklet to time block, but that didn't work for me at all.
• Tracking Word Count - Some writers keep track of the time they spent writing to monitor themselves, but I get distracted too much and too easily. I know I'll be distracted. So time spent "writing" doesn't work for me as an accountability measure. Word Count does. How much forward progress did I make today? That's part of what I'm using my writing planner for. I added little circles that represent 250 words. My goal is to color in 4 every day--1000 words. More is a bonus. Yes, there are disappointing days, days where I did put in the time, but the scene isn't working and I cut it, and I have a negative word count for the day. Even with this, it's still a better measurement for me than time, because Oooh! Shiny! is a real thing for me.

I think this is everything I do to keep myself on track. I hope this helps someone. 

Another Weekly Plan

My weekly planning dilemma continues.

Daily? Nailed it.

Monthly? The system I found early this year is working beautifully.

Weekly? Struggle bus.

I can't remember who I was talking to, but someone told me they thought it made sense that intermediate planning is the toughest for me because of my ADHD. I can see that, but it doesn't mean it's not frustrating for me.

I've shared the previous attempts I've made at weekly planning on the blog. The one that lasted the longest was similar to my monthly system, but even though I go to the weekly page multiple times a day (it's where I record the weather, sky conditions (i.e. Sunny, cloudy), and where I record my writing word count for the day), I can't manage to even look at the middle section where my weekly tasks are listed.

Nothing else I've tried even worked as well as this idea.

So I'm trying my latest new plan.

I have a six-ring, A5 binder from a planner I used years ago. I bought undated A5 weekly pages from a small business that will fit in this binder. The left side has a horizontal weekly and the right side is a blank page.

Yes, I tried this in a bound planner earlier this year. Yes, I learned I liked everything in one book. Yes, this idea might crash and burn as quickly as the others. 

My thought this time is my primary planner sits in my kitchen. I would keep the binder in my office. I will not have any other tasks in the six-ring binder, only the weekly tasks. This means that every time I'm in my office, I will see my weekly tasks because there's nothing else to look at on the planner. In the meantime, everything else will be in my main planner--Command Central.

Like I said, I don't know if this will work either. I just have to keep experimenting even this late into the year. If this fails, too? Well, at least the pages are undated so I can use it for something else later. 

Decision Time!

It's that time of the year again, believe it or not. Time to decide on my 2026 planner line up.

I received no compensation of any kind for mentioning these brands. This is what I'm using or thinking of using and I bought (or will buy) everything myself.

I posted in August about creating my own writing planner from the Erin Condren dashboard layout planner, and since that's 18 months, it will take me through 2026. So far, it's working exceptionally well for me on the weekly level. I keep forgetting to look at the monthly calendar or the monthly dashboard.

The command center planner, the one that keeps me on track, will be another Journey planner. The Journey planner is fabulous! It's the meal section that makes it perfection for me. It also comes with the months, a vertical weekly layout, and dated daily pages.

I have a new strategy for using the monthly pages. Instead of only keeping track of appointments there, I also bought itty bitty icon stickers to keep track of things. Now I can tell at a glance when my lawn guy came (lawn mower), what day I cooked (spatula), or when my cleaning service came (spray bottle). This is easier than what I was doing--putting it on the daily pages and then flipping through to find what I need.

Even after spending 2025 in the Journey planner, I'm still trying to figure out my weekly pages. I have the weather there (I like that) and my word count for the day recorded there (as well as my writing planner), but keeping track of weekly things that need to get done? Well, nothing I've tried has gotten me to actually do the things.

Then there are the daily pages, which really work for me and my ADHD. I'm compulsive about checking off the items on the daily list, so I get those done.

I need an Everyday Carry (EDC). This year, I am using a Sterling Ink N2 size horizontal planner. The compact version with fewer pages. As it turns out, I didn't use anything except the monthly pages, so for 2026 I'm going to buy the N2 monthly booklet and an N2 notebook. The notebook means I can switch it year to year if I don't use it.

I'll also get the Sterling Ink vertical weekly booklet in the N1 size. That's traveler's notebook size. I use it for time tracking. I tried to use it for time blocking, creating a schedule ahead of time, but that didn't work at all. Tracking after the fact does work for me.

I also need a journal and this is where I'm more up in the air. I like the B6 size, so I'll stick with that, and I know it will be Sterling Ink, but I'm not sure if I'm going to get the weekly version with the 365+ pages behind the weekly spreads or buy the daily planner. I'm not using the weeklies at all in this year's B6 journal since I'm time tracking in the booklet, but if I buy the vertical weekly, I could maybe time track in there and skip the booklet? On the other hand, I could just buy the daily planner and not have to worry about dating any pages. The debate will have to be settled very soon.

