It's a trap!
I think that if I grew up a generation or two later than I did, I would have been diagnosed with ADD. I was not a hyper kid but I sure was a dreamer and easily distracted by lots of stuff.
I can recall my 2nd grade teacher getting frustrated with me because my attention would drift from her teachings to the puffy white clouds floating through the blue sky.
As an adult I have learned how to focus. I can easily sit on the computer and pound away on the keyboard, the kids running around the house screaming like banshees and I don't even notice them. April does not know how I do it. Sometimes I can't tell if she's bemused or caustic about it.
But It Still Gets Me Sometimes
My ADD surfaces in a different way. When I'm writing content for my website, I'm often thinking about what I'm going to write next.
IT'S A TRAP!
I find myself jumping around from point to point on my posts at times. But I've found a way to avoid this. This slows my writing process and I've found it often leads to a less than stellar quality post. But I've found a way to mitigate it.
When I decide what I'm going to write about, the very first thing that I do is write out all of the headings for the post. They may change. I may add to them as I get inspiration in the writing process or I may decide that one heading does not fit and either tweak it or remove it all together.
This allows me to have a laser focus on the subtopic of the overall subject. If I have my scaffolding laid out before me, I find it far easier to stay on target and my posts wind up coming out better.
Also, to ensure quality, I never publish a post as soon as I'm finished writing it. I almost always re-read it right away for proof and flow. I then close it, walk away for an hour or two and come back to it and re-read it with fresh eyes.
I'm not saying that I don't occasionally post a dude. Sometimes when I go back and read an older post my first thought is, "What was I smoking when I wrote this?" But the beauty of this is that I can change it and it winds up becoming a stronger post.
Do you have some tips for better writing or avoiding my dreaded ADD? I'd love to hear about them in the comments.
Recent Comments
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I like you tip on not publishing right away and editing it.. I tend to publish to get it out there, which bites me... I like your style...
Thanks, PJ. I sometimes jump the gun too because I'm eager to get new content out the door ASAP, but I always do better waiting at least an hour or two, proofread again and then post. I probably have several posts to go back and straighten out myself. :)
Restraint keeps us out of much hot water. I am usually racing to fix a major error before someone reads it and see what an idiot she is... LOl!
Well being a mom of 7, my wife would say you are not an idiot, you just have "baby brain".
LOL! yes, a friend of mine was talking in large concise sentences and I was, like, hey, I feel lucky just to remember what I want to say...
Yep ... the same with me. I do similar thing - I write out headings and ideas first as the shoot into my head. But also-sometimes just let it all blurt out on the page. These ones I don't post until another day - gives me time to re-read and edit.
Have you seen my checklist? It might help you a lot Checklist before you hit the publish button, 25 points! I would have been labeled too 50 years ago, they never heard of high sensitivity. I have had a dreadful time in classes with over 50 students, which was quite common in those days
Thanks, Loes. This training is great and will help me. These are all things I know to do, but the positive reinforcement really helps.
By the way, ADD can be a blessing. Sounds like you manage it really well. Be graceful with yourself when you rabbit-trail. Just set realistic goals. If you think something will take you 60 minutes to complete, add another 30 minutes.
HI Christian. An ADD coach once told me that it takes someone with our blessing twice as long to complete stuff than it does "normies". I found his statement to be true. The process you described is consistent with the Creative process as a whole. Sounds like you use your hyper-focus ability really well (I can relate). Much of what you described here I go into detail in my book on ADD & creativity. You write really well so it sounds like your process is working!
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I start with some headings and in the end the story goes in totally another direction... Then I add new headings and save the old ones for another opportunity :)