Calling all AuDHD fic writers, or anyone else who finds themselves frustrated and discouraged when conventional writing-productivity advice just doesn't work for them: I have a system.
It's not foolproof, and it doesn't guarantee words, but it's much more aligned with how my brain actually functions than anything else I've tried. My focus is mercurial, at best, and I've never been able to lock in even when I really want to write; trying to apply the 'butt glue' philosophy (apply seat of pants to seat of chair and stay there) just leaves me scattered and fidgeting. So a few months ago I thought… what if I tried including the restlessness in the routine?
I downloaded a pomodoro app and set a 10-minute focus timer followed by a 3-minute break timer—ten minutes to write, then three minutes to get up and pace or otherwise move around. I set it to run four times in a row, then tried it out and… it worked. Ten minutes is long enough for a few sentences, and three minutes is short enough to avoid picking up my phone to doom-scroll or fall into another distraction.
It works best (for me, at least) with Pomocat, because it can continue on its own from one timer to the next, from focus to break to focus to break, until the end of the session without my input—I just start it up, set it aside, and listen for the pings that tell me to switch between words and wandering. It also works best when I get up and actually move—pace, or stretch, or shake out stiff muscles—during those three minutes.
I'm still a turtle-speed writer (that much will never change) but now, at least, I'm a less consistently-disappointed one—and some weeks, that's all I need.
