Kate Kelly Peggy Ramundo - You Mean Im Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder

Also by Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo

The ADDed Dimension:
