Dealing With NADD (Novel Attention Deficit Disorder)

Hello, my name is Randi, and I have NADD.

NADD, or Novel Attention Deficit Disorder, inhibits the mind’s ability to process one long, stretched out, continuing train of thought, leaving the infected individual unable to complete a novel-length piece of work. 

This serious but not in any way fatal illness affects thousands of writers each year, inhibiting their ability to progress in the field of professional pros. Symptoms of NADD include:

Writing a 15,000 word outline and then completing less than 10,000 words of a WIP (work in progress).

Staring blankly at an empty word document for hours on end.

Throwing crumpled, half sheets of paper across your living room or study.

Playing Words With Friends religiously because it is a distraction from the fact that you can’t focus on one linear train of thought, and

Cursing other writers because they can do the thing you cannot do.

Recently, my NADD has been affecting me more than not. Instead of writing, I find myself doing one of the following things: staring at my monitor until my eyes feel sore; surfing forums such as www.absolutewrite.com and www.mywriterscircle.com (both wonderfully insightful places to hang out, by the way); texting all of my friends obsessively until they finally update our game of Words With Friends; pacing the house, looking for any nook or cranny I haven’t dusted yet; or feeding my alpacas in Harvest Moon: A Tale of Two Towns.

This behavior of mine is seriously ticking me off. I know that if I complete a novel, even if I am not satisfied with my end result, there is a much higher chance of me breaking this frustrating cycle and doing it again, and that can lead to producing something I am truly happy with.

So I decided to put a list together of things I can do to stop my attention from floating off in ten different directions. I’d like to share that list with you in the hopes that some (or all) of it will help you overcome your own NADD.

1.)Write anyway! One of the things that I have seen recommended is writing for the sake of writing itself.  And I agree. if you are having trouble focusing or concentrating, a great way to beat these habits is to face them head on. Continue to write even if you are having a hard time focusing on what you are doing; you might end up with a good product or a bad product. Either way, you end up with a product.

2.)Put the devices away. I have far too many gadgets and all of them suck the attention and creativity out of me like leeches. If you have a handheld gaming device or gaming console, if you tend to app hunt on your Nook or Kindle a bit too much, or if you’re constantly making new playlists on iTunes, try ignoring your gadgets as much as possible during the writing process. Store them in a box in your closet if you have to.

3.)Change your display settings. Switch fonts and page views to something different. Having a new look or perspective might help foster your creativity and keep you focused longer.

4.)Write long hand. I don’t know if it’s the same for you, but something about having a pen in hand feels right and makes me inclined to write more.

5.) Don’t waste your creative energy on 15,000 word outlines! A lot of times if I do this I find my mind is spent and I’m already bored with the story by the time I’m finished. Try using that creative energy to write before doing anything else with it. You may find you’re duly rewarded.

If you’re anything like me then you’re already bored with this post so I’ll refrain from adding more at this time. These are a few of the tips I’ve picked up on my road to overcoming my NADD. I find that some of them are already helping; with any luck, they may help you overcome yours, too!

Here’s to actually finishing a WIP, and remember: whether your end result is a good product or a bad product, the important thing is that you were able to do the thing you could not do before.    

  

Feelin' Like A Full Time Job: How to Combat the Fatigue Associated With Self-Promotion

I have begun my journey into the world of shameless self-promoting. Sure, the first draft of Lightbringer is only at the halfway point and I have months to go before I start sending out queries, but it’s never too soon to start getting your name out there, right?

Right. Even a little publicity is better than none at all. Becoming a voice in the reading and writing community exposes you to one more person who may be interested in purchasing your work. After all, the probability of being heard exponentially increases once you decide that it’s time to talk.

So I started this blog, joined some forums, posted the first few chapters of Lightbringer on several online writing sites, wrote and submitted a couple of articles for Yahoo! Voices, sent out some queries for a few of my short story and poetry pieces, and entered an online writing competition or two.  I diligently put forth all of this effort and now I am almost the beginning of the beginning of a blip on the writing world’s radar.

