Posts Tagged ‘ADD’

I have this title saved in my drafts section of this blog. I do that sometimes when I want to remember to write this spectacular and brilliant piece. I figure that the witty title will stimulate that part of my brain from whence greatness comes. It’s like the string tied around your finger. You look at the string. Scratch your head. Glare at the string, begging it telepathically to emit its secret to you. What was I supposed to remember? Think, brain, THINK.

I can’t remember what I was going to write, at. all. But I do know that I was inspired to write again by reading Hyperbole and a Half. Allie Brosh communicates in a way that I totally get. My viewers *do blogs have viewers*, nay, readers, know that I am very ADD. But reading her rambling insight renewed my belief in myself. It centered for me the fact that most creative people have some affliction, and with ADD I can focus on almost nothing for long, but on lots of things all the time. If I do it successfully, then I can say I am a multitasker…

Ok. I didn’t doubt that I want to write or indeed that I am an author. But it sparked that fire that had been turned a little low.

But now I’ve run out of ideas. This post has been open for over 24 hours begging for me to write it. So, I’ll make a list, and see how long it gets, on what actually is the Write of the Navigator.

1. Quite literally, it could be a map. That doesn’t sound like much fun unless the it is a treasure map. And crap, as if that were the magic string, I think I remembered the point of the title…. shoot. I thought the list would at least get to 7. I’ll get to that later then, but cause I really want to make this list….

2. It’s the tenet of The Navigator. Said in the totally multisyllabic exaggeration connoted in my head. NaveegayTOR. Emphasis on Tor. Not Ter, but Tor. His tenets include, but are not limited to, exploring the vast universe that exists only on the web. He can direct you to any blog about nothing. The ones that are really about something or have meaningful content other than amusement or entertainment are boring to him. Or her. Or it. Gender is not certain for The Navigator.

3. It’s a typo or a pun. It’s supposed to say Flight. Of course. Do you think I’m a moron?

4. It’s an insightful secret that is known only to me, except I don’t know it yet because it’s that profound. Profundity is a magnificent thing. It’s like when I was in the fourth grade and was reading that book by L’Engle and understoon 4th dimension for a mere nanosecond and at that nanosecond I felt like the genius of all geniuses, but then *poof* it was gone. And to further mess with your head, this tesseract is an example of 4th dimension. Have fun.

5. Or it’s another typo/pun, nay, homophone, that shoulda said Rite. or Right. If it’s a Rite, it certainly is that of The NavigaTOR. But if it’s a Right, it falls to all who would be a navigator. Like the right of way. And if I were clever or talented with drawing at all, I would illustrate each of these. I did try, with the ribbon on the finger thing. I even tried to insert it, but it poofed. I could NOT find it. But if I do later, I’ll come back and edit this post.

6. It’s really hard coming up with different things that the title could mean. I read it and think, “That’s kind of clever, but I don’t get it.” So if I don’t get it, how am I supposed to make it make sense to you? It’s a confounding title that aggravates me now.

7. Could I even leave the e off of Write and make it Writ? It sounds more like the Tenet thing. The Mission Statement of the Navigator. He/She/It could have one. Who knows. It would be something totally plebeian yet because of that, appeals to the commoners in a visceral way. (And yes, I know plebeian means common, so I’m probably a bit redundant there.)

Now, I did make it to seven and that was exhausting. Back to your irregularly scheduled post…

As I alluded above, I did have a lightbulb moment in which I sorta remembered what this title was supposed to mean. It had to do with maps.

And with writing.

There are different kinds of authors out there. Some who can begin the story at the beginning and go forward in a useful and logical manner until ‘The End.’ This is called doing by the seat of your pants, or ‘Pantsing.’ I like for it to be in order because it allows my suspension of disbelief to take me where my characters go. And they like to have their own way. Really are bossy buggers. But some authors plot. And there are varying degrees to plotting. No method is wrong. But I would seriously doubt my sanity if I even ventured to try the Snowflake method. I am entirely too ADD to stick to it long enough to even make part of a flake. (again, insert illustration here, If I could draw.) I would get to the part of drawing to where it looks like the Star of David and go off reading Wikipedia about Judaism or Kabbala. And then I’d go around wearing a red string on my wrist because I want to be a good person, but although I believe in Christ, I’d want to practice faith as he did. See. I can’t even talk about the snowflake method cohesively.

