Mental Health For Writers

Discussion in 'General Writing' started by g1ng3rsnap9ed, Mar 23, 2009.

  1. Ettina

    Ettina Senior Member

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    One thing I've found is that if I push really hard, I can do something, but I can't keep it up and I end up hating anything associated with it. Still haven't been able to bring myself to look over my NaNoWriMo project, for example, after how miserable I got from trying to write so much in such a short time (I think I lasted about a week and a half into the month).

    Executive dysfunction is better worked with or around than outright fought.
     
  2. SocksFox

    SocksFox Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    Roughly figured, trying to complete 2,000 to 3,000 words per day, say four to five days per week, you could theoretically finish a standard length novel in about two and a half months. Is this going to happen? With life what it is and the human love of distraction and procrastination, reality tells us no. 2,000 words is about six pages and a lot can happen in six pages. Listen to your limits and don't get frustrated when you can't do more than say 5,000 words in one sitting. Writing is not a race, it's journey, half of the wonder of it is how we get there, not how quickly. Just have a little faith.

    - Darkkin, the Tedious
     
  3. Ettina

    Ettina Senior Member

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    I vary quite a bit depending on inspiration, but on average, I'd say I finish 1-2 pages when I set down to write on a story. But many stories languish abandoned for years, only to get picked up again and finally finished. I can't keep my mind to one story, so I don't bother trying. I just figure some of them will end up finished eventually, and those will generally be the best-written ones.
     
  4. pkiri

    pkiri New Member

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    I'm sorry it took me a little while to respond! Thanks everyone for the advice :) i found that having the TV noise in the background helped me a lot, too, so I think I'll keep trying to do that. Music works pretty well too, and I'll try taking a walk around the block if I get stuck. Thanks everyone again for your posts.
     
  5. thewordsmith

    thewordsmith Contributor Contributor

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    ADHD/AADD: I was not diagnosed until adulthood and after younger family members were diagnosed. Doctor prescribed medications. One wanted to start me on anti-depressants! Thanks. Not depressed. The next put me on ADHD meds. Had me so drugged down I couldn't do anything. Didn't like the state my head was in. Couldn't write at all and that was pretty much a death sentence as far as I was concerned. Stopped all meds and started working on other means to control the wanderlust in my brain ... like exercise: weight lifting, walking/jogging/running, cycling, swimming ... whatever the weather will allow. But brains are as unique as the people that are connected to them. What works for one person may not do Jack for anyone else. The real trick is to embrace your condition. Whatever causes your brain distraction, concentrate on it. Force yourself to always be aware of it. Don't fight against your condition; make your condition work for you. It gives you a special and unique insight into the world that "normal" people cannot see. That is your gift so don't be shy about sharing it with the world!
     
  6. shadowwalker

    shadowwalker Contributor Contributor

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    Even before I was diagnosed, I knew there was something "off" about the way my brain worked. I would take copious notes during lectures - and then never look at them. Writing them down was how I learned the material. I always had to do homework with the TV on - I couldn't settle down to it otherwise. Once I got into junior high school, I quit fighting those 'unique' learning methods and went with them, because they always worked - I wouldn't have been a "A" student if I'd tried to mold into 'normal' methods.
     
  7. SocksFox

    SocksFox Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    One thing I have noticed is that when people found out I have ADHD, they tended to treat me like I couldn't understand anything, couldn't possibly learn. Because of a label they didn't look any deeper, they didn't realize that if I read something once, I wouldn't forget it. Memory made me an excellent student without having to try, I got bored and would read. Despite good grades teachers still said, 'You're studying the wrong way. Why are you doing it that way? You'll never amount to anything...' I gave up on trying to understand the world and worked on understanding and accepting myself.

    Medications made me ill, suffocated my mind, luckily when I started swimming, the drug that I was on was considered a stimulant and therefore gave me an advantage. I could keep swimming and go off the medication or just stay on it. I leapt at the chance to break free. I learned what my limits were, where my strengths and weaknesses lay. This might sound weird, but I really got to know my brain. I escaped the prescribed mold of normalcy and found what really worked for me. Because I learned to understand my nature, I work with it not against it.

    I know from experience that many of those afflicted with AD and autism spectrum disorders possess brighter, more inquisitive minds. We think faster and more abstractly, and when we find something we truly enjoy we focus completely, letting the world fall to the wayside. I speak from experience because both my brother and sister are similarly affected. We look at life from a different perspective because we don't even know where the box is to begin with.

