Working with ADHD: Find Your Focus (Part Two)

In my last post, Working With ADHD: Find Your Focus (Part 1), I shared three simple productivity hacks that have helped me improve my concentration. Below, you’ll find my final four tips. 

Please note: this advice is NOT one-size-fits-all. Depending on your unique flavour of ADHD or other neurodivergence, some tips may be more helpful than others. The key is always to find what feels good for you, and adjust as needed!

#4: Practice time-blocking 

Look… the idea of working nonstop for hours is extremely outdated. These days, even neurotypicals lack the necessary attention span, so take a more realistic approach to your time management. Many people find the Pomodoro Technique® helpful, as it breaks time up into manageable periods of focused work followed by timed breaks. Experiment with different work-and-break combinations to find what works best for you.

#5: Honour your energy

Scheduling tasks based on your energy can be very effective. If you tend to hit your creative peak after the sun goes down, tackle creative tasks in the evening. If your concentration levels are highest in the morning, use that time for copy editing or research. Mapping out your energy throughout the day, week, and month will help you plan your work accordingly.

#6: Keep your workspace organized

Clutter is the enemy of focus for many of us, so be proactive and nip those potential distractions in the bud. Before you sit down to start working, give the room a quick tidy and clear your immediate workspace of clutter. If visual distraction is an issue, try out a storage system that keeps smaller objects hidden from view, like a small chest of drawers or a couple of lidded baskets.

#7: Hide your phone

Confession: I am addicted to my phone. If I were Gollum, my phone would be my precioussss. The sweet dopamine hit of an Instagram like, the thrill of the reddit scroll, the endless supply of topical and hilarious memes… I can’t say no. If my phone is within reach, I‘ll inevitably reach for it. That’s why I keep my phone in a designated box when I need to focus. Out of sight, out of mind, out of my grubby little paws.

Have fun with it—grab a cheap wooden box at the dollar store and decorate it to match your aesthetic. If hiding your phone feels too extra, the Brick app temporarily disables distracting apps and notifications until you’re ready to end your work day.

Your Accursed Librarian,

Valeska

Working with ADHD: Find Your Focus (Part One)

The ADHD experience can be a lot of things: frustrating, embarrassing, creative, joyful, challenging, and sometimes hilarious. But it’s not often easy when it comes to productivity. When your attention span is fun-sized, knocking tasks off your to-do list can be a daunting endeavour (unless the tasks relate to your special interests, of course, in which case you’ll probably happily go into overtime).

While each neurodivergent individual is different and there really aren’t any one-size-fits-all solutions, I’d love to share a few actionable tips that have helped me improve my focus and productivity. These tips can be used alongside any medication or techniques recommended by your doctor. Your mileage will almost certainly vary, but learning how we work (and work best) is part of our ongoing journey.

#1: Stay hydrated
If you’re rolling your eyes right now, I get it. I too am annoyed when people offer overly simple “solutions” for neurodivergent (and mental health, for that matter) concerns. But stay with me, because studies have shown that even mild dehydration negatively affects cognitive performance, including concentration, memory, and critical thinking. And when your attention span is already below average, every second counts. If you experience dry mouth, fatigue, dizziness, and headaches frequently, consider investing in one of those jumbo refillable water bottles.

#2: Eat the frog
Task paralysis is no joke. Identify your most challenging task of the day—the one you’re most likely to push off until tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that—and really push yourself to do it first. That task is the frog, and procrastinating will just ramp up the dread. You’ll thank me later!

#3: Make use of multiple desktops
If you’re anything like me, you probably have multiple active browser windows that have collected dozens of tabs each—and the temptation to click through them (and away from your current task) can be irresistible.

Windows 11 users can and should take advantage of Microsoft’s game-changing multiple desktops feature, which allows you to set up separate desktop instances for different areas of focus. Creating a desktop devoted to deep work or research allows you to work within an environment free of distracting tabs and notifications.

Thank you for reading. Stay tuned for Part 2!

Your Accursed Librarian,
Valeska

What’s Your Writual?

Writers are in many ways a product of the literary savage garden. We cannot grow or thrive without sustenance, nurture, and the optimal environment for our individual needs. 

Which is why your writing (W)ritual is as unique as you are. Taking time to recognize what serves you (and what doesn’t) is an integral part of your process: your Writual is sacred. 

Once you’ve created your optimal environment, it’s simply a matter of sustaining and nurturing your writing — training your brain to manifest magic through (W)ritual. 

Which sounds way more complicated than it actually is — the hardest part is sticking to it!

Your Writual can be broken down into three acts or affirmations:

Focus
Your set writing goal, organizing and protecting your time, and using the correct tools to ensure maximum productivity...

Romanticize
Your reflective and conscious commitment to slowing down and immersing yourself in the act itself — from mindful ambience to spooky stationery...  

Manifest
Curating your optimal environment — your sanctum — to inform your mindset and habitually craft a routine that not only produces results, but allows you to fully engage with and enjoy the experience.

Your homework this week is to outline your Writual — what ingredients do you need to curate your sanctum?

Top tip
If there’s something new you'd like to incorporate into your Writual — a beautiful fountain pen, organizational software, visiting that new cosy coffee shop with your work in progress — add this as a reward for sticking with your routine for a month. Having this goal gives you something tangible to focus on, and the reward will be even sweeter knowing you've habitually worked to build a strong Writual with real results.  

Here’s my Writual:

💯 Having a clear goal before I start the session is paramount. Whether I’m researching (annotating a chapter), writing (hitting my word count) or editing (checking references), I frame each task around the time I have available that day...

⏳ …which is why organizing — and protecting — a regular slot of time allows me to create a routine. Consistency here is key; you can absolutely be malleable and move your allocated writing slot as needed, or amend your goal to work on something more manageable during a shorter session, but your Writual won't work unless it becomes a habit. Nurture your writing.

