Optum

Detail-oriented Senior Technical Writer with strong experience in writing, reviewing, editing, formatting, revising, and standardizing various types of technical documents possesses strong experience in a regulatory environment, thereby certifying adherence to various compliance standards.
 
Experience in healthcare a must. Microsoft Office Suite 365 (including Microsoft Visio), Adobe Technical Communication Suite (including Adobe FrameMaker, Acrobat Pro, and RoboHelp), Adobe InDesign, Help Authoring using Adobe RoboHelp, Change Control Boards, Agile Software Development, Style Guides, Jira and Confluence, GitHub and ZenHub, Trello and Monday, Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Imaging Technical Writer

JohnTheWordsmith LLC

Storyteller-In-Chief

Merative

Created new documentation suites for cognitive AI solutions: Liver, Prostate, and Breast. Collaborated with leadership and internal and external stakeholders (e.g., development, QA / RA, implementation, support, training) for Merge Imaging division.
• Accountable for Radiology Imaging System (RIS), Merge Unity PACS, and Watson Health Imaging Analytics documentation suites.
• Created and edited user guides, system administration manuals, installation and upgrade instructions, and release notes utilizing Adobe FrameMaker.
• 100% perfect record meeting financial and time budgets throughout entire tenure.

Sr. Technical Writer

Created and edited user guides, system administration guides, installation and upgrade instructions, and release notes utilizing Adobe FrameMaker. Collaborated with interdisciplinary team members within the Merge Imaging division to accomplish project goals and objectives.

Information Developer

Merge Healthcare, an IBM Company

Managed and oversaw the documentation suites for Merge Dashboards, Merge Documents Management (MDM), and Merge Financials.
• Utilized Adobe FrameMaker to generate and refine user guides, system administration guides, installation and upgrade instructions, and release notes.

Senior Technical Writer

October, 2015 - Merge acquired by IBM for its Watson Health division

Responsible for documenting the Merge Cardio, Merge Dashboards, Merge Documents Management (MDM), and Merge Financials product lines.

Technical Writer

Amicas

Provided comprehensive management and oversight of the documentation suites encompassing Merge Hemo, Merge Cardio, Merge Dashboards, Merge Documents Management (MDM), and Merge Financials.
• Employed Adobe FrameMaker to create and enhance user guides, system administration guides, installation and upgrade instructions, and release notes.

Emageon

TEKsystems

Worked on contract at WEA Trust in Madison, WI from Halloween, 2005 - 2008.
Worked on contract at Metavante in Milwaukee, WI.

Contractor at WEA Trust in Madison, Wisconsin. Created documentation and online help topics for QNXT claims system. Developed online help topics and Business Process Re-engineering swim lane flowcharts.

Technical Writer / Help Author / BPR

Camtronics Medical Systems

Created CardioWorks EMR document suite in Adobe FrameMaker and Help topics using WebWorks. Collaborated with Product Development, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs, Implementation and Technical Support, and Marketing departments to guarantee accuracy and comprehensiveness of IFUs. Verified that IFUs underwent review, approval, and release in accordance with quality system. Collaborated with Tech Comm team members to share knowledge and best practices.

Storyteller, wordsmith, pleasant chap

I'm a writer and storyteller for business and pleasure. I help clients learn reverse-engineer their career stories and craft their narratives for maximum impact.* 

A veteran of cohorts from Lara Acosta (Personal Branding), Taylin John Simmonds (Twitter Copywriting), I'm currently in Dakota Robertson's ghost writing cohort, and will join Michael Margolis' Narrative Influence cohort in the summer.

My background is as an experienced Senior Technical Writer working in the hospital & health care industry with a specialization in medical devices for over 20 years as a writer and editor. 

My speciality is working as a liaison between technical / Subject Matter Experts and end-users. (And my ADHD superpower of hyper-focus gives me an extra gear!)

* > I'm not currently offering a storytelling service for Inbound leads (but I'm busy creating one with an Alpha client who tracked me down and got me started thinking about what such a program / service like that might look like).

tl-dr: Stay tuned...

This is my 765th consecutive post on the platform.
It wasn't always easy to post every day. 
Now it's harder to stop.
 
The mindset shift that broke this open for me was this—I switched the energy from "have to post" to "get to post."
 
I used to struggle at the end of the day to come up with something new for the following day.
 
I hated it.
 
I felt like I was working at cross purposes to my strengths.
 
So I started working with my brain instead of against it.
 
I'm super ADHD—my radar is always picking up things that interest me. So I just added one step—capturing a link or a snippet of a phrase and saving it as grist for the mill.
 
Now I have a deep pile of things to pull from that already captured my interest.
 
I often write two or three posts at a time now—because I'm on a roll, not because I'm behind.
 
What's one way you've learned to work with your brain instead of against it?

