tips on writing consistently?

[deoxysacid]

i want to finally write out my full fledged pokemon fanfic! my outline is already nearly 6,000 words and im not even halfway through. but, ive realized, im terrible at doing things consistently. how am i supposed to go about writing daily or weekly? tips from fellow adhd-ers would be much appreciated, but anyone can chime in if you have a method to your madness. 

[Waap.]

I do more drawing than writing (because it takes less focus), but one thing I've noticed (and this will vary based on your specific flavour of ADHD) is that any kind of regular activity challenge (like Inktober or Don't Break the Chain), whether it be for art, exercise, or learning something new, completely falls apart the moment I have a messy or bad day, and the demotivational impact of that failure is far more powerful than any motivational benefits I had while I was still doing it. Some people thrive under external pressure and aren't knocked down as hard when they miss a day or a week or however long, but if it doesn't tend to work for you, I don't think it's worth continuing to hit your head against that wall.

When it comes to adding a new habit into my daily life, I find the way most likely to succeed is to staple that new activity onto a pre-existing habit. Wake-up and bedtime routines are the easiest for this, but if you have regular meals or other consistent daily activities you could use one of them as an anchor, and start having quiet focus time for a while after dinner, or something like that.

I find the thing that keeps me from writing and programming the most isn't that I don't want to do it or don't have the energy, but that I also want to do other things but can't multitask, so the more distracting activity wins out. I haven't tried the Quiet Time technique I'm proposing here yet, but I think it would do me a lot of good so I might give it a shot. I've had good results from attaching activities to my wake-up and bedtime routines, as well as to breakfast, because that's the one meal I'll consistently have on a given day, though the timing of it varies greatly.

Do you use Discord? There's this bot called Sprinto you can invite to servers that people use to do writing sprints, where you're trying to go full focus writing mode for spurts of time and then taking breaks. You can customise the time lengths I'm pretty sure. It's got a word count leaderboard for doing writies with other people, for those who benefit from competition or the quietly social element of knowing other people are writing alongside you. Sprinto doesn't really do much for me personally, but I've got other ADHD friends who swear by the thing.

All in all, the thing that keeps me coming back to writing even when I'm woefully inconsistent at it is that writing is fun and makes me feel accomplished. As long as you aren't undermining your own enjoyment of the craft, I reckon you'll get this beast of a project done eventually.

[deoxysacid]

oooh! sprinto sounds really helpful. i think ill try that out with some of my friends, since i know a fair amount of writers. i think your first point is a really good one, i also fall apart the moment i have a bad writing day. i just throw up my hands and go "oops! i messed up my streak so now i can never touch a piece of paper again!"

ty for taking the time to respond with such a good answer! ill take note of all this :]

[nvalk1]

Hi, I write just about every day (check my site) and for me there are a few things that help.

First, it is better to do a little bit every day (realistically, most days) and build on your endurance from there. Don't expect yourself to write a thousand words a day from the beginning though. Start small, maybe just a few hundred a day. If that's too hard, don't get down on yourself! Keep going smaller until it feels manageable and becomes CONSISTENT. Seriously, even if it's just a sentence a day, that's better than no sentences a day.

Second, since you have a detailed outline, use that outline to create milestones for yourself. This will not only give you a clearer direction for implementation, but also increase morale once those milestones are completed. Make the milestones small, achievable, and frequent.

Third, celebrate your wins. Not only should you feel rested after a successful day of writing, but you should also reward yourself with something that you really enjoy and that feels restorative. For me, I like to reward myself with sweets and naps because I am literally a 6 year old LMAO.

Fourth, give yourself permission to suck. Don't try to write and expect it to be good right when it comes out. Tell yourself "this is gonna suck, and that's okay because I can make it better later." Giving yourself this important permission is a crucial way to reduce friction and let that rough draft come to life. Remember this: the best writers are always the best revisers.

I hope this helps, and good luck 

[_ghost_]

I do more drawing than writing (because it takes less focus), but one thing I've noticed (and this will vary based on your specific flavour of ADHD) is that any kind of regular activity challenge (like Inktober or Don't Break the Chain), whether it be for art, exercise, or learning something new, completely falls apart the moment I have a messy or bad day, and the demotivational impact of that failure is far more powerful than any motivational benefits I had while I was still doing it.

This is what kept me away from journaling for so long. I would miss one day and feel like I'd failed, so I wouldn't touch my journal again for months. Getting really comfortable with the fact that I won't write everyday has made it more possible for me to write most days, which is more than I was writing before. I haven't gotten the chance to apply this to a fiction project yet due to other scheduling issues in my life, but I'm hoping this thought process will transfer: write as much as you can. Don't assume that has to be daily.

[Waap.]

...create milestones for yourself. This will not only give you a clearer direction for implementation, but also increase morale once those milestones are completed. Make the milestones small, achievable, and frequent.

This reminds me! There's this program Stimuwrite 2 that's a simple piece of writing software with a bunch of like audiovisual options that can help if you need more stimulation while writing, and it notably also includes a word count goal feature. It doesn't have a built-in save feature afaik so you have to copy+paste your writing to somewhere else when you're done, but it's got some nice settings for when you need to just lock in and go for it. There's some add-ons you can buy that I've never actually looked at, but the base program is free.

[anotherautumn]

what helped for me was using a format and program that works for me!
I use Notion for most of my task-setting and writing. It's super customizable, albeit complicated, but super worth to get set up for however your brain works!
Basically, what worked for me was trying a bunch of different ways to write, then my brain felt pretty unlocked. Notebooks didn't work, Notes app didn't, Evernote didn't, but Notion did! If you'd like, I can post/dm you some pics of my setup in case it helps inspire you! as a fellow ADHD-er, I've been recently trying, when I feel like "this thing isn't working quite right", to ask myself "what's a way I can try something different?" at worst you can go back to how it was before, and at best you'll find a way that works better!!