The way I write is somewhere in between. (in case you hadn’t noticed.) I lack both the attention span and the discipline to write straight through because even though the story always starts at the beginning, I’ll have random moments where scenes pop in my head, usually when I’m in the shower or about to go to sleep. At which point I wish I had a waterproof pen and pad or could write in the dark blindly. (which I mean literally. Without my contacts or glasses, I can’t even read the big E at the top of the chart, when my nose is touching said chart.) Could you imagine me trying to transcribe my wet and/or blind scribbles? It just wouldn’t work. So these random scenes are always like an epiphany. Sometimes, a mental writing road block is opened and I miraculously can move the story forward, except that theres a gap between it and what I’ve already written. But since I ‘loosely plotted’ in my head, it kind of fits.

I’m not a fan of plotting, because, as I’ve said, it’s hard for me to accomplish with any flair. (Haha, now I’m thinking of Office Space!) The last time I tried to plot, I made a horrible synopsis and hated the story. Then I got depressed because that was NOT what I wanted to happen in the story. Then mad at myself for not knowing where I wanted the story to go. I wanted to write organically. Whatever that means.

How is this related to a map you ask? Well, let me tell you. Just as there are more than one way to skin a cat, or to get from point A to point B, there is more than one way to write right. There is no right way. Do what works best for you. YOU are your own NavigaTOR of your story, and indeed of your life. So make your flight what you wish it to be. You can set your own Tenets and Mission Statement and you own your own methods of madness, or Rites, and as such, they are yours (Rights.)

I’m rather impressed with myself for how handily I tied that together. It’s amazing how the ADD mind works. It can really make no sense at all but in the end, it really did.

My ideas come so sporadically sometimes that when I need to be productive I have to force it. And usually that doesn’t amount to very good work. They say that bad work is better than no work.
Why is it when I have projects for non writing tasks, the pressure just adds to the allure and quality of the piece? It’s not for lack of passion that my writing suffers. Discipline, maybe. Well, I do have a theory…it’s chemical. My muse gets silenced at times. But if I don’t partake of this Adult ADD thing then everything else suffers. You read (i hope) my previous post in which I described my ADD. It was not an exaggeration. Now, it was an example of my more hyper times. It’s not always like that.

One way that I ‘force’ myself to do whatever is to minimize distractions. I like too much and usually all at once. I feel like i’ll miss something if I don’t keep it at hand. TV, twitter, FB, Divas. Whatever. Well, this is obviously not conducive to writing. So I do a small exercise to refocus myself. I switch projects to do something quick and less stressful, like a blog post for example. And once I ‘prime’ myself I feel refocused and ready to take on the task at hand. It also helps when the demand is down. I serve in multiple roles.
That is really no surprise. Wife, mother, housekeeper. Full time job that is quite demanding.
So, today I took a mental day. Day off from FT job. Got some housework done without feeling pressured. Less guilt now to sit down at pc and enjoy.

*sigh*
So now I can work on my other job. my unpaying one. The one that I feel could pay off in the long run if my ambitions are met. You know, the whole colonial series being contracted and made into movies for Hallmark channel. (Hey it’s okay to dream and I could dream bigger, but really, I think that’s pretty lofty!)

But it won’t go anywhere if I don’t ‘get ‘r’ done’ So, after this side project called today’s blog post, I will write. I will finish these last few pages of edits and I WILL WRITE!

right?

We’ll see. Another tool to get in gear is the timed challenges. I have spoken of these before in my You gotta have friends post.
Off I go. What? You want to challenge too? Be my guest!

So I have four google chrome pages up. I’m eating, watching tv and playing a game. I’m listening to music and I’m blogging. But how can any one thing get my full attention?

Well, it can’t. But it allows my easily distracted brain to not get bored. My current fascination is with the Celtic Woman clips on youtube . PBS had a showcase of their talent and I went to find more. And as I do, I had to find out about them. One of the members names is Maeve. A very lovely name. It will feature in one of my colonial books.

But for now I have the music playing on an autoplay, finding not only that particular group, but others with similar musical qualities. And it’s inspiring. While I should be continuing my work on the never ending novel of Constance, I’m moved to write Maeve. I don’t even have her story fleshed out yet. But the sounds move me. At least the accompaniment is peaceful. Very pleasant a soundtrack for writing, or for playing games or for ….oh look, a kitty.