John Cook

(I flew too close to the sun last Sunday so here's a FB meme from my friend Nathan Lilly.)

100 points to the person who correctly identifies this film without assistance.

Let me share this out with everyone in my circles—James is the guy you want in your corner.

LinkedIn’s Most Interesting Man in a Wheelchair

View James Wogan ✝️💪🏻’s profile

He can't scale mountains or run Tough Mudders. 
He can't do bench presses or deadlifts. 
He can't operate on Red Bull and 4 hours of sleep. 
He can't buy his wife a house on the beach. 

But. 

He can overcome any obstacle. 
He can lower himself down to lift others up. 
He can operate with confidence and conviction. 
He can make his wife feel cherished above all else. 

He's the guy you want in your corner.

"Show don't tell" is great advice unless you're writing a narrator whose entire job is telling you things while showing you a cigarette and a glass of rye.

I was in the shower thinking about the Rules of Writing—as you do—when it occurred to me there's a catch if you're writing anything with a noir detective voiceover narration. 

Like I am, as it happens.

The standard "show don't tell" advice assumes a certain narrative distance, typically 3rd Person, where the narrator is invisible and the reader draws conclusions from dramatized action. But 1st Person Noir operates under different rules because the narrator's voice 𝘪𝘴 the show.
 
When Chandler writes Marlowe observing "She had a face like a Sunday school picnic that had been struck by lightning," he's technically 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 us about her. 

But he's 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 us Marlowe—his wit, his detachment, his way of processing the world through sardonic metaphor. The commentary reveals the commentator.
 
The real distinction in Noir isn't tell vs. show—it's:
• 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 (bad)
  "She seemed untrustworthy."
  
• 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 (genre convention)
  "She had the kind of smile that made you check your wallet and your exits."
  
• 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 "𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹" 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀: 
  You still need to dramatize the scenes that matter. The detective's editorializing works as seasoning on active scenes, not as a replacement for them. If your protagonist spends three pages 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 an interrogation rather than letting us watch it unfold with his running commentary threaded through—that's where the advice applies.
 
The catch is that noir gives you permission to tell 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 a distinctive lens, but it doesn't give you permission to skip the dramatization entirely. 

The voice comments on events we're witnessing, not events we're being told happened offstage.

So let your narrator tell us things. Just make sure he's got something to comment on besides the bottom of that glass.
----------------
𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 15𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘉𝘓𝘜𝘌 𝘎𝘖𝘓𝘌𝘔 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬. 𝘐 𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥—4 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, 49 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦!

I'm a writer and storyteller for business and pleasure. I help clients learn reverse-engineer their career stories and craft their narratives for maximum impact.* 

A veteran of cohorts from Lara Acosta (Personal Branding), Taylin John Simmonds (Twitter Copywriting), I'm currently in Dakota Robertson's ghost writing cohort, and will join Michael Margolis' Narrative Influence cohort in the summer.

My background is as an experienced Senior Technical Writer working in the hospital & health care industry with a specialization in medical devices for over 20 years as a writer and editor. 

My superpower is working as a liaison between technical / Subject Matter Experts and end-users.

* > I'm not currently offering a storytelling service for Inbound leads (but I'm busy creating one with an Alpha client who tracked me down and got me started thinking about what such a program / service like that might look like).

tl-dr: Stay tuned...

Fantasy builds the world. Noir tells you how to see it.

The question isn't "can Fantasy and Noir coexist?" It's "what's the content genre driving the story, and do Fantasy (world) and Noir (tone/theme) serve it?"
 
Noir isn't about trench coats, cigarettes, or black-and-white lighting. It's about worldview.
 
Noir stories ask: What happens when the rules don't protect the innocent? What does justice look like in a broken system? What does it cost to tell the truth?
 
Fantasy isn't about dragons and spell lists. It's about worldbuilding—creating a reality where power, history, and consequence are visible instead of hidden.
 
Put them together and something interesting happens.
 
Fantasy lets you externalize the invisible. Noir lets you interrogate it.
 
In a Fantasy / Noir:
 
• Magic replaces money, influence, or corruption
• Monsters stand in for systems that can't be punched
• The city isn't a backdrop—it's a character with secrets
• The detective doesn't "win"—they survive with their integrity dented but intact
 
The coat can be enchanted. The alley can be arcane. The crime is still human.
 
At its core, Noir says: the world is unjust, and doing the right thing will cost you.
 
Fantasy just gives that truth teeth, claws, and a name.
 
That's how Fantasy / Noir is possible. It doesn't escape reality. It tells the truth sideways.

I spent four years blocked on my novel. Not because I lacked discipline or clarity. Because I had a goal.
 
"Finish the book" was clear. 
It was measurable. 
And it was completely useless.
 
What finally broke me loose wasn't setting a better goal. It was discovering a constraint I'd been violating.
 
