What are small things you do that help your writing process?

As someone with ADHD, writing seems like a terrible task for me to take on purpose. It's hard enough to focus on writing tasks for neurotypical people... it must be even harder for someone that is neurodivergent, right? I get why one would think so. The struggle to stay focused is rough, but life with ADHD is all about finding ways to combat the expected issues. It's all about finding things that help you specifically. In the end, things just seem like rituals to those who don't know, but to us, they make sense.

The first thing I suggest begins the day before. If there are things that you need to do, chores and whatnot, you have to get them started and have them where you'll see them. When you wake up the next day, you can start things like loads of laundry or other tasks. This makes you have a sense of accomplishment before you even start writing. The next thing I suggest is that you prepare meds, a hot drink of tea or coffee, and a tall glass of water. By the time I sit down, I feel like I've already got stuff done and am on a roll. When I sit down, I have everything I need. The moment my fingers touch the keyboard, I am in a situation where I don't need to get up for anything for a solid 2 hours or more. For me, the icing on the cake is the enjoyment that comes from writing with my coffee or tea at the perfect temperature. For some reason, I feel the urge "Not to waste this perfect temp." That might just be a 'me' thing, heh heh heh...

Another big help is to have playlists. On youtube, I've managed to amass a few long libraries of songs and 'lofi' stations and music that fits situations that I'm writing. Silence is my enemy. My brain seems to need multiple things going on to focus properly. For me, I focus on songs that focus on melody and structure and have either no vocals or melodic vocals without 'spoken word' or rapping sections. If the focus is too heavy on the lyrics, I'll listen to the lyrics and not my own words. One perfect go-to is Skyrim's rainy night soundtrack. Without playlists, I'll spend more time picking the songs to listen to than getting actual work done.

I think my biggest help is having a few friends I can count on that love to read, write, and edit. It's great to have dependable friends you can throw ideas at to see what sticks. Before I had a good core group, I would spend a solid hour or two stuck on one sentence. Now, I have an Amber, a Yuki, and two Katies to tell me to get over myself. Between the four of them, SOMEbody will be able to help me out sooner or later. I'm pretty lucky. If you don't have any muses, I suggest finding Facebook groups or using Reddit to outsource your confusion. There are usually a few awesome people that are in the mood to handle whatever you're struggling with. Trust me... it's worth a shot.

Got any tips of your own? How do YOU keep that brain on task? Please let me know in the comments!