As I get into the swing of writing full time, I’ve found myself battling with the wall of what things I want to focus on any given day. I have tons of ideas floating around in my head, and picking which to focus on is often a struggle. I think a lot of people, especially fellow neurodivergent content creators, can probably relate.

Something I’ve viewed in myself and my peers is gaining a lot of energy when discovering a new or revisiting an old hyperfixation. Its often really hard to predict what thing will really stick in my brain, but when something does it roots in deep. And tearing myself away from it is often a very big disruption; forcing myself to do work on tasks I don’t have energy for just harms my efficiency.

I plan to allow myself the grace of following my energy, and I encourage all creatives to ponder the idea as well. I’ve felt a struggle to work on things I think will succeed moreso than things that make me happy or scratch my current hyperfocus. And that mode of thinking just caused my productivity to grind to a halt; I would slowly slog my way through something trendy rather than dive wholeheartedly into something I want to do. Three days of misery for one thing vs one day of excitement for one thing.

I now know from examining my own brain and history that forcing the task won’t help me. I want to follow my energy and work on the things that I am currently invested in. Right now, that’s my novel and my tabletop RPG stuff. In two weeks, I might be back on Fallout. At any given moment that’ll probably be Pokemon. And some days that might be something that isn’t writing at all, and that’s ok. My writing will be here when I have the zeal for it, when I’ll be able to do it.

Follow your energy, my friends. And I hope all your creative processes are as fun as they can be.