I was forcing an Action ending onto a Thriller story. 
Two different genres, two different promises to the reader. 
No amount of willpower was going to fix a structural problem I couldn't see.
 
Writers love goals: 
• Finish the draft
• Hit the word count 
• Query by summer

These feel like progress. They're often just anxiety wearing a productivity costume.
 
Constraints work differently.
 
"I won't write a scene without knowing what my POV character wants." "I won't start drafting until I know my genre's obligatory moments." "I won't revise based on feedback that contradicts my core premise."
 
Those aren't goals. They're refusals. And refusals shape a book just as powerfully as ambitions.
 
Shakespeare didn't complain about sonnets being restrictive. He found infinity inside 14 lines.
 
Genre isn't a cage. It's the banks of the river that make the current possible.
 
If you're stuck, maybe the question isn't "What's my goal?"
 
Maybe it's "What constraint am I violating that I can't see yet?"
-----------------
(𝘝𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬. 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸.)

“Fantasy / Noir”  sounds like a contradiction.
 
It's not.

Now, I know how this sounds... 

I had a 4 year case of writer's block when I tried to combine Action / Thriller in a Fantasy world, where the fix was cutting the extra genre, focusing on the Thriller genre.

So if Action / Thriller didn't work, 
why does Fantasy / Noir work?

Fantasy and Noir operate on different levels. 

Fantasy is the 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. Noir is the 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘴. 

Neither one is trying to be the story engine—you still need a content genre underneath (Crime, Thriller, Mystery, whatever). They layer without competing.
 
Action/Thriller broke because both were fighting to be the engine. Both wanted to dictate the obligatory scenes, the core value, the climactic payoff. You had two drivers grabbing the wheel.
 
Fantasy/Noir is more like: one builds the car, the other chooses the road. The actual engine—your content genre—still runs underneath.

That's the structural answer. But what does it actually 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 like when Fantasy and Noir work together? That's where it gets interesting.
 --------------
(𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵, 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 1/2.
𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 2/2 𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺.)

Procrastination isn’t a character flaw.  It’s a signal.

I sat across from Sue Campbell at lunch at the Story Grid Live conference in 2019. She's a mindset and marketing coach for writers, and she's amazing.

Sue recently asked members of her 𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘊𝘭𝘶𝘣 why they procrastinate:

• "I procrastinate when I'm afraid."
• "When the thing feels too big."
• "When I don't know where to start."
 
Notice what's missing?
 
Laziness. A lack of willpower. Some moral failing.
 
Yet that's exactly what many writers make procrastination mean about themselves: 
"I'm just not disciplined." 
"There must be something wrong with me."
 
That judgment is what keeps the loop going.
 
Procrastination is often a misguided act of self-care. You're avoiding discomfort, but discomfort is part of growth.
 
Here's how to work 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 your mind instead of 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 it:
𝟭. 𝗗𝗼 𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱. 
What are you telling yourself about the work? 
"This will take forever." 
"I'll never finish." 

Those thoughts don't cause action, they cause hopelessness. And hopelessness procrastinates beautifully.
 
𝟮. 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴. 
We're not one unified voice. "That'll take too long" usually isn't coming from your wise inner author, it's the inner child who wants relief now.
 
𝟯. 𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲. 
What does procrastinating cost you? 
> The finished manuscript. 
> The quiet pride of follow-through. 

What does it give you? 
> Comfort. 
> A quick hit of dopamine. 

That part of your brain is trying to help. 
Yelling at it only makes it double down.
 
So try this: Find the story that produces motion instead of avoidance. "Twenty minutes of writing, then something fun." 
 
Treat the signal with curiosity instead of contempt. Accountability still matters. 
But kindness is usually what gets the work done.
 
If this resonates, you're not broken. You're human.
---------------
𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘧.
(𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘺 '𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳,' 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺.)
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧𝘧?

New year, old problem. We're consuming when we should be creating.

It's a sneaky problem—consuming writing advice hits the same dopamine button as doing the thing.
 
Here's how it looked for me. I had:
 
• 17 open browser tabs on plot structure
• a "Writing Tips" folder that contained more words than my manuscript
• a YouTube playlist on character development I was definitely going to get to one of these days
 
Meanwhile, the novel sat there, waiting.
 
I felt like I was working. I wasn't. I was just procrastinating in a way that let me feel virtuous about it.
 
You can't read your way into becoming a better writer any more than you can watch cooking videos and call yourself a chef.

And here's the cruel part—the more you consume, the less ready you feel.

Consuming builds doubt. Making builds confidence. 

So try this instead. Pick one technique you've learned recently—just one—and apply it to your current project this week.
 
Maybe it's writing a clear scene goal before you draft. 
Maybe it's giving a character a contradictory trait. 
Maybe it's writing dialogue without any tags to see if the voices are distinct.
 
Doesn't matter what you choose. 
What matters is doing something instead of bookmarking another article about doing it.