But if I truly wish to someday become a blip, a real blip, simply talking is not enough. I need to listen, as well. We all do! If you want feedback you can’t simply sit there and shout for it; you need to return the favor: people are much more likely to listen to you if you listen to them first.

The writing world, like all worlds, is not a one-way street; we must also give if we wish to receive. With that in mind I volunteered my services as a beta reader, began giving advice on forums as I felt comfortable enough to give it, and started reading and reviewing other peoples’ work to show the writing world that I am as committed to helping as I am to being helped.

I have done all of this happily; I love helping and therefore the ‘listening’ part comes easy to me. As well, I love the prospect of publishing Lightbringer, so the ‘speaking’ part isn’t too difficult, either. The problem has become this: putting all of these efforts together.

I cannot say how many hours I have logged attempting to promote myself both as a speaker and a listener but, after this short time of doing it, I am already tired. Being a part of the community is actually trumping my writing; by the time I’ve finished checking this forum and that, responding with comments to stories, giving constructive criticism and even updating this blog it is either time to go to work, time to go do chores, or I am too overstimulated to even think about writing.  

Shameless self-promoting has become a full-time job.

I’ve decided I need to find a way to combat the mental fatigue that accompanies all of this extra effort. I need to learn how to put a cap on how much I’m doing for others so that I can create pockets of time that are exclusive to my writing. Everyone does.

This is what I have come up with so far:

Set Time Limits: If you only have three hours a day for “writing time” (writing time including promoting, reviewing, etc.) then set limiters on how much time you spend doing each task. Fifteen minutes of forum time and one hour to beta, perhaps. However you divvy it up, you must learn to limit the amount of time you’re spending on each individual task.

Don’t Take on More Than You Can Handle

 If forum-ing and beta-ing and story posting and contest entering and etc. are becoming too much to handle, consider cutting some of it out. Spend less time surfing forums or indicate to the person for whom you’re beta reading that you just don’t have the capacity to do it right now. Make a list of what you feel is most important to do and then cut that list by half. Overstretching yourself isn’t helping anyone: make sure you’re only taking on as much as you can handle.

Eat Right

It isn’t just some old wives’ tale; diet affects our capacity to be creative. If you find your creativity waning throughout the day, eat a banana, have some OJ or try absorbing a little bit of protein. You may find a proper diet provides more creative time and puts off the inevitable burn-out just a little longer.

Exercise!

Sometimes I do not want to work out because it’s “another forty-five minutes of writing time that I am losing.” Wrong! Exercise releases endorphins which means happier thoughts, a more positive attitude and more stamina and inclination to work longer! You might spend forty-five minutes not-writing, but that forty-five minutes may lead to an additional two hours of writing later.

Write First

This should have been the first point that I mentioned. I chose to end with it so that it would be the last thing in your mind as you finish reading. If you wake up and the first thing you think of is writing, then write. If you come home from work and the first thing you want to do is write, then write. Posting, reviewing, querying, participating are all important aspects of your life as a writer, but the lynch pin in all of this is the writing itself.

Make sure to get your writing out before you dive into doing anything else. It’s better to burn out while reviewing or blogging than it is to do so while working on what all that blogging and reviewing is all about! Make writing your number one priority; everything else can come second.

These are the tools with which I plan to use on my new full time job as a self-promoter. I hope they are of some help to you in your own job. As time permits I will definitely keep you apprised as to how they work for me!

"Teflon" IS an Emotion

A new culture has been born from, and flourishes on, the Internet; widely spreading and highly infectious, this culture stems from a particular state of mind:

“I am safe behind my computer screen. You cannot touch me here. I will be as rude and as hurtful as I want to because I can be.”

Everyone comes across this type of person now and then. It is inevitable that, when sharing your work online, people with what I like to call “e-tudes” will have something bitter to say about what you write simply for the sake of being bitter.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not talking about those who like to provide feedback in the form of constructive criticism. I thrive on constructive crit.; hearing what others believe to be my “high points” and “low points” is exceedingly helpful, especially when I might not know when I’m “doing something wrong.”

The people I am talking about, the “e-tuders,” have a vendetta against anything that isn’t them, and they’re going to take it out on whomever they feel like. Instead of providing constructive comments, they thrive on using superfluous language and passive-aggressive insults to bring others down.

Again, you know of whom I speak.

Yesterday, I encountered my first e-tuder since I began my work on Lightbringer.  Wanting feedback, I decided to post the first two chapters of my manuscript on several writing sites. The feedback has been mainly positive (with lots of ‘fix your grammar’ comments mixed in) and everyone I’ve asked has said that they would read another chapter (so long as I cleaned up my grammar.)

Then the e-tuder showed up. Without any previous knowledge of my writing style, this person chose to tear my writing apart. The comments were not constructive in any way, nor were they called for.

My first feeling was angry. My second feeling was hurt. My third feeling was believing that I might not be good enough to be a writer. My fourth feeling was “I want ice cream.”

Then the fifth element kicked in: Teflon.

When receiving obviously hurtful and spiteful comments it is important to remember that the ambiguity of the Internet does terrible things to people. Safe behind LCD screens and Ethernet cables, people are free to engage in grandiosity, narcissism, darkness, regression and impulsivity. Dr. Elias Aboujaoude has written an excellent book on the subject titled, “Virtually You: The Dangerous Powers of the E-Personality.”

Engaging in such behaviors can and does have a negative effect on people. Compulsive gamblers are born; identity thieves are born; narcissists are born; e-tuders are born. It is because of what these behaviors can do to people that we must make ourselves feel impervious to their psychological destructiveness. We must let these negative interactions roll right off of us and not stick, just like Teflon.

Remember that, while many people are offering you constructive feedback, there are those out there whose only agenda are to ruffle your feathers. Remember that you, not them, control how you feel. Remember that the only person capable of making you feel bad about yourself is you.

And always remember to keep “Teflon” in your back pocket; it is an emotion. 

The Many Faces of Me

Yesterday morning my manuscript was the most amazing piece of writing I had ever read. I loved each and every word, felt every syllable aligned in perfect harmony and believed my alliteration was above par. This manuscript was going to be my masterpiece and it was going to cement my place in history as the greatest writer ever known.

Then one o’clock reared its ugly head. Having gone back to review my most recently written chapter, I began finding spelling mistakes and grammatical errors I did not previously catch. Mind you, I am the first to admit that I am no English major. My field of study is in Communications, not prepositional phrases. I write because I love it, and while I continue to work on my grammar I rely heavily on editors to ensure my work is spotlessly clean.

By one-thirty I’d put the chapter aside and started a new one. Fixing grammatical errors is what editors are for, right? I would simply carry on my merry way and complete as much writing as possible before I had to re-enter the real world of chores, work and eating meals.

I took a break for several hours to do laundry, clean the kitchen, etc., and came back to my story around five o’clock. Once again, it was the most amazing thing I’d ever written. I loved it now and knew it was destined to become something great.

Then something funny happened- that something being eight o’clock. I re-read the work I’d done that day and suddenly hated it. It felt unprofessional, unpolished and not worthy of anyone’s time. I wanted to scrap the entire thing and start anew. Finding this an irrational thought, I chose to close my Macbook before I began ejecting all of my completed chapters into the trash bin.

This morning I woke up at five-thirty, primed and ready to continue on with my manuscript. 

Fighting with multiple emotions and feelings about my work happens quite often. I can go from love to hate to everything in between at the drop of a hat. Wondering if others go through this same pattern, I decided to create this blog to share my experiences and possibly provide tips to authors who, like me, can be very flippant about their work.

This is my story of struggling with loving, hating, and living with my emotions as I write.  This is the story of the many faces of me.