Rewire the brain, that is. The ol' noggin. Mr. Gray Matter. El Thinky Bits.
I'm heading into my 18th year as a full-time author. Some of the habits and practices that got me to where I am have slowly eroded, gradually faded to the point where I wasn't really aware that they didn't work as well as they used to. When that happens to someone like me, who dances with the ADHD in the pale moonlight, you need to take a big step back and look at what's not working.
The deadlines of the last five years knocked the holy hell out of any regular schedule I wanted to keep. Add in the insane political landscape of America and the angst (and incredulity) it brings, and my focus has crumbled. With WARPATH off to the publisher, SLAY Book II and GFL VII waiting for their final draft passes, I'm diving in to THE CRYPT Book II's second draft, and while doing so, kicking the tires and lighting the fires of some new habits.*
I'm rearranging the phaser array that is my mind. I'm reprioritizing the stuff that matters most to me so I spend the most time doing that stuff. This will be an iterative process to get me back to focused production time, i.e., when I sit down to write, I want to be writing and not doing 101 other things.
I'm going to blog about this periodically. Feel free to follow along with this jaunt and see how I do. If you are an ADHDer and you have suggestions, feel free to comment. And I'll be honest — if you're not an ADHDer, your suggestions, while appreciated, probably ain't gonna do shit for me. I've read all the books about organization, scheduling, effective work habits, setting goals, etc. The neurodivergent brain operates in ways that don't mesh with what works for those with neurotypical brains.
So, Step 1: Re-work the workday schedule. Hence the graphic for this post. Lemme walk you through the whats and whys.
6:00am: Up, tea
A huge part of this effort, if not the main part of this effort, is to get good sleep. Getting good sleep, for me, means training my body to go to bed at the same time every night (11pm) and getting up at the same time every day (6am). That's seven hours of sleep. Sleep is one of my superpowers. I put the head on the pillow, and most nights — at least not during election years — I'm out. The trick for me is going to bed. I'm hyper. I never want to go to bed. I've been that way since I was a little kid. My wife is awesome and my dogs are awesome and there's awesome stuff on TV and YouTube and social media and there's Fortnite and books and movies and... well, I simply don't want to go bed. Like ever.
But doing so at the same Bat-time every night is how this habit of good sleep and effective, focused work begins. So that's the goal.
As for getting up at 6am, that's gonna be a challenge. Gotta do it. No more hitting "snooze."
And the tea? No, I'm not trading gossip, it's actual tea. I've mostly stopped drinking coffee, because I sing in a band and I've learned coffee is terrible for my voice. Black tea and lots of it, with honey. I get almost as much caffeine. I get the morning ritual of making it. I take it with me on my...
6:30am: Dog walk
My dogs are awesome. I want to pet them and hug them and squeeze them. Mush their little faces. Most days I'm up in my office for 10+ hours. They mostly hangout downstairs with ARealGirl Herself. So getting them out for that early morning walk is a great way to give them love and to get me moving. Exercise lets the thoughts flow. And while I'm out walking, I can do various singing warmups (quiet ones), so it's two birds with one stone.
7:15am: Downstairs vocal work
ARealGirl herself has a crazy sleep pattern. For whatever reason, she's often randomly awake from like 2am to 5am. When she gets back to sleep, we make sure she gets as much as she can. I can't be doing loud singy stuff, as my office is one thin, sliding door away from the bedroom.
So with this new schedule, it's into the garage and the vocal booth we've used to record a dozen-plus audiobooks. I can be loud in there.
I'm finally allowing myself to make singing work a priority in my life. I love to perform, love to play in bands. I'm not a good singer. Becoming one takes a lot of work. This morning double-up on vocals when my brain is in no shape to make stuff for you guys is a gift to myself. I've earned the right to chase the hobbies I want to chase. As Dee Snyder once said, "I wanna rock."
7:45am: Shower and shave
I won't lie — at times during my heavy deadlines I'd go two or three days without showering. I would get up, walk the dogs, sit at my desk and get to work. I had to, because I was so far behind. Every minute counted. And once at work (writing, business stuff, all the things that go into being two-person company), I'd keep working until around 9pm. Then I just wanted to crash on the couch for a couple of hours before going to bed. Did I smell funny? Probably. With my ADHD manifestations, it's really easy to think "I don't have time to shower." Which is idiotic, of course, because it takes all of 15 minutes. But that's my brain for you. I can't tell you how many times I asked myself "Did I shower yesterday?" because I couldn't remember.
So, I'm making daily grooming part of the ritual. Not just a shower, my friends, but buzzing up my glorious bald dome and shaping my Tony Stark face lettuce. Imma start the day looking and feeling like a million bucks. And also I won't be stinky.
8:00am: Miscellaneous stuff
Emails gotta be read. Social media gotta get done. Gotta make sure that desk is ready to go for the day's work. Making sure notecards are processed. Checking Remember The Milk (more on that in a future post) to see all the to-dos I forgot. Maybe eat a little bit. Drink more tea.
8:30am: Tinkle the ivories
Time to write, folks. This is the focal point of my rewiring — being on the computer, writing, with focus and energy, for four hours, every single weekday. If I can train my body to follow the schedule above, I should be able to hit the ground running for making fun things for you.
What about the rest of the day?
I'll get to that at another time. The rest of the day varies, as there is so much business-related stuff that's not writing. I try to schedule things on particular days to make sure those things get done.
Thanks for playing
I needed to get all this down to help with my personal accountability. This isn't just another willy-nilly Imma beat this ADHD this time, you just watch effort. I'm trying to really put in the blood, sweat, and tears to become a more efficient creator, the kind who doesn't make you wait five years for the next book in a series.
With that, I'm off to start Day One of THE CRYPT Book II's second draft.
Later gaters.
* Yes, I know that's a figure of speech for a preflight check, but it sounds so cool, and since I will not be doing any preflight checks in the immediate future (or ever) I found a place to say it. Next up, finding a way for me to use the phrase "turn and burn."
