Decluttering Day an Essential Task for the Asperger/ADHD Writer

My cluttered stacking trays

A cluttered environment isn't essential to being a creative person--- in fact, excess clutter makes it take longer to get things done. In fact, the worst results of clutter can put writing to a halt--- perhaps a permanently-lost notebook of story notes will put a story forever on hold when the writer can't recreate it from memory. Or the lost-and-unpaid bill will result in the power or the internet access being shut off when it is needed.


For the person with Asperger Syndrome, or autism spectrum disorders, or ADHD, it is doubly hard. For people like us, we are coping with brains that work differently. And most books on how-to-organize are written for the neurotypical person, not for us.

For example, neurotypical people can store important papers in file cabinets with good results. For the Aspie or ADHD person, putting an important paper in a file cabinet feels like making it disappear forever. And so we accumulate paper stacks full of important papers and tell everyone not to touch them.

My paper stack, this morning

 A solution for the paper stack problem is to use stacking trays, as shown in the first photo. But over time the stacking trays can get all cluttered up with old projects and things that belong elsewhere. It's time to declutter.

Decluttering can be tough, though. There are several old/suspended/abandoned projects resting in my paper stack and stacking trays that will have to be rehomed into the Dreaded File Cabinet. To make room it's likely that some of the contents of the DFC will have to be discarded. And it's hard to let go of things--- papers that represent happier times of the past. Objects that were once of value may also have to get tossed during decluttering, and when you've suffered a reduction in income it's hard to let stuff like that go since if you want to replace it you won't be able to afford it.

Right now, I feel like my current clutter-level is holding me back from doing some of the writing-related things I want to do. I haven't written any poems in a while because the legal pad I write poetic first drafts on has disappeared in the clutter-piles. So today, I declutter. Maybe not a complete declutter leaving my writing area neat as a pin, but enough decluttering that I can hope to write with renewed enthusiasm and purpose tomorrow.

Recommended Book: Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD, 2nd Edition-Revised and Updated

How about you? Is your writing area cluttered right now? Do you feel the clutter is holding you back? What have you done to combat clutter, and did it help?

My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Organizing for NaNoWriMo: Asperger - AD/HD Edition

 

NaNoWriMo 2013 begins Nov. 1st, which means that now is the time to make last-minute preparations. Since NaNo is a step up in writing intensity for most of us, chances are that our everyday ways of organizing our writing life might not hold up to NaNo.

Spending an hour looking for a few notes in a massive paper pile is NOT the way to succeed at NaNo. We need to be able to have a system to deal with the notes we generate, with the reference books we may need close to hand, and someplace to put our cups of tea and our writing snacks that don't put our precious paperwork at risk. And some of us are NOT organized people.

This is particularly a problem for people with Asperger Syndrome, autism spectrum disorders or AD/HD. Those books on how to get organized often have suggestions that don't work well for people like us.

One example: file folders and file cabinet drawers. Many people use these tools with success, but for someone with the above-mentioned conditions, putting a paper in the file cabinet is a little like throwing it off the planet--- the paper feels 'gone for good'. So instead we stack up our important papers, and our not-important papers, and candy wrappers, and a book on the history of Esperanto we were using four writing projects ago, into a massive Sacred Paper Stack that no one is allowed to touch. There are better ways to deal with it, though.

The picture at the top of the post shows stacking paper trays. Buy one or more sets of these and instead of building up a paper pile, you can sort the paper into a few major categories to make finding papers easier. Or at least possible. It also gives the papers some support so you don't have the problem of a too-high paper pile falling onto the floor.

What if you already have one or more paper piles cluttering up your writing area? It might take HOURS to sort them out. But you don't have to. Get some of those plastic sweater boxes from the dollar store and transfer your paper stacks, intact, into them. Sure, you've got to sort them out someday. But with plastic boxes, that day doesn't have to be today.

Other important tools: a three-ring binder with a set of dividers. You don't even have to label the divider sections in advance. But they can sort out some of the most essential paper generated by NaNo.

For example, I like to print out a copy of every day's work and put it in the binder. That way a computer death doesn't mean the loss of my novel even if I didn't back up, plus I can work on the novel by writing by hand and still refer to my previous day's work without turning on the computer. Other things that go in the binder sections: notes, outlines, research I will need, and perhaps a list of things to worry about during the second draft that I'm not going to be bothering with during NaNo.

A notepad such as the blue legal pad in the picture is great to keep within reach during a writing session. Write down character names, place names, and other bits of info generated in the heat of writing you want to remember for later. You DON'T want to have to page through three chapters for an hour looking for the name of a cab driver who plays a minor part somewhere near the beginning when you are in the home stretch.

