The Writer's Journey: ADHD, Fantasy, and Teaching with Terry Bartley

12/11/23 • 27 min

3 Listeners

Hey team!

In today’s episode we are talking with Terry Bartley, the author of Tyranny of the Fey, host of the podcast Most Writers Are Fans, and a full-time English teacher. In our conversation today, Terry shares his journey as a writer, revealing how he channels his creativity while managing ADHD. We also get into Terry’s diagnosis and how learning about the symptoms led to his self-recognition of the condition. We discuss some the misunderstandings of ADHD and how that can lead to some of the stigmas associated with ADHD. We also go into some of the many tool that Terry uses to help keep himself of track when writing and teaching. Support me on Patreon Feel free to ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/161 This Episode's Top Tips

Deadlines are great tools to help keep you motivated and keep you on track - espesially in regards to righting. These deadlines are incredibly helpful for those things that don’t have a well defined done state (like writing).
Accountability can be incredibly helpful for keeping us on task and can come from many sources. In Terry’s case, working with an editor helped keep him on track when he needed to follow through with those intentions of writing.
The importance of grace and understanding is an critical building block in our ADHD journey - whether it is with ourselves or others we need to allow for room to make mistakes and grow with our ADHD.

Hey team!

Deadlines are great tools to help keep you motivated and keep you on track - espesially in regards to righting. These deadlines are incredibly helpful for those things that don’t have a well defined done state (like writing).
Accountability can be incredibly helpful for keeping us on task and can come from many sources. In Terry’s case, working with an editor helped keep him on track when he needed to follow through with those intentions of writing.
The importance of grace and understanding is an critical building block in our ADHD journey - whether it is with ourselves or others we need to allow for room to make mistakes and grow with our ADHD.

Previous Episode

Getting Focused on Focus101 with Shane Thrapp

Hey team!

This week I’m talking with ADHD coach Shane Thrapp - but specifically, today we’re going to be diving into the service Focus101 - which is a free body-doubling site designed to help you get the most of your work time. Now, funny story, I’m actually working on this while body-doubling through Focus101 right now.

Now in this episode, we’ll be getting into exactly what body-doubling is and how it can be incredibly helpful for completing those tasks that are hard for us to follow through on on our own. We also talk about a number of other tools that can be used in conjunction with body doubling, such as the Pomodoro technique, alarms, using our calendars, and ways to break our tasks into smaller pieces. Check out Shane's Coaching - Creating Order From Chaos and The Men's ADHD Support Group Support me on Patreon Feel free to ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/160 This Episode's Top Tips

Body doubling is a technique where we work in the presence of another person, even virtually, to help provide accountability. I can be effective at keeping us on track, reduce distractions and helps provide the motivation to stay on task.
We can make body doubling even more effective when we use tools like Pomodoros, alarms, reminders, and breaking our tasks down into smaller pieces. I also personally find the aspect of scheduling a particular time to do a task to be an especially important aspect of body-doubling.
As we discussed in the episode, Focus 101 is a free online tool for ADHD productivity combining features like body doubling, Pomodoro, and accountability groups.

Next Episode

You Need a Budget with Jesse Mecham

Hey team!

This week I’m talking with, Jesse Mecham, the founder of the hit budgeting software, You Need A Budget - or as it’s more commonly abbreviated YNAB - now I understand, that the term, “hit budgeting software” does come off as a little strange, but it is honestly something that has quite the cult following. And I know that the idea of budgeting can seem a bit overwhelming so don’t worry we get into that. Also while the software is called You Need A Budget, that isn’t quite the focus of what’s going on. And while this software wasn’t designed for people with ADHD, the underlying tenents have really resonated with a lot of ADHDers.

In our conversation today, Jesse and I discuss YNAB's four key habits for money management, including giving money "jobs", planning for future expenses, building flexibility, and aging money to create financial breathing room. We also talk specifically about how these methods can aid those with ADHD by promoting intentionality and creating helpful friction in spending and saving. Support me on Patreon Feel free to ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/162 This Episode's Top Tips

Give every dollar a "job" - Assign your money to different spending categories and priorities when budgeting.
Plan for irregular and future expenses - Don't just budget for fixed monthly bills. Save for things like car repairs. We need to be flexible with our budgeting to allow for when things come up.
Add friction before purchases - Don't save card info in browsers. Figure out where the money is going to be coming from before purchasing to make spending more thoughtful.