What’s one new technique you can use this week?

This is how my mind works. (Stick with me...)

I read a throwaway line this morning about fighting in a daily email from Adam Biddlecombe's Mindstream AI industry newsletter: "Smiling before a fight is how you volunteer to lose."
 
Most people scroll past that. 
I followed it deep down the rabbit hole.
 
I couldn't get on with my day until I figured it out: 
Why would a smile, normally a sign of confidence, signal weakness? 

Because under threat, a smile isn't friendliness, it's appeasement. It doesn't say "I'm in control." 

🥊 It says "please don't hit me."
 
Then my brain did what it always does: 
"What's the writing equivalent of smiling before a fight?"
 
> The "I might be wrong, but…"
> The apology baked into the hook.
> It's the opening paragraph that over-explains.
> Friendly hedging before the idea has earned its weight.
 
In writing, just like in a fight, the reader's nervous system asks one question first: Are you in control?
 
Authority isn't established by charm, it's established by stillness. Clear statements. Unrushed sentences. Letting an idea stand without cushioning the landing.
 
Warmth works after credibility, not before.
 
That's why some writing feels oddly weak even when it's "nice." It's negotiating approval instead of projecting clarity.
 
So that's me.
I start with something that looks random. 
I pull the thread. 

And I end up back at craft.

How many times have you thought 'I wish I knew then what I know now'?

Everyone's got a 2026 blueprint. Author Janeen Ippolito fits in one sentence—do the obvious thing.

I know. That might sound unhelpful. It did for me.

For my first two years being active on the platform, people told me that somewhere inside me I knew what was obvious, and what I should do about it. They boldly called me out, almost shaming me into action.

They meant well. They thought they were helping.* 

It was agony. What was apparent to everyone else was a complete mystery to me.

Even Linda couldn't understand why I couldn't see what was right in front of my face.

It was only when I became so sick that I could no longer think that I let go of what was working for other people and allowed myself the freedom to approach the platform from my own interests and strengths, even (or especially if those didn't clearly line up with business). 

So when I read her 5 ways to make headway as a writer in 2026, they hit differently:
 
• Do the obvious thing
• Refresh your incentives
• If there's no reason to change something, don't
• Check your milestones, not your worth
• Remember why you're doing this
 
2026 doesn't need to be a grand reinvention. 

It might just need you to finally do what's been obvious all along.

For me, it's finishing my debut novel.

What's your obvious thing for 2026?
---------------
* 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦-𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘩𝘦𝘩.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳!
https://lnkd.in/gWkARQYx

Open article: Dear Author, in 2026, Do What's Obvious by authorculture.substack.com

Writers with ADHD don't lack focus. We lack a focus 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩.
 
If you've ever written 4,000 words at 2am, forgot to eat, missed three texts, and came up for air wondering where the night went, focus isn't your problem.
 
ADHD isn't an 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 of attention. It's 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 
Our brains don't move smoothly from task to task. They lock on. 

Hours collapse into minutes. 
The story gets louder than the world. 
Everything else goes silent.
 
That's why "just write every day at the same time" is terrible advice for some of us. It assumes attention is predictable and creativity obeys clocks.
 
We write in surges. In windows that open without warning and close just as fast.
 
The mistake isn't 𝘩𝘰𝘸 we write. It's forcing a brain built for intensity into systems designed for steadiness.
 
You don't need more discipline. You need fewer interruptions, better guardrails, and permission to work 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 your wiring instead of against it.
 
ADHD isn't a flaw in a writer. It's a different engine. Stop treating it like a defect and learn how to drive it.

Janice Hardy - ‘Some people aren’t super observant’

Janice Hardy tells a funny story about attention: 
"My husband has had a beard most of our marriage, and I’m quite used to seeing it. But he had a razor mishap not long ago, and went from full beard to goatee, and I didn’t notice. While this might not be great for a relationship (thankfully my husband found it hilarious, because he knows me), it can be the perfect solution to a plot or story problem."

And then she brought it home: 
"Some people aren’t super observant."

That's not a relationship failure. 
That's a human one. 
And it's a powerful storytelling tool.
 
Ever miss someone flirting with you… repeatedly? Notice a warning sign only in hindsight? Readers recognize this instantly because they do it too.
 
If you need a character to miss something important, don't make them stupid. Make them 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯. 

Put them under pressure—emotional stress, competing goals, exhaustion, too many problems at once. When attention narrows, details fall through the cracks.
 
You can even make this a defining trait, as long as you establish it early. Readers accept missed clues if they understand the character's limits. They reject it if it shows up out of nowhere to serve the plot.
 
Hiding clues in plain sight isn't cheating. It's craft. The more you show, the more invisible those details become—and the more real your story feels.

The best twists aren't hidden. 
They're visible—and often overlooked.

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