Today's Earworm: 9909 by Danger Silent
Today's Date: October 17, 2016
So I've been thinking about what to write about this week's prepping. And really? I had no real idea what to write.
Then someone asked in one of my closed NaNo groups "What is ADHD/ADD like?"
I got thinking about that. I know that I've talked about it before on twitter and on facebook, but I myself have ADD. What is ADD?
Again, ADD/ADHD is Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
And it does just like it sounds: It's a disorder where a person finds it hard to focus. All of those "I have focus...SQUIRREL!" memes are a funny way of saying it, you guys. There's a good reason why I have thirty things going on at a time. And why I have a dozen projects going at once.
But really? What does this have to do with preparing for NaNo?
It actually has a lot to do with preparing for Nano. Did you know that most often than not, I have my blogs ready to be posted at least a week before hand? And I tend to fiddle around with what I'm posting for the following week. It's so I know for a fact that I have something ready to post.
Now, what does it feel like to have ADD/ADHD? Well, it's different for everyone.
For me, it's like a normal adult having too much sugar and caffeine in a short time. I'm bouncy and jittery. I can't focus without putting some effort into it. I have to have something going on in the background to help me keep that focus once I found it. Usually it's a movie or show or some kind of music.
I don't react to caffeine and sugar like someone who doesn't have ADD. Caffeine tends to help me focus, sometimes, if I'm really tired, wakes me up when I have it along with some sugar and food. Just to keep the balance in my body. I could drink coffee all day and still go to bed at a decent hour.
But when I can't sleep (and I often can't until I'm so tired I'm seeing double), it's not because of the caffeine or sugar. Hell, I've had issues sleeping when I was just buzzed enough on wine (really, really fruity good wine to, cause hey, I'm a picky woman about my wine) to feel that nice sort of sleepy. The reason why I can't sleep?
My mind is overworking again. It's not shutting up. And not even sleeping medications work all the time. They work sometimes and I can't take them too often otherwise my body gets kind of used to them, which kind of defeats the purpose of taking said sleeping medications. I've been drugged up on morphine before (back when I've had my gallbladder taken out mind you) and still been unable to fully rest.
And if you've ever had morphine, you know that you will be OUT once it truly hits your system. It hit and I was still laying there, counting tiles and trying to get my brain to shut up, please and thank you.
This is what I feel every day. All day. And it makes preparing for Nano a bit of a pain in the ass. I'm not joking you.
I literally have this down to a science now. I kind of have to since otherwise things get...messy.
Let's break it down.
Week 1:
- Shift through all of my DVD's (which I've expanded this year by 9, give or take 1) and make a pile for the coming month to rewatch.
- Start a playlist (on spotify this year) for NaNo. Start going through songs I like and adding it to playlist. I'm usually looking for a certain tone.
- Create or update the GDoc that I'm going to use. Do the same with the file and folder for the saved story.
Week 2:
- Panic just a touch. Just a little.
- Continue to build my playlist.
- Go through some more of the DVD's if I haven't finished it.
- Start making notes on the outline as I need to. Usually this means bouncing ideas off of one of my friends. It's kind like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.
Week 3:
- Panic a bit more.
- Continue to forever built my playlist. I swear. I need to build it up ever more.
- Make some more notes. This time, it's more like throwing lime slices at the wall to see what sticks. Citrusy, annoying, and a pain in the arse to clean up.
Week 4:
- Panic once more. Then drag myself out of the state of panic to discover there is a distinct lack of tea.
- Find money (somehow) to buy a thing or two of tea. Tea and coffee if I'm low on it. Usually I have enough tea to last me at least the first week until I can get to the store with new monies.
- Flail around a bit with my fellow Nanoer's in Forward Motion chat.
- Plot some more. Or rearrange the outline. Whatever I'm happening to do.
- Set up the NaNo blog outlines for the coming month. This means I set up my usual setup for the days.
IE:
Date
Word count for that day
Total Word Count for Nano
My thoughts on that day.
- Flail around some more.
- Maybe rearrange my DVD pile. Find a few extra to add to it.
- Arrange paper, pens and pencils. (Actually I've already done this, mostly, when I went through my pens. And if you follow me on Twitter, you saw those pictures).
This round, I have an extra post since Nano starts on a Tuesday this time, so that'll be loads of fun.
But that's pretty much what I do. And between all of that, I write. I write on other projects. I write e-mails. I write tweets. I write facebook posts. I write comments. I write.
All to prepare for everything to come.
So yeah, ADD has a lot to do with my prepping since I have to set up so much and combat the need to go "Ooh, shiny!" at random times. Which is never a good thing.
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