A composition book in a pretty color can be a useful aid. You can transfer some of the essential info such as major and minor characters' names into a composition book. You can even write your novel, longhand, into composition books. Or use it for journaling your NaNo novel project.

Writing tools such as pens and pencils should be on hand. Keep spares. Know where the spares are kept. I have a plastic bin where I chuck newly-bought pens and pencils until I need to rotate them into the actively used category.

Another essential you need to arrange NOW is some empty bookshelf space near to the writing area. I have a very small shelf on top of my writing desk that holds books I want particularly handy. Another bookshelf is only a few feet away. But bookshelves like these get cluttered over time. Move some non-essential books elsewhere so that you can move any books you decide you need close-to-hand to a good location.

Those URGENT papers need a good home, especially during NaNo. If you don't already have a system, find a clear sacred space to put paper items that come in to your life that need to be handled NOW. Bills, for example, or government forms. In the heat of NaNo this sort of stuff can too easily get buried in a paper pile and forgotten until Too Late. And then you are sitting in a house with no electricity writing by candlelight--- if you can find a candle.

Organizing things in the rest of your life can also help during NaNo. Those essential chores of doing laundry and making meals can be streamlined and organized to help you get them out of the way in less time and with less effort. (If you are well-to-do, of course, you can eat fast-food and restaurant meals for all of NaNo and not use your kitchen for anything but a place to store the tea and snacks.)

SO: are you doing NaNo? Are you doing anything right now to organize your writing area for the NaNo onslaught? Do you plan to do it before NaNo hits?

My page at NaNoWriMo:
http://nanowrimo.org/participants/ilsabein
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A Writer's To-Done List

If you are a disorganized writer, perhaps you've been advised, by people who just don't get it, to use a To-Do list. And you try it and every day you leave things undone, and now you have a WRITTEN RECORD of how lazy, bad and unworthy you are.

Do your negative beliefs about yourself really need that kind of reinforcement? I didn't think so.

What I've started using is what I call a To-Done list. I keep it in a steno notebook. I put the date at the top of the page. On the left column, I put the heading 'Writing'. On the right column, I put 'Life'. And then I write down not things I plan to do, but things I've actually done.

On my right column today I put down that I've watched the EWTN daily Mass, I've baked some low-carb biscuits and made today's batch of a low-carb drink.

On the left column, I put down that I've done my writing meditation and morning affirmation work, and then I've outlined the first 1/4 of my novel in progress--- 3 chapters, eleven scenes.

I've also added those scenes and chapters to my YWriter version of the novel. YWriter, in case you haven't discovered it, is FREE novel-writing software. It makes it easy to set up your scenes and chapters. Once you have that set up, you can write the third scene first and the first scene after you've finished the eighth. It also tells you the word count at the bottom of the screen so you don't get distracted checking it. The way I got distracted from the topic at hand to tell you about YWriter.

Back on topic. The advantage of the To-Done list is that you end up, at the end of each day, with a list of things you can feel positive about. Plus, when real life intervenes, you can get credit for things you did that you hadn't planned on, without being locked in regret over things you planned to do that you didn't get to, or perhaps that you are not ready to get to.

Because the fact is that rigidly following a plan you drew up that morning--- or at the beginning of the week--- often isn't the most efficient way to get things done. Maybe instead of writing that chapter one, what you do is research a few things that will make writing that chapter swifter, when you get to it.

Or perhaps you will write a first chapter when you had more research on the schedule. Or you had an emergency with a family member, dealt with it, and now don't have to worry about it for awhile.

What if you feel like you need to list things you plan to do? If it is a series of tasks for a certain writing project, you might put the list with the rest of the papers that project has generated--- without mapping out certain dates for the tasks to be done.

You might also write reminders on post-it notes for more urgent tasks, or put them on a wall calendar if they are things like deadlines imposed by others, or appointments which cannot be missed. When you accomplish these things, add them to your To-Done list.

The steno notebook I now use for my To-Done list was originally used for a more conventional To-Do list. I perhaps do the same amount of productive stuff with both systems. But with a To-Done list, I don't have a guilt-producing list of undone tasks facing me every day. Or, equally bad, a tiny list of planned tasks to make sure lazy old me can get the day's tasks done every day.

Have you ever tried to use a To-Do list? Was it a success? Did the things you DIDN'T get done bother you, or make you feel you were lazy or unworthy? Do you think a To-Done list might work for you?