July 6, 2023—
I’ve written 27 of these “interesting thing” posts, but nothing else, and not really drawn anything, since June 10.
In one month, June, my wife made a five-year student commitment to U of R, I found a job, we bought a house circa 1900, and need to shell out thousands to replace pipes that look like they’re from the wreckage of the Titanic.
That being said, when things go nuts, my galvanized routines—1. make art, 2. code, 3. jog—tend to stop. I’m a squirrel right now, blankly staring at a wildfire. (Or smoking on a stoop?)
My Co-Star from yesterday:
ADHD and Creative Routines
Creativity has seasons. Jeanna Kadlec writes a great “astrology for writers” newsletter on Substack, and says to get ready for a six-week creative “oasis of restoration,” a more reflective pace when Venus goes retrograde July 22. (I don’t know anything about astrology, but I like its suggestions.)
Seasons can be written in the stars. We can even embrace them.
I’ve personally been creatively retrograde for weeks, though, due to ADHD. I’m hella overstimulated. A lot is going on. ADHD is always “a lot,” though.
The way it has worked—I wake up, brew coffee and bid good morning to wife and cat. Then, I write or draw for a few hours, then code (my own projects). Around lunch, I run. Every day, it “has to” happen. It’s a practice, which eases my anxiety, because I know, “This consistently happens.”
But at the same time, if I miss a block, it’s no big deal. Also, I submerge into writing, for instance, trying not to think about starting. When I think, I worry, “What if I can’t focus?” which torpedoes my focus.
And if I beat myself up, like, “I haven’t drawn for a month!?” my ADHD ass completely shuts down. So, at 49, I allow my creative stops. I just didn’t notice I was in one, and need to, in the idiom of Billy Idol, “Start again.”
Right now, I sit on the porch steps a lot with a Yeti of ice water, seeking equilibrium, and holding the leash of a cat peeking out of the hostas.
“Go deeper and weirder and make something that is so human and so strange that it can’t be duplicated by an algorithm.“ —writer, comedian Owen Egerton
It has to happen
It happens consistently
Don’t think
No big deal
ADHD “seasons” can be neutral, and we can be okay with them.
“How to Keep House While Drowning” by K.C. Davis addresses, per the book description, “the shame and anxiety you feel over home care.” There’s shame and anxiety around all kinds of productivity.
“It’s so powerful when you can embrace the idea that your moldy coffee cups are morally neutral, and even if you don’t like yourself, even if you don’t think you deserve it, you can still find ways to care for yourself, and it doesn’t have to follow any of the rules.” —Slate interview, K.C. Davis
Moldy coffee cup not pictured.
I’ve written 27 daily “most interesting thing from today” posts, and per ADHD I’ll lose interest *looks at watch* by Wednesday. My six-week retrograde from humor writing and comics wanes. But—no big deal.
Start agaiiiiiiiiiiiin
Photo: Rachel woke up and immediately set up our online mortgage payment. This woman has been the driving force behind our whole new-home operation.