    I know distractions can cause frustration, but they can also be a surprising source of inspiration and insight. The key is finding a balance that works.

    - Darkkin, the Tedious
     
  8. penlopephx

    penlopephx New Member

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    You know, I'm not add myself my husband and long term partner (eight years! I've been writing with him for eight years!) in crime is. However I have learning disability a few other conditions going on with that. My major problem is concentrating long enough to tell a complete story. I never felt like I had the faculties to share a full story. Either I couldn't think of something to write to extend the story or I'd look at the work and it seemed like the words aren't smooth. I can't explain it better than that. It's like I can see the jagged edges of a story and when I'd read it back it felt infantile. Incredibly frustrating and I still can't get sometimes. What I find that works for me is focusing on one chapter at a time. It's a lot easier to keep a focus on 1,000 words than 100,000 thousand. I don't move beyond a chapter until I've written it, re-written it and then edited it. (I'm a little obsessive. I know) but that doesn't really do anything else for things like genetics and medications which are very, very useful.
     
  9. Ettina

    Ettina Senior Member

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    Exactly.

    An autistic woman gave an analogy I've found quite helpful in understanding my own mind - she compares herself to a stork. Storks aren't power-flappers (like for example geese), instead they ride thermals to get where they're going. If the thermals are going the right way, they can get there with little or no effort. If not, they'll have a hard time of it, if they make it at all.

    I don't know how much this analogy works with ADHD, but it definitely fits with autism. I have to be in the right 'state' in order to do something. If not, it's a real struggle. So what I've learnt is, rather than practicing power flapping, which I'll never be good at, I instead work on getting very good at finding the right thermals. Sometimes I can do a specific activity that inspires me to something else - for example, watching Big Cat Diaries inspires me to work on my two stories that involve big cats. Other times, I just have to be ready to act when the thermals happen to come.
     
  10. JetBlackGT

    JetBlackGT Senior Member

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    Does anyone else get deeply depressed just after finishing a manuscript, for the final time?

    When I complete my finish-edit and upload the manuscript, I am briefly elated. Followed, within hours, by a deep depression that lasts only a few days.

    I *think* it is a result of losing this thing that has been a huge part of my life, for months and months. Even though it was good and I have other writing to do, there is this huge, echoing hole...

    I write slowly and sort of plod along doing the drudge work of establishing scenes and whatnot but I just feel emotionally crushed flat.

    Tomorrow morning I will send the final copy of book 3 to Amazon and although I am about to start the most exciting part of book 4, I fully expect to be... wallowing.

    Just me?
     
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  11. thirdwind

    thirdwind Member Contest Administrator Reviewer Contributor

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    This reminds me of an article I read not too long ago. It said that people were more likely to feel depressed after their favorite TV shows had come to an end. I imagine something similar is happening in your case. Something you've been a part of for a long time has finally come to an end.

    For me, it's a bit different. Finishing something is actually overwhelming because I know that I'll have to repeat the process of writing and editing again for the next project. This is what gets me down the most.
     
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  12. MLM

    MLM Banned for trolling

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    No, never.
     
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  13. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    Not there yet but I expect to immediately immerse myself in book two as soon as book one is done.
     
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  14. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    That's interesting, @JetBlackGT.

    Inever thought of it, but you could be right. Maybe this is where people who write lots and lots of stories are ahead of the game. I suspect it's easier to let go of a story you've only worked on for a couple of weeks, versus one you've spent years in crafting.

    I've still not finished my final edit to my first novel, which I started back in 1996. It's nearly there. I have started working on my second, but I'm cheating. It's a sequel. I think I'll be very very glad to get the first one away, but I'll still have the characters to work with again. So it's not so hard at all. But if I had to leave them ALL behind? Oh dear. I think I'd feel just like you do!

    I think @thirdwind hit the nail on the head, by comparing it to the loss of a favourite TV show. Only magnified by a factor of 10? Or maybe it's like watching your child get married to the 'right' person. You know you've done well, and feel satisfaction for having brought them to this point in their lives—but also sadness, knowing nothing will ever be the same for you again.

    Writing is Life, isn't it?
     
