Claim OwnershipStepping Off Now: Support for Neurodivergent Creatives
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© 2025 Stepping Off Now: Support for Neurodivergent Creatives
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Hello, and welcome to the Stepping Off Now podcast. I'm Kendra, an AuDHD writer, and this is my safe space for talking about the challenges of being a neurodivergent creative and the lessons I'm learning along the way. It's a little bit dark and a little bit visceral, but always honest. I hope that it can be a safe space for you too, where you feel seen and validated wether or not you identify as neurodivergent yourself. All gentle souls are welcome, and my goal is to provide solace and support. The world at large may not understand or appreciate you, but I do. We are not alone in our struggles, and we are stronger and wiser than we know. We can do this.
173 Episodes
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In which I discuss a recent mistake I made in following neurotypical advice, and the lesson I learned about how important it is for neurodivergent folks to know how to assess what is safe for their nervous systems before taking action. Also in this episode: my podcast's mini rebrand and a diagnosis I got this summer. My name is Kendra and I'm an AuDHD writer, podcaster, and erstwhile social scientist.
1In which I discuss my relapse into burnout with its enmeshment of intersecting ironies. Also: my evolving understanding of myself as a neurodivergent person and an update on my creative endeavors.
Managing a large creative project that must be done in stages and with attention to what seems like a million intertwined details is a skill that must be learned through trial and error. Most projects are in the "ugly" stage until they are very near completion, and this can be frustrating and confusing when you have a grand vision of what you are trying to accomplish. In this episode I talk about what writing a novel taught me about how to keep going when you feel overwhelmed by the complexit...
Note: my microphone wasn't working properly for the interview portion of this episode; I apologize for the less-than-ideal sound quality of my parts. At last the long-awaited first installment of my author interview series! KRISTIN KISSKA used to be a finance geek, complete with her MBA and Wall Street pedigree, but now she is a self-proclaimed #SuspenseGirl. She has contributed over a dozen short suspense stories to crime and mystery anthologies. Her debut novel, The Hint of Light, was...
Here in Florida our challenging season is summer--it's both broiling hot and rainy. My backyard turns into a literal swamp. It can be hard to maintain motivation for our creative work when the weather and climate are so uncomfortable. Maybe in your area it's winter that's the challenging season. If you struggle to keep up your momentum during these times, I have some suggestions on how to handle your creative work in ways that can create motivation. Info on Lisa Ross's literary editing services
As I contemplate ways I can resist against the forces of chaos and cruelty holding sway in society, I am sometimes dismayed by my own limits. But I am not utterly powerless. In this episode I discuss the many ways in which doing art can be a form of resistance. Dina Brodsky's Instagram Athena Scalzi's blog post
Beyond passion, skill, and commitment, there is another quality that defines what it is to be an artist: the ability to make choices in your art and follow through on them. In this episode I contemplate how being stuck in art (and life) is often more the result of a fear of making wrong choices than a lack of inspiration. It can help to shift our mindset to see artistic choices as neutral, and to understand that we have the power to make a choice a good one by continuing to work with it until...
I've long thought that talent is the least important ingredient in artistic success (however you define that). The further I get in my writing career, the less it seems to matter whether I have any "natural" talent. What matters is consistent and sustained effort over time. In this episode I contemplate whether talent is what we think it is, and provide an alternative framework for conceptualizing it that can help free us from the pressure of not feeling talented enough.
In which I share my thoughts on how creative practice helps us handle the often difficult conditions of the artist's life: how long and hard we have to work to establish ourselves, the mental health struggles many of us face, and the competition inherent in a glutted market.
I recently added a second creative practice to my roster of creative activities: watercolor painting. While I definitely felt ready for this big step, it has nonetheless served as a disruption in my life and to my understanding of the role of creativity in my life. In this episode I contemplate the value of disruption and how both planned and unplanned disturbances to our status quo can help us grow creatively and develop a deeper understanding of our work.
Creatives and artists can be roughly divided into two types: intuitive and conceptual. Many do successfully combine both styles, but I have never been able to. I am a strongly intuitive writer and have historically failed at incorporating conceptual tools, like outlining and plotting, into my practice. As part of my journey toward being a published author, though, I've been forced to consider using conceptual tools to streamline my writing process. In this episode I tell you how it's going an...
As the wheel of history lurches forward I've been thinking about what role I play in society as an artist. What do I contribute? How can I make a positive difference? Typically this kind of discussion focuses on the artist's art, but I've taken a different view. I want to know what role artists themselves play, separate from their art. In this episode I contemplate this question and offer some thoughts. Hewes House
In a twist on a classic interview episode, in this one friend of the pod Ann Wainscott returns to interview someone herself! Links from this episode: Switched on Pop's Madonna episode No.1, No.2, and No.3 Daniel Mason's novel North Woods
When you are a highly sensitive gentle soul, the chaos and cruelty of the world can feel unbearable at times. How are we to protect ourselves while still engaging? In this episode I discuss this in light of my own thoughts on the recent US election results. My sister's Instagram account (jillpattersoncycling) The poem Desiderata
Have you ever been told you take yourself too seriously? I heard this all the time growing up. And it was both right...and wrong. In this episode I discuss how I held myself back from reaching for my creative dreams both by taking myself too seriously and not seriously enough. Sound confusing? Well, give it a listen! Here is the Instagram reel that sparked this episode.
I wasted years of my life following other people's advice about how I should be writing novels and developing my creative practice, and it mostly failed me. So finally I decided to chuck it all out the window, go against the grain, and listen to myself. In this episode I discuss why we mostly shouldn't listen to anyone else and instead expend time and energy figuring out what works for US individually. But we also shouldn't dismiss advice and expertise wholesale! So I balance my rebellious FU...
I am using my current project, novel #2, to master plot, my weakest area as a writer. In the past, I've been ambivalent and even felt antipathy toward applying commercial and Western-style plot structures to my novels, because I felt they constrained my art. So what's changed? In this episode I discuss my evolving views on structure in life and art, and why I'm now leaning into the concept that structure can free us...if we do it right. For some background on my thoughts on plot, and particu...
In this episode I discuss my recent diagnosis of being neurodivergent, including why I pursued a formal diagnosis, what it entails, and its relationship to creativity and my art.
With novel #1 winding its way toward publication (hopefully), I have officially begun work on novel #2...and I've realized I will have to approach writing it in an entirely different way. Not only that, I'm going to have to use a technique I have utterly failed at in the past: preplanning the plot. Simply put, I suck at plot. It was the last thing to fall into place in novel #1. In this episode I contemplate why the things we suck at could actually be special talents in disguise, and how we c...
I'm not really sure how to summarize this episode, y'all...but you'll want to listen! Contact me
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Hi Kendra, I have been listening to your podcast for the past couple of years. There are so many things I appreciate about you and your work and this episode I thought highlighted so much of that: your honesty, the care you have for others and your listeners, and your ability to accept things even when it's hard to do. Thank you for role modeling the act of honoring your needs by taking breaks, and resting. As someone who has chronic health conditions as well, I am reminded of how key this really is. I am celebrating you and your next steps with your novel. Thank you for being you ❤️
The honesty and insight in each of these podcasts is so refreshing and helpful. Highly recommended!
YESSS!!! Thank you for opening my eyes to societal burnout. This feels so true.