Thread by @HowtoADHD

So…I’m writing a book, and some of the Brains have asked me to share my writing process. First of all — I NEVER do outlines first. Here’s why. (thread)

I’ve learned I can organize info into an outline after I lay out all the pieces, but I need all the pieces in front of me first. I often don’t know what the outline should be before I know what I’m trying to say.

Also, when I do the outline first, I get writer’s block when it comes time to write. The outline says to put info about ___ here, and the pressure of having to go find or come up or remember something about that makes me anxious.

Anxiety, it turns out, is not great for creativity. Fear decreases cognitive ability, so my already impaired working memory is now more impaired. I feel “put on the spot” and my normally prolific idea generating ADHD brain goes blank.

And I can never stick to an outline anyway because new ideas keep popping up that are EVEN BETTER than what I’d had before :) …I’m assuming, because sometimes I can’t even remember what my idea was before.

So for my scripts, TED talk, really anything I write, I do outlines *after* brain dumping out *everything I can think I might want to include* — I shape the clay once I *have* all the clay in front of me.

Kind of like deciding on organizational containers after knowing what you need to organize. I brain dump all the info I want to include, THEN outline, THEN write.

And what I write is a sh*tty first draft. So there’s zero pressure on it to be good. Usually at this point I hate what I’ve written *and that is fine.* it’s part of the process.

I look at the pile of crap in front of me, try to make sense of it, outline one more time, then write it again only better this time.

Once I’m convinced it’s not terrible, I send it off for notes, incorporate those notes, THEN & ONLY THEN do I polish it & try to make it “good.”

For my book, I DO have to submit to my publisher a finalized list of chapters before I can write the book. Totally fine. But I explained they’re going to be more like piles than files. Buckets I can toss my ideas into as I go. I’ll only outline each chapter as I write it.

If you’ve made it to the end of this thread, I’m guessing you write too :) what’s your process like?