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  15. T.Trian

    T.Trian Overly Pompous Bastard Supporter Contributor

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    @KaTrian and I write lots of stories (right now we have 13 unfinished first drafts on the back burner), but while we've worked on our current WIP on and off for... 4-5 years, on for the past 2-3 or so, while I know from experience I'll feel a bit melancholy when we finally drench it in fixative, there are two things that erase most of it:

    1. The story continues in the next books, and even if it didn't
    2. We're just itching to get to write the stories that are currently on hold. It'll be pure awesome to finally get to write one of them after such a long time of focusing on just this WIP, it'll be a breath of fresh air.
    Don't get me wrong, we love working on the current WIP, but, corny as it sounds, to us our stories feel like we assume children feel to their parents; it's really difficult to pick favorites, so it'll just be nice to pay attention to another one after so long.

    I do remember the terrible emptiness I felt after we finished our very first story. It was supposed to be a one off and I was caught totally off-guard by how much I missed the characters and the world we had created (silly me, I thought the 3rd draft was the finished product). Then we realized we didn't have to stop writing, so we started a new story and 6 years later, here we are, with 17 completed first drafts plus the 13 that are still unfinished.

    Now that I counted them all, those numbers look... a little troubling, especially considering all 17 are 100-200k mammoths. o_O Then again, some haven't been touched since we wrote them, so most of them are of such poor quality that reading them will be painfully embarrassing (one of them will never see daylight) when we finally do get around to work on them.
     
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  16. FrankieWuh

    FrankieWuh Active Member

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    I'm like GingerCoffee in this respect. I never get this feeling because I'm usually thinking about the next book when I'm putting the finishing touches to the first. At the moment I'm writing two books at once, drafting them between each other. And I expect to start the first draft of the next book before the final draft of the current one.

    I never get depressed, but I do get a bit creatively tired. So I take a break every couple of years to write a novella or two, something that's less demanding.
     
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  17. JetBlackGT

    JetBlackGT Senior Member

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    Keep in mind that my following books pick up right where the last book left off. Still shockingly depressed :-(

    I am almost always finishing writing the next book when editing the last is done. So every three to four months I run into this problem.

    Empty-Nest feels about right Jannert! It is all I can think. When I published the first book, I worried about how similar it felt to what parents must feel when their children are elsewhere. Is my baby being taken care of? Loved? Are they getting hurt? Who is watching over them? And, in the case of books; who is judging my babies?
     
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  18. JetBlackGT

    JetBlackGT Senior Member

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    Finished the updates and submitted the final manuscript to Amazon. I already have that weird, off-balance feel but perhaps just being aware of the depression, ahead of time, will be enough to stave it off or ameliorate its effects. :)

    If I disappear for a few days or reply to forum posts in a grumpy way like "You are all big stupid-heads!", I'll apologize later.
     
  19. Bryan Romer

    Bryan Romer Contributor Contributor

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    No, I can't say I have. As soon as I complete the current WIP I start the next or go on to the next which I have already started.
     
  20. Renee J

    Renee J Senior Member

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    I haven't finished a book yet, so I don't know.
     
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  21. peachalulu

    peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

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    Sometimes yes.
    There's like this momentary high, that lasts for a few days - of great work! You did it!
    And then this crash of now what?, and no more Not Pink, no more Dexter, no more Charlie ( Dex & Charlie are characters from my first novel. ) Knowing I won't be associating with the characters ( as crazy as that sounds ), in their little world is kinda
    depressing. Sort of like moving away from good friends.

    Of course that never lasts long either as I'm soon creating more characters and more worlds and getting all excited about them.
     
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  22. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    I feel the same, and also, I feel like that after a big exam. I think after we complete anything that we invested everything we had into, and then exhausted ourselves doing it, will need a period of recovery. Also, it'll feel like a bit of a loss.
     
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  23. JetBlackGT

    JetBlackGT Senior Member

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    It is similar to the loss you feel when you break up with someone. Used to be, anytime you were bored or wanted company, they were there but now they're gone.

    Now you run down to the computer and sit down before remembering....

    "Oh yeah. They're gone..."
     
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  24. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    Aw, you experience such sadness! I'm usually fed up of all the editing and re-editing, I let it go a few edits ago. With me, It's more like children flying the nest, it's not like I'll never see them again. :D
     
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  25. JetBlackGT

    JetBlackGT Senior Member

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    So far, I am aware of the emptiness but not depression. It is entirely possible that editing it for the last time, backward, kept me from getting into the story. Also it is *really* annoying to do it that way :)
     

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