I'm in a Slump

I have about six articles that I've started and not finished. It's not writer's block. It's just a focusing problem. How I envy those of you who don't have ADD. Does anyone else go through periods like this? ADD or not?

BrendaReeves: 01. Mar 2012, 12:01

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I have about six articles that I've started and not finished. It's not writer's block. It's just a focusing problem. How I envy those of you who don't have ADD. Does anyone else go through periods like this? ADD or not?

I'm in a bit of a slump too, Brenda.   Wish I could give some advice -- but I can only give you an understanding and sympathetic nod instead :-)    I want to curl up and read a novel instead of write.  Or go on vacation.   Maybe when the sun comes out for more than a few minutes at a time I'll have more "get up and go" or "sit down and write" energy!

I think this time of year is tough on all of us. It always makes me feel Twixt and Tween. But I do this full-time to help pay our bills, so I have to keep going. I usually take a long brisk walk in the early afternoon to clear my head and settle down. Some days it isn't easy.

I have several articles I've started and not finished, but my approach is that if it doesn't come together I just leave it and move on and come back later (probably.)

With two small kids, one a preschooler who's only in childcare part-time, my writing time is pretty limited. I think that actually helps with focus. 

Me too, I feel its Spring Fever..... We're having some spring like weather and it's such a distraction. 

I didn't think of spring fever. I think you're right. The sun is out today so that makes me feel better. Hopefully I can get at least one article completed.

Brenda, Feel good about having some on the burner, imagine something brewing is far far better than nothing in your pot at all or no pot at all ... lol enjoy the day.  The sun will do you good and no doubt inspire you to complete a project or two come night fall. 

Thanks Katie.

Hugs, Brenda. I don't have trouble focusing as much as motivation issues. When that happens to me, I do something else. I just can't churn out work when it feels off. So I do something different -- sew, organize, cook -- other things that are productive. And sometimes I can write about them!

BrendaReeves: 01. Mar 2012, 12:01

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I have about six articles that I've started and not finished. It's not writer's block. It's just a focusing problem. How I envy those of you who don't have ADD. Does anyone else go through periods like this? ADD or not?

Count me in the club of easily distracted ADD people, actually I am worse than you, I have 20 articles in different stages of development sitting in my draft folder here ;-( Hope that helps to feel not alone with that focusing problem ;-)

Sometimes I find just exploring the crux of my articles is enough to give me the 'meat' (500-1500 words) for an unpublished article.

An article might be about 'buying a suitable bike for kids' and the exploration is about, 'whats the cost', 'will the bike be a suitable for kids', 'whats a popular colour', will i need spare parts in the future', etc, etc. Alot of this exploration may spill over to a new article, sometimes it gives me information I didn't consider important or relevant prior.

I ask the who, what, where, when, how, why, which as questions. Then I come back and clean up the text, spelling, grammar and then come back again and re-read for the proof read and check through it again, then publish.

OOOOOOO sounds like a dry. mechanized process, but it works for me

Thanks for the suggestions everybody. I'm glad I'm not alone on this. Today I'm going to a couple of art workshops. Possible tornados today, but I'm not missing my workshops.

3 words Brenda- Piracetam, Oxiracetam, or  NooPept these are neutraceuticals that both protect the neurons, fire them up, and engage all three stages of memory (stage 1: reading retaining stage 2: Putting into long term memory stage 3: retrieval

Noopept is the closest safe and legal version of "limitless" focus

Or if you want something you can get at your local World Market Health Food stores that also turns you into a mad scientist writer while maintaining your health (unlike energy drinks, coffee, and such) is a drink called BrainIQ- one sip of that bad boy and writers block, focus, motivation, and charm are yours for about 6 hours :)

Personally I found NooPept to be incredible for memory (focus sometimes is the memory not engaging and thus not being able to organize your thoughts properly).

If neutraceuticals (strong vitamins essentially) aren't your bag, here's a few things to try:

When I'm stuck for "content" or "ideas" I go to google images and type in a keyword phrase, then do "image scanning" to wake up the creative center of my brain. If your writing on a topic that is not unique (and what actually is anymore?) google the keyword relating to your article (or just type in a long question/phrase) and start reading other sites Like yours, you'd be surprised how this helps unjar your writers block (focus is a part of that block actually).

Another thing I do is say I'm writing an article on hamsters, I'll go to youtube and start youtubing hamsters and watch some vids, that also helps to push you past any block- often it's a matter of you had a great idea, you started working on it, something distracted you and you lost "track" of the neuro-path of that thought- associations can temporarily rewire your neuro-firing networks that contain the information you were going to write in the first place- the loss of focus can happen not because those pathways aren't firing but because other pathways are firing with greater intensity.

I've taken Gaba sublinguals(under the tongue also from whole foods) (your mind releases gaba to calm itself down) to relax my thought stream (overactive thought streams lead to unfocused attention), once calmed down I can then cherry pick back on track to what I want to think about.

Hope this helps :)

(if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm becoming a health nut lol and study the hell out of nutrition, brain science, and psychology)

Jerrico