My plants read books

Write the worst fucking version you possibly can and stick it in a folder and forget it for a month or two before you look at it again. You know what you have now?

A first draft. And with enough time to think some new thoughts about it, you'll soon end up with a better, second draft! And eventually, you'll end up with something you'd be perfectly okay with letting other people read!

You'll never believe this process works no matter how many times you do it, but it totally does. You just have to drag your brain kicking and screaming to that blank page and get the bones down first.

Seen a couple posts on the dashboard lately about writing with ADHD. So, for the ADHD and neurodivergent folks who like writing but struggle sometimes… check out StimuWrite.

You can set it to make little sounds as you type (or leave them off), and emojis pop up in the corner. You can change the background, dark and light themes, set your word goal, and it gives you a percentage and total word count at the bottom. Though it’s more meant for getting a draft written up, so it doesn’t have spell check or anything like that. You’re meant to just copy and past what you write here into Google Docs or Word or Scrivener or whatever else you use and go from there. Honestly love it when I’m struggling to get words down, though. And apparently there’s an update now for StimuWrite 2?👀

Take one yoga mat

Add dog hair

Make time for cold sweats

Existential dread for forty five minutes

Fresh coffee at fifteen minute intervals

That chest pain is probably gas

Maybe you just need a break

Or one of those miniature fridges for your make up

Then try to get dressed without looking in the mirror

It’s ok if you don’t recognise your own body

Maybe nobody does

Seek validation online

Are you a real person? Ten ways to tell

Where are your fucking keys this time

Get all generational trauma processed before lunch with parents on Sunday

Write down five things you are grateful for and then burn them

Ceremoniously

I feel like so much of my life has been spent trying to find this effortless sort of middle ground everyone else seems to automatically already know, and I'm always swinging too far one way or the other. I'm lucky to have neurodivergent friends who grok me, but goddamn I wish that I could just like, exist without the constant background script in my brain that's like "you're being too loud. You're not talking enough. you're being self-centered. you're being boring. you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong." I feel like I'm back in high school trying to make friends but stuck as the eternal "weird kid"

- What’s going on up there? Why is no one telling us anything?

- ‘Cause no one ever tells us anything.

The key to this is research, in my opinion. All kinds of useful research you can get. 

There are forums on the net where I’m sure a lot of people would be willing to answer any questions you might have. People usually like to talk about their experiences. Google “deaf forums” or “deaf community” for a good place to start.

Have some interesting links I found

Deaf Characters In Fiction and Drama 

Deaf In Literature  (The following bibliography includes: novels; short stories; poetry; young adult and children’s books; plays; criticism and anthologies; biographies and autobiographies by and about people who are deaf. All of them may be found in theRIT Library.)

Deaf Characters In Novels and Short Stories

Characteristics and Charecterization

Writing Dialogue for a Deaf Character Forum

Advice on writing dialogue with signing characters

10 Things you should never say to a deaf person

5 things I like about being deaf and5 Thinds I dislike about being deaf 

How different is the world without hearing

If you have more, feel free to reply or send them to me!

Overall, I think being deaf should not be the only thing your character has or is. There’s always more to people than just their disabilities or problems. People adapt, they don’t let that one thing define them. I personally like the idea of interviewing people willing to answer any doubts you might have, because in the end they know better what it’s like. Also reading good stories on the matter, and overall, learning all you can.

Best of luck,

The Chessex website: