Excerpted from “The Neuroqueer Holiday Survival Guide” (forthcoming) 1. “A little of this, a little of that.” 2. “I’ve been working on some creative stuff.” 3. “Honestly? Surviving the year.” 4. “Practicing the ukulele for my Rage Against the Machine tribute album.” 5. “About (insert height in cm here)
adhd
"some of the tools that I actually do find useful are remarkably unpleasant, inconvenient, or both. I call them “hacks” because they don’t fix the issue, they just temporarily create a workaround that let’s me adult with a bit less effort than it used to take."
Ads, Masking, and Socialization, Oh My! I have great friends. I also have great readers. Sometimes they're even the same people! And one of them, the talented artist A.J. Watters, has been amazingly supportive with feedback as I write. After my most recent article, they mentioned to
adhd
"In spite of my best efforts at planning, in spite of meds, in spite of workouts or sunny walks with the dog or naps…I reach a point just about every afternoon where I suddenly run out."
boredom
I will never forget the sound of his shock: “You did what?” Turns out forming an LLC correctly takes more than a few clicks and dollars. But I didn’t have time to wait and figure that out.
Recorded live on May 1st, 2026 This wasn't supposed to be an episode. I've been trying to find more ways to overcome my strange block to creating content here, and one suggestion I got from another content creator was "just put on a mic or
adhd
Fold it up, put it in your pocket, and every once in a while during the day you can mark off things as you do them. Use a red pen, or get some little stickers, or maybe even an actual bingo stamp to mark things off as you do them. The prize for getting five-in-a-row? You’re that much healthier. WIN!
The idea of three pages... seems too much, first thing in the morning. I started wondering if there might be gentler on-ramp into brainfulness...
The TL;DR for those who are not quite as brain nerdy is that between taking notes by typing, writing notes on a tablet, or making notes in a physical notebook, the most brain activity (related to comprehension and retention) came from good old dead-tree-and-ink.
There’s the feeling you have, and the feeling you want. Here’s the feeling I bet you’re familiar with: you’ve rushed out the door with just enough time to make your appointment. It’s an important one, and you’ve worked hard on getting ready for it,
ALL information kept private!
There are times when writing about ADHD executive functions feels like I’m voicing some weird productivity dalek from Dr. Who: “Externalize! Externalize! EXTERNALIZE!!” It’s a hollow complaint, though, because the truth is I *love* finding ways to externalize executive functions.
But more than you think: a case study. One of the reasons the internet is saturated with ADHD content is that along with improvements in the diagnostic methods there has been a huge amount of communication, research, and shared experiences that reveal challenges far beyond the “I forget things and
A lot of maxims, truisms, corollaries, and such got left on the metaphorical cutting room floor. In the interest of completeness and inclusion, here are some of the related phenomena that have epitomized my experience of ADHD:
The idea of three pages... seems too much, first thing in the morning. I started wondering if there might be gentler on-ramp into brainfulness...
The TL;DR for those who are not quite as brain nerdy is that between taking notes by typing, writing notes on a tablet, or making notes in a physical notebook, the most brain activity (related to comprehension and retention) came from good old dead-tree-and-ink.
In a perfect world, you wouldn’t need an excuse. The poet Toi Derricotte’s told us already: “joy is an act of resistance” and Mari Kondo said that things that spark joy are worth keeping, so if picking up that Oasis notebook from ProFolio makes that dopamine flow, more power to ya!
Part of moving away from other platforms like Substack and Medium has to include making it worth your while. Sure, getting the posts via email is fun, but how about something you can actually hold in your hands. I've been enjoying learning about, reading, and creating "zines&
We thrive on novelty. An interesting niche is just a dopamine surge away from becoming a cage, a pit, a trap! We may carry our hyperfocus-enabled expertise with us, but we don’t want to share it any more — not when there’s that Shiny New Subject that we’re learning about.
Things you learn in moments of extreme grief, part one. ⚱️Content warning: death. My family recently had a huge and sudden loss on September 6, and I'm still in the midst of dealing with the immediate effects. The long term effects will be with me forever. But when
Tables, desks, counters — they are magnets for the detritus of life. This is how you fight back. Look at your desk. Or your dining room table. Or the end table next to the couch you’re sitting in. Here, I’ll show you mine: Pretty cluttered, right? And it is
I am the voyages of the Braincraft Gray. My lifelong mission: to eke out good life and well-thought-out decisions. To boldly go where my brain has never gone before… (Cue theremin and whooshing spaceship noises!)
#NoAI required; just physics, paper, and tape.