💧 I always make sure I have water to hand (as well as way too many coffees, but I'm working on that...). Keep those big, beautiful brains hydrated, people!

🎵 Horror film and videogame scores create the perfect atmos(fear). Aside from the usual suspects (Carpenter, Korzeniowski, Morricone, Ortolani, Resident Evil, Silent Hill etc.), for a change I’ll stick on the score from the film, TV show, or game I'm writing about or that's mentioned in a piece I'm editing.

🎧 On that note, noise-cancelling headphones are the MVP in my arsenal, allowing me to adjust my ambience in order to minimize distractions and slip into the correct headspace. Into the further you go...

🕯️ As I work from home, I use scents to help segment spaces — including getting myself in the ‘write’ headspace. My Writual scents include woodsy, moody, green notes (our Blair Witch-inspired candle is perfect for this...).

✒️ As a lover of spooky stationery, it’s a great way to inject some personality and fun into my research, writing, and editing. Plus, putting pen to paper — annotating by color, and writing notes by hand — has been scientifically proven to enhance knowledge retention. This is one of the reasons behind our curated Writual set...

🖥️ …and is also why I use a hybrid paper-digital system (which I'll explore in another post...). Even if I’m still at the paper stage by the end of the session, I end each Writual by digitally recording where I’m up to — along with next steps so I have a clear plan for the next session. 

☕ Well, almost. I always end my Writual with a treat, no matter how small. Very mindful, very horreur.

And that’s all there is to it. If you outline your Writual, curate your sanctum, and consistently nurture your writing with a bespoke routine that serves you — I can guarantee that you will not only see results, you’ll make magic.

And what better way to start curating your sanctum than with our first-ever Writual set? Featuring 15 tools designed to help you focus, romanticize, and manifest (three of which have been exclusively designed by featured artist Jessica Rose) our Jessica Rose x HoL-loween Collection — named after the nostalgia and magic of Halloween, a joy and mindset we believe should be invoked and experienced all year as part of your Writual — is a super-limited drop! Tour the collection here (but you’ll have to be quick, there’s only a few left)!

It Came From the Shelves... There Is Something Strange About My Brain!

Welcome to the first of our tried-and-tested series, where we recommend books (and other media) from the Hex Libris stacks.

We're starting with a bit of a fun one: R.L Stine's There Is Something Strange About My Brain!: Writing Horror for Kids. 

A condensed version of Stine's Masterclass (which you may or may not be able to watch for free with a 30-day trial...), aside from the nostalgia kick for horror fans (I was grinning from ear to ear and devoured this in one sitting), it's a quick and punchy read that cuts straight to its many transferable points.

Image: Erudition

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Reader, Beware…

However, before we touch on these, the caveat for this recommendation is that the book is extremely bare bones.

Around one third of its page count consists of blank pages with singular writing prompts, with another third dedicated to examples of Stine's initial drafting and editing process.

The fact that the book doesn't offer cover-to-cover writing advice is a tad misleading, especially at that price point (nearly £20), but the writing exercises do present a creative approach that encourages you to practically put pen to page (more so than any other guidance book I've read on writing).

The actual writing advice is whittled down to 62 tips and tricks (often just a few paragraphs), but it's precisely the book's lean structure and simple focus, peppered with comical and constructive anecdotes from Stine's long career, that make it a worthy addition to the shelves.

Whether you write horror or write about horror, Stine's (strange) brain is definitely worth picking. My top three takeaways:

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Reference

First and foremost, fiction writers are of course going to get the most out of this. If you're new to writing, the constructive nature of the book, from the creative writing prompts to outlining examples from Stine's books (including editorial notes), steers you through each step without being bloated or overwhelming.

I particularly love the functional advice, such as starting with short stories before trying to outline a full book, and also how to ensure your project works as a standalone while simultaneously crafting the beats for a series.

Still, no matter where you are in your writing journey, dipping into the book is a fun way to refresh your approach to the craft. The combination of concise tips with Stine's simple writing style allows you freedom to integrate ideas into your own routine while making you think about your overall approach in that area, and the mini-workbook encourages you to step out of your comfort zone creatively.

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Resource(ful)

While its merits for authors are more readily discernible, there are plenty of nuggets for non-fiction writers, from practical tips to enhance your productivity, to reflective questions that remind you why you started writing in the first place.

With a little imagination, the guidance can easily be applied to essays, encouraging you to think creatively about pacing, plotting, and Stine's staple cliffhanger. 

The writing prompts are also an excellent way to fend off writer's block, try your hand at something new, or to simply write something for your own enjoyment (I know, A Shocker on Shock Street...). 

Plus, the book has one of my favourite additions in a guidance book: further reading lists, as approved by Stine. This is a real treasure trove, including books on all aspects of writing for different genres and Stine's favourite literature (as well as which of his own books he recommends picking up). 

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Readability

No matter which horror camp you fall into, while completing your writing project is one feat, reaching readers is a completely different ball game.

Readability is key to ensure promotional writing is both clear and enjoyable to read. 

To achieve this, copywriters often aim to write for year 7 (6th grade) reading ease; as There Is Something Strange About My Brain! is designed to craft stories for this age group, it's a brilliantly creative tool to help you write clear copy that resonates with your intended audience.

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The End… or Is It?

In short, There Is Something Strange About My Brain! is a fun way to discover your writing style or wrench yourself out of a writing slump. (Plus, it's definitely one for the collectors!)

In Stine's words, maybe it "can help you enjoy your writing more." It helped me.

Simple, succinct, Stine. What more could you want?

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It Came From the Shelves... rating: 3/5 Slappy's.

Pages: 204

Publisher: Erudition

Price: £17.99

Publication date: 2023

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