Words by Kate Solly
I know I need to write this. I just need to get words on the page. Just open the document. Just open the document. Just open the document after I check this Facebook message. Wait. How long have I been reading about Correct Ways to Cut Vanilla Slice and Nine Other Pastry Tips that will Blow Your Mind?
I’m an ADHD writer and I can tell you: I’m not the only one. You’ve heard of ADHD haven’t you? Technically, it’s “a developmental disorder characterised by difficulties with concentration, attention and impulse control which impact on the person’s day-to-day life.”
I prefer to think of it as a different operating system from Standard Brain 1.0 with some features outperforming others. My grammar around ADHD can get wonky because I prefer to describe it as an identity, rather than a condition. It’s someone I am, not something I have.
People like to say ADHD is a superpower. It’s a nice thought, but I don’t agree. It’s so easy for ideas like these to be used to dismiss the struggles experienced by ADHDers on a daily basis. Instead, I say ADHD is my secret weapon. A confetti cannon, maybe. Powerful and unpredictable.
Writing is a career well-suited to ADHDers, who can find it difficult to manage typical nine-to-five jobs. ADHD comes with a persistent drive to create, an ability to see patterns and make connections, and flexible thinking.
When a creative project has my attention, the drive to work on it is stronger than the need for perfect conditions. It is definitely stronger than the need to do any sort of housework. While it’s nice to be able to write at a proper desk, I can write in the car, in a tent, in IKEA or at McDonalds late at night.
As an ADHDer, I also have the ability to hold many ideas in my head as being possible at the same time. This is what causes me to regularly double-book appointments, but is a handy skill for mapping out an unwieldy and ever-changing plot. In a similar way, my ability to connect the dots and see patterns is useful in developing authentic characters, and making humorous observations.
I’d like to tell you that all my ADHD traits have turned me into a supreme writing machine, but unfortunately it’s not that simple. There are aspects of ADHD that can be challenging for writers. Put simply, we struggle with motivation, getting started, staying organised and rejection sensitivity.
There are days when I really struggle to focus. When I’m feeling distractible, I eke it out 100 words at a time. After I achieve this tiny goal, I get a small prize like doing the daily Wordle. Then I go back in for another 100 words. Sometimes doing this cycle once is enough to get me into flow, sometimes I need to keep writing in little bursts all through the day.
‘Body doubling’ is what we call it when someone helps us to stay focussed just by working alongside us. This might be a friend sitting at my kitchen table as I do the housework, a family member to sit on the end of my bed as I cull my wardrobe. As I write this, the screen on my phone shows a Zoom call of seven other writers all working silently. I do a few of these sorts of things throughout the week to get the writing done. It really helps.
I’m also a fan of productive procrastination. If I can’t stop myself from wandering off task, I make sure I wander somewhere useful. I often have a smaller writing job, like a magazine article, on the go at the same time as my novel. Research is a great way to procrastinate, as is writerly admin. Sometimes my brain needs a little rest. Sometimes procrastination is part of the process.
Rejection sensitivity can hit hard. I know it’s not real, but I feel it, just the same. Logically I know that my publisher has only just received my email and can’t be expected to get back to me just yet, that what my editor has given me is constructive criticism, that a dip in sales is normal and to be expected, but actually what if it isn’t? What if they all despise me? What if they are having a staff meeting right now discussing the Kate Solly Problem and bemoaning the fact that they bet on the wrong horse for a second book deal? What then?
Being ADHD also means I have a rather fraught relationship with time. My nickname at uni was Kate-be-late. There are several reasons that ADHDers can struggle with punctuality. Our perception of time and ability to estimate how much time something will take is a difficulty, sometimes called ‘time blindness’. We can be disorganised, forgetful, inattentive, or distracted. We can get so wrapped up in what we are doing, we lose all sense of time.
I love going to library talks, radio interviews, festival sessions and bookshop events. I want to be invited back to do it again, so I put a whole lot of work into being punctual. I’ve learnt that I can plan to arrive impossibly early or I can arrive late. There is no in-between. As a result, I get a lot of writing done in my car outside an event while waiting for an acceptable time to go inside.
People don’t call me Kate-be-late anymore. I look like the person who is effortlessly punctual, breezily wandering in right-on-time. People don’t need to know I have spent the entire day preparing myself in anticipation of the event and will spend the entire next day recovering.
So, there are challenges that come with my neurotype, but I think they are outweighed by the advantages. My impulsivity and willingness to take risks has brought me more opportunities and success than might otherwise be expected of a modest debut novel. My horror of boredom drives me to create writing that is pared back to its most entertaining. My flexible brain can manipulate complex story points, even as my dinner burns.
Confetti gets everywhere. It’s an inconvenience and a pain to sweep up. But sometimes? Sometimes a secret confetti cannon is exactly what you need!
