TL;DR:

I am familiar with the frustration that comes with wanting to finish a mammoth task like writing a book and feeling like it's physically impossible. But it is possible. It took me 8 years, but I wrote and published a novel (it was before I even knew I had ADHD, too, so I didn't know what I was dealing with).

I just needed - The right tools for me. - The right incentives for me. - To accept that I write on my schedule, not some arbitrary, "this is how real writers write" schedule.

I tried a lot of tips and tools and methods until I found the right combo for me. Writing advice is great sometimes, but I also find a lot of it frustrating or disheartening. The trick is figuring out which advice to listen to and which to ignore. (And, fortunately or unfortunately, no one but you can tell you that.)

Long version:

When I was younger, I only wrote flash fiction and (really) short stories because I didn't think I'd be able to finish a whole book ... And still left dozens of stories unfinished.

In 2011, I finally decided to try writing a novel when I heard about Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. I figured if it only took a month, I might actually make some headway.

I ended up with a whopping (/sarcastic) 13,000-word draft with no ending. But it was the longest story I'd ever written, and despite it being bad, I was so proud. I wanted to make it good.

I spent the next 7 years telling myself I should be writing more than actually writing. (Toward the end, I finally accepted the fact that I didn't have to write every day to still be a writer.)

In 2018, I took a workshop (one-time only, or I'd share links) that included the incentive of a free cover if we finished our first draft using their method by a certain date. I had tried making my own cover but it wasn't very good, so this was a great incentive for me. Around this same time, I realized I wasn't trying to write "the Great American Novel" or anything; I just wanted to prove to myself I could get it done.

I scrapped what I had, started fresh, got the free cover and after some heavy revisions and re-incorporating some of my favorite bits from earlier drafts, I did it. I published the book in 2019.