Hello,

I am a middle aged woman who has recently been diagnosed with ADHD. This is the first time I have sought out group support for managing my ADHD. I am an academic who has had a meaningful and extend career teaching after completing my doctorate. I am now confronted with the pressures of writing for tenure and having to maintain my teaching committments. I love teaching and I love the challenges of writing and research. I have several very compelling projects and publishing and presentation outlets. As the time pressure to produce increases I am having major difficulty managing and maintaining deadlines. Is there anyone out there that knows of specific help for people who have to write and publish for their career with ADHD?

Hi an academic,

From what I understand, it's not the writing that bothers you, it's the managing deadlines and being published. I also enjoy writing and many people tell me I have a knack for making complicated subjects understandable. However...

Managing the deadlines and other activities is not something I enjoy, do well, or... let's be honest... ever do if left to my own devices. That's why I have a partner. Most of the highly successful people with ADD/ADHD are quick to give credit to the people who have stood by them, getting them organized and making sure their creative ideas show concrete results. You might want to try working with an administrative assistant, a project manager (the person I work with is a project manager so I call what she does for me project management although there may be a better terms for it in the publishing world) or a coach.

Bobel, I hate footnoting too. I have found a little program that is very useful for collecting snippets of information off the Web. As Google and Amazon put the libraries of the world online, this may become more and more useful. NoteTab (the Lite version is free) available at http://www.download.com/3302-2352_4-10294450.html. The nicest thing about this is that you can set it up so that anytime you highlight text in a document (any text including PDFs and Web pages) and copy it, NoteTab grabs it from the Windows Clipboard. You don't have to switch to NoteTab and paste the text. Every time I see something I want to quote, I just highlight and hit Control-C, then I find the information I need to footnote it and hit Control-C again. As I do my research, I accumulate my footnotes (at least the information I need) as I go along. Before this, I don't know how many quotations I wanted to use but couldn't because I couldn't find the source!

Nickled&dimend, I agree with you on Dr. Hallowell. I'm re-reading "Driven to Distraction" which he wrote (and he states clearly in his introduction he had to work closely with his co-author to stay organized and focused long enough to finish) and it is excellent. I'm sure he'd be able to give you good advice since his writing is top notch.

I'm in the boat with you. Currently as I write this I should be working on my thesis. I'm a master's student in entomology and have been working on my thesis for the last several months, which seem like years. This part is so much more boring as compared to the actual research. I was diagnosed this past year with adhd, although it is obvious to me that I have been adhd for as long as i can remember.

Any-who, I've been approaching this writing business in many different ways. I believe that the most successful course so far has been to establish a certain number of pages for a day. It at least this gives me an attainable goal. The trick to this is to also let someone else know what you have assigned yourself (i.e. a friend, coworker, in my case mother) who will remind you and check to see where you are. Not someone to nag, but to remind you and be supportive.

On another note I haven't met many other adhd people in the upper ranks of academia and would love some advise. Currently I'm at a crossroads as to what I will do for the rest of my life. I currently have two wonderful Ph.D. opportunities, but I am contemplating if this is the right path. I see my adviser gaze into his computer day in and day out writing grants and papers. I got into my field because I love to research, be outside and teach others. Unfortunately in the bureaucratic entrapment of academia this will not help you to succeed in my field. So my thoughts have turned to pursuing a DVM (veterinarian). This is a profession with lots of excitement through the day, which I will enjoy. The problem is that I love the brain picking that you encounter in the academic world. Any advise? What do you like about your position? Thanks.

papers ARE HELL!!!!!  organizing , deadlines ARG!!!

i cant ever organize the thoughts for it.. they just never went to the pencil from the messy brain. takes hours upon hours for a one page paper to be produced. for those of you who are good writers... thats amazing, good for you :D i wish i could have completed them and not quit school.

I'm currently a junior in college and a Bible major which requires tons of paper writing.  I like to write and I love to do research, but I hate writing papers.  The bigger they are the worse I dread them.  I've tried breaking it up into smaller chunks, and even smaller chunks from there and making lists of exactly what I need to do and when it needs to be done by, but I can never make myself keep these deadlines.  No matter how organized I am or how far in advance I start, it seems like I always end up staying up all night the night before a paper is due trying desperately to finish it and still hand in a paper that's really poorly written because I didn't have the time to proofread it.  My professors almost always comment that I had very solid research, but it was poorly organized and seemed to be hastily written.]

I have thought about trying to get a coach or someone to check up on my progress on major papers and help me get organized but I don't know how to go about that.  Anybody have any advice?

It seems I stumbled into the right area.  I was actually looking on the net for some resources for my client (I'm an ADD Coach) when I found this site and read your posts.

illhtac, from what you say, you have tried a lot of what coaches will tell people - break it into smaller chunks, start on it early, etc etc.  Telling someone what you are doing is helpful also, and I believe someone else also mentioned they were doing that, but an essential part of that peice is missing - being accountable.

Telling someone what you are expected to complete is good, in that they can call and see how your progress is going, but what consequences are there if progress has not been made?  On the other side of that, when progress is made, and the project is completed as planned, what reward has been earned?  The reward does not need to be big (maybe going to a movie or putting a small amount of money aside for each paper completed as planned - then at the end of the semester buying that something you've been wanting).  For people with ADHD, these elements are essential to help build confidence in your skills.

Academic - I too am an adult, aged 47; I  was diagnosed just about 9 years ago.  I went through school without diagnosis, and therefore medication, and it was tough.  I went back again, medicated and with accommodations, and received a second bachelor's degree.  That one was nowhere near as hard.  Though I'm not an academician, I understand the pressures you are under to maintain tenure.

As others have already mentioned, Dr. Hallowell is an excellent writer, who also has ADD himself.  (BTW, I say "ADD" when I'm really referring to "AD/HD" - it's just shorter to type ... and say ... without the "H".   I do understand that some people have the hyperactivity component.)  Getting an assistent is also a good idea but I would add that when hiring your assistent, check on their knowledge of ADD.  Without that understanding, it may be hard for them to understand how your brain is working when it writes.  By that I mean, some people who have ADD are conceptual in their thinking, and find it easier to start by looking at the big picture vs. doing the typical outlines.  And then, yes, an ADD Coach is another option.  Not necessarily to help with the intracicies of the writing itself, but with setting up the organization around the writing.  Helping you be accountable and looking at other areas of your life also.  Coaches do not need to live near you; most conduct their business over the phone.

ADDCA (ADD Coach Academay)
ADD Consults

Both of those sites list coaches, and you can search by state and then scroll to see if there is one that appeals to you.  ADDCA's listing also allows you to search by category.

I hope at least some of this is helpful.  (I'm not a writer ... and my meds have worn off.) 

Jenita

hello all,

I am the academic who sent out a help call last january for others required by the nature of thier work to write and write for publication. My organizational challenges became apparent, because I lost track of the request and did not find any of the responses until several months later. Whe I did get the messages I found real assurance that I was not alone nor crazy and was most appreciative of all who did respond. Since then I have completed two manuscripts that are to be published and submitted 5 essays for tenure this month. WHile it is good to see the results of my considerable labor, and many, many, many sleeptless nights, the challaneges in large part remain.  At the same time, I clearly enjoy research, conceptualizing theory and developing written products. I like to write, so I will keep on it, which means more deadlines, often ones that are overlapping.

I think the recommendation to find someone for whom I can report my future writing tasks and timelines makes more sense to me. I guess my confidence is boosted enough to reach out in a more public way. I'll let those who are interested know the results.  I will also see what Dr. Hollowell has to say.

Thanks all, I'll be back in touch, and let me know if I can be helpful.

An academic