For 2025, I bought Hemlock & Oak and didn't use it, so I'll re-date it for 2026 and use it this year. I'm going to try to do a list every day. The Currently list where I name what I'm reading, what I'm writing (although as slow as I am, I think it will be what chapter I'm writing), what I'm listening to, etc.

For 2025, I also bought a Just Scribble Plans. I really like the layout, and it might have been a battle between it and the Journey planner, but sadly, the one I want is only sold in two volumes. Command Central can not be two volumes, so I'll be skipping this planner this year. I really like to support small planner companies, but having a duplicate planner in my office is just too much repetition for me. I stopped filling in this year's in July. Too much work to keep everything synced and for very little value added.

I'm tempted to try the Aura Estelle this year. I nearly tried it last year, but I'd already bought so many planners, I couldn't find a use for one more. Maybe this year? Another topic of debate.

Finally, the Hobonichi Cousin. I took that for a trial run in 2025. If the boutique planners like Journey and Sterling Ink ever go away, the Cousin is the way I'd go, but it's a distant third. There's too much work needed to cover up quotes and fixing the timeline on the daily pages and other stuff. But it's nice to know that there is a big company making a planner that would work for me should the smaller companies stop creating their planners.

I think that covers everything from last year and the planners I'm looking at for this year. You know I will be talking more because planners are a passion. There are some changes I'm making to how I use Command Central, so maybe I'll post about that some time. 

Book Journal Blues

You guys! I was so close to throwing away my reading journal! It's ugly and the pages are sticking together and it's not updated and I don't even want to work in it because I'm so disappointed with it.

I haven't tossed it yet, but only because the idea of reprinting everything and setting up a new journal feels too overwhelming. I'm just not sure that it's worthwhile to do anything with the current journal. I already have ideas on how to do it better next year, but for this year? Now what?

I have some really nice pages in the beginning of the journal and I used a lot of my supplies to make them. I was thinking I could cut them out and reuse them, but then I realized they're double sided and I'd only be able to keep one side. Another reason why I didn't attack the journal.

Not only is the journal ugly and the adhesive is causing massive sticking issues, I also created another problem when I set it up. I used a craft knife to cut washi tape and accidentally sliced into the string holding the binding together. Now I have a whole signature of pages trying to separate from the book.

Something else that leaves me disappointed with the journal.

So what do I do? Do I just forget about using the journal for the rest of the year and keep this dilapidated thing? Do I throw it away and just not have a book journal for 2025 to keep? Do I remake the 2025 book journal and toss that mess away?

I just don't know.

Also, I am writing and the book journal takes time. Just setting up the 2026 journal will be busy enough. Remaking 2025, too? Gah!

So what would you do? Visit me on Facebook and offer some sage advice! 

Reading Journal Trial Run

I've discussed doing my own reading journal. My pages haven't turned out nearly as gorgeous as I'd hoped. I mean, I knew it wouldn't measure up to a lot of other people's journals because art stuff doesn't come naturally to me, but I didn't think it would be as bad as it is.

I have a different plan for next year, but in the meantime, I decided to try using stickers. I found a sticker maker who does all kinds of reading stickers and ordered the August kit. Well, I ordered part of the kit à la carte because the kit had two pages of stickers I knew I wouldn't use.

The shop also had an August reading challenge, and I did buy that kit. Which was probably something I should have skipped since I'm still struggling with that big reading challenge that I joined late, but I did it anyway because I like the challenges so much.

This is the first time I've done a monthly spread in my reading journal. I'd been keeping track via the list I have at the front of the journal, but I was thinking I would split out the months going forward. There was also matching bookshelf washi tape available, so I picked that up, too.

In addition to the August bookshelf page, I also have the facing page with the list of books releasing in August. I got too excited and added a non-August book, but there was no way to erase it, so I'll live with it. Because of the size of the stickers for Most Anticipated, Books Bought, and Books Releasing This Month, I used some butterfly stickers to fill the white space. 

These two pages hold the reading challenge stickers. I started out with all six prompts on the left hand page, but then realized I wouldn't be able to put down book covers for each of the prompts. I readjusted onto both pages. That left a great big chunk of white space on the lower right, so I added two butterflies in that location. Then I added a butterfly sticker and butterfly washi tape to the left side so that it looked more cohesive.

Here is a close up of the butterfly page. I colored them in with glitter markers, although I'm not sure that comes through in the picture. It looks very nice in person. Okay, it looks reasonably nice. I had trouble with the stamps for both butterflies and white out tape was required to get rid of the smudging.