I am writing ten books right now. Not sequentially. at the same time. Five novels in various stages of development, plus client ghostwriting projects, plus coaching sessions, plus the handbooks I publish at The Writing King. On a typical day I produce 10,000 to 12,000 words across multiple projects.
I also have AuADHD. Autism and ADHD combined. My brain does not do sustained focus the way neurotypical productivity advice assumes. It does not respond to willpower, discipline mantras, or “just sit down and write.” It does hyperfocus, associative thinking, novelty-seeking, and abrupt interest shifts. Every system I use was built to work with those traits, not against them.
If you are a neurotypical writer looking for motivation tips, most of what I do will still work for you. If you have ADHD or suspect you do, what follows might explain why conventional writing advice has never worked for you and what to do instead.
Why Write Multiple Projects at Once With ADHD?
Most writing advice says focus on one project until it is finished. That advice is designed for brains that can sustain interest in a single thing for months. My brain cannot. After a certain number of days or weeks on one project, the novelty wears off, the resistance builds, and forcing myself to continue produces garbage. For more, see how to write 10,000 words a day and imposter syndrome and adhd.
So I do not force it. I rotate.
When the momentum on my novel Peacekeeper stalls, I shift to Shield of Ashes. When Shield of Ashes hits a scene I need to think through before writing, I move to a ghostwriting project where the structure is already decided and I just need to execute. When the ghostwriting feels mechanical, I switch to Grim, where the writing is experimental and every story is a fresh challenge. When I need a break from fiction entirely, I work on a handbook or write an article.
The rotation is not random. Each project occupies a different creative register. Some require deep emotional engagement. Some require technical precision. Some require research. Some require pure invention. By matching the project to whatever my brain is capable of producing at that moment, I maintain high output without ever hitting the wall that comes from forcing a single project when my brain has moved on.
Ten projects means I am never stuck. If one project resists, nine others are waiting. The total word count stays high because I am always writing something, even if what I am writing changes throughout the day.
The 45-Minute Block
Forty-five minutes is how long my focus cooperates before it starts looking for something more interesting. I did not choose this number from a productivity book. I discovered it through years of trial and error, paying attention to when my output drops and my attention fragments.
I write in 45-minute blocks with mandatory 15-minute breaks. During the block, I write. No email, no browsing, no research rabbit holes. Just words on the page. During the break, I do something completely different: walk, stretch, make coffee, look at something that is not a screen.
Then I come back for another block. Eight or nine blocks across a day produces the 10,000 to 12,000 word range. Not every block is on the same project. I might do three blocks on a novel, two on a ghostwriting project, one on a handbook, and two on articles. The variety keeps each block fresh because I am never returning to something I just left.
The mandatory break matters as much as the writing block. ADHD brains that skip breaks do not produce more. They produce less, because the quality degrades and the resistance builds until the entire day collapses. The break is not a reward. It is part of the system.
Dictation Changed Everything
I dictate most of my first draft content. This single change tripled my output.
ADHD brains process language faster verbally than through typing. My thoughts move faster than my fingers. When I type, there is a bottleneck between the idea and the page. Ideas back up, get lost, or lose their energy while I am still typing the previous sentence. When I dictate, the words arrive at the speed I think them.
Dictation also reduces the physical fatigue of producing high word counts. Typing 12,000 words is hard on the hands and wrists. Speaking 12,000 words is a conversation. The physical ease translates to longer sustained output without the strain that makes late-day writing blocks feel like punishment.
The raw dictated text needs cleanup. Dictation produces run-on sentences, missed punctuation, and occasional wrong words. But cleaning up dictated text is editing, and editing is a different cognitive task than generating. I can edit when my creative energy is spent for the day. The generation happens when the energy is highest.
Daily Targets, Not Feelings
I do not write when I feel motivated. I write because it is Tuesday and on Tuesday I write. Motivation is not a system. It is a weather pattern. Some days it shows up. Most days it does not. Waiting for motivation to write is how books die unfinished on hard drives.
My daily word count target is concrete and non-negotiable. Not “write some today.” A specific number. Hitting that number is the job. Whether the writing feels inspired or mechanical, whether I am excited about the scene or dreading it, the target gets hit.
ADHD brains respond to concrete measurable goals in a way they do not respond to vague intentions. “Write 2,000 words on Peacekeeper” produces writing. “Work on the novel today” produces an hour of staring at the screen followed by reorganizing my desk.
I track my output daily. The tracking matters because streaks become their own motivation. Forty consecutive days of hitting the target creates a psychological investment in not breaking the streak. That investment is more reliable than inspiration, more sustainable than discipline, and more effective than any motivational quote I have ever read.
What Are the ADHD Advantages for Writers?
Most writing about ADHD focuses on the deficits. The inability to focus. The inconsistency. The executive function challenges. Those are real. But ADHD also produces traits that make certain kinds of writing easier, not harder.
Hyperfocus is the obvious one. When an ADHD brain locks onto something interesting, it produces sustained, intense concentration that neurotypical focus cannot match. My 45-minute timer is partly designed to trigger this. The time pressure and the novelty of starting a block create conditions where hyperfocus is more likely to engage. When it does, the words come faster and better than they would under normal concentration.
Associative thinking connects ideas that linear thinkers would not link. My fiction benefits from this constantly. Plot connections, thematic echoes, character parallels, unexpected metaphors. The ADHD brain that jumps between ideas during a meeting is the same brain that finds the unexpected story connection that makes a novel surprising.
Speed is the third advantage. When the system is working, 10,000 to 12,000 words a day is not a strain. It is what happens when an ADHD brain operating inside a system built for it has multiple interesting projects to rotate through, a dictation setup that matches the speed of thought, and timed blocks that trigger focus instead of demanding it.
What Does Not Work
From the podcast
Rico Caveglia points to a study that undercuts the whole intensity model, on Leaders and Their Stories:
The people who just moved a lot more throughout their day lost more weight than the people who exercised real intensely.Consistent low-grade motion beats the heroic session, the same finding that makes a forty-five minute writing block outperform the marathon weekend.
Willpower does not work. My brain does not have a willpower dial I can turn up. It has an interest detector that either engages or does not, and no amount of self-talk changes the detector’s reading.
Long unstructured writing sessions do not work. Four hours of “just write” produces less than four 45-minute blocks with breaks, every single time.
Writing in one place does not work. I change locations when I need a novelty boost. Different room, different coffee shop, different chair. The environmental change tricks my brain into treating the work as new.
Writing one project until it is done does not work. The project goes stale, the resistance builds, and forcing through the resistance produces writing I will have to throw out anyway.
Guilt does not work. Beating myself up for a low-output day has never once produced a high-output day afterward. What produces a high-output day is getting enough sleep, starting with the 45-minute block, and trusting the system.
Building Your Own System
My system works for my brain. Yours might need different block lengths, different rotation patterns, different tools. The principle is the same regardless: build around how your brain actually functions, not around how productivity advice says it should function.
If you are a fiction writer trying to build a sustainable writing practice, my handbooks at The Writing King cover craft and process across every aspect of fiction writing. If you want one-on-one help building a system that works for your brain and your project, book coaching gives you a collaborator who has solved these problems across 113+ published books.
If you have AuADHD or ADHD and conventional writing advice has never worked for you, you are not broken. You are using the wrong system. Build the right one and the words come.
The Guides That Get Your Book Written, Published, and Sold
Four short, practical guides on writing, publishing, and selling your book, plus the occasional note when there's something worth your time. No fluff, no daily inbox clutter. Drop your email and they're yours.
We use MailerLite to manage our list and send these emails. Your address is used only to send you what you signed up for. We will not sell it, share it, or use it for anything else, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
Writing Motivation FAQ
