Saturday, January 26, 2008

ADD

For several years I have suspected that I have ADD. Sometimes I look on the possibility of having ADD as a problem and want to fix it. At other times I look at it in a positive light. I have learned to live with the way that I think and learn. Most of the time I am very happy with my brain and we get along just fine. As long as we both know who is in control.

Two things happened this week that reminded me of some of the effects of being the way that I am. First of all, I went for a preliminary ADD assessment to see if it is worth going for a full psychological assessment. The assessor recommended that I have the full assessment. One of the things that clinched it for her, is the fact that I had not had any coffee for two years and drank a cup one day because I was having a lot of difficulty focusing on an assignment and getting started. After I drank the cup of coffee, I sat down and did the assignment in three hours after having spent parts of three days trying to get somewhere and failing. Most people, who had not drunk coffee or any other caffeine containing beverage for about two years, would not have reacted the way that I did. People who have ADD would react the way that I did. I have had a difficult time focusing on my writing lately and this is my third post today. Have you guessed that I started this morning off with a cup of coffee?

1 comment:

briangreen said...

I just opened up your comments on my new site "brianspoetryjournal". I really appreciate your interest. I'm not sure how best to respond, so I'm writing you here.

In general, I dislike adverbs; and in particular, I have an inexplicable aversion to words that end in "ly": maybe it's the sound, or maybe it's the way an adverb almost patronizes the reader by pointing out the obvious.

My intention in poetry is to write less and less (until ultimately, everything is reduced to Haiku!) Because I think it's far more gratifying when the author allows the reader to make the discoveries and connections, to fill in the spaces in his own imagination. Too many modifiers just clutter things up. (I go a bit easier on adjectives; but two in a row are still anathema!)

I think you're right about "reflexively". It was my first choice, as well. But for whatever reason, I didn't like the sound of it; and with me, sound often triumphs over meaning!

Brian