COMING SOON!

What kinds of structure, preparation, and support–sometimes referred to as “scaffolding”–do neurodivergent writers need in order to increase their chances of being more successful at doing the writing they want to do?

As someone with ADHD myself, finishing stories, completing novels, just doing tasks that need to be done on deadline is not easy. ADHD makes it difficult to do what you want to do, or even do what you know you should do. I find myself doing anything but writing. Sometimes I find myself just sitting in place and staring at a wall. My body is in freeze-mode–a kind of paralysis that many with ADHD experience everyday.

Ever since I was late-diagnosed with ADHD in the spring of 2022, I have been studying ADHD and researching others who have come up with ways to compensate for the executive function issues that are common with this disorder. I’ve followed others’ journeys–and I will link below to some of the folks I follow on Instagram and Youtube–and have read books, tried their methods, built some of my own “scaffolding” to try and better understand myself and to help me accomplish what I want to do in life. Because, frankly, having big ideas and big plans and being unable to follow through on them–and have others assume you are lazy or incompetent, and dealing with the shame of “failing” at these projects (or even the daily tasks of keeping a house clean, or yourself fed, or keeping a job)– are things I am tired of.

My brain long ago came up with its own scaffolding that was unhelpful in many ways, but kept me functioning and alive in other ways. Now, though, I’m dedicated to finding the BEST structures and scaffolding to help me achieve what I couldn’t achieve before. I’d like to share those with you too.

In this class, I talk about the kinds of scaffolding people with ADHD use–and talk about the ones that help me. Perhaps some of this will help you too.

Jerome Stueart (2007 Clarion Workshop) is a queer illustrator, writer, and professional tarot reader.  His writing has appeared in F&SF, Tor.com, On Spec, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Geist, and elsewhere. He was a finalist for a 2020 World Fantasy Award in Short Fiction for “Postlude to the Afternoon of a Faun” (F&SF).  His PhD in English (Texas Tech U) with specialties in Creative Writing, Science Fiction & Fantasy, and Spiritual Memoir put him forever in debt, but has allowed him to live and work as a teacher for more than 25 years, running writing workshops in academia and through city programming, in schools, in churches and online. Both American and Canadian (Yukon), he lives now in Dayton, Ohio.