I'm sorry if this is an odd think to ask to a published writer, but how do you stay motivated during bad mental health days?

Well, the short answer is I don’t.

For me, a big part of finding the wherewithal to get any writing done has been accepting that I can’t ever “overcome” my disabilities through hard work and self-discipline (or other lies that the ableds made up to sell us day planners) and planning things accordingly. I try looking at it as an issue of accommodation; I built myself a sensory-friendly work space where I can be alone, I never commit to deadlines I know I’m not going to meet, and when I have bad days and can’t get any work done I try to accept them as a fact of life instead of feeling guilty about them. Once I got to that place, things got a lot easier.

Getting there can be a hell of a journey–I’ve been doing this since I was 12 and I only put out my first book last year, and there’s a huge emphasis on “try to” in that last point–but I figured something out and I’m a complete jackass so I’m sure there’s hope for everyone.

Also I feel like I’m more fortunate than a lot of ND writers in that I’ve never had to struggle w/ attention deficits, but there’s a post around here someplace that @thebibliosphere left some excellent commentary on regarding that problem specifically; I’ll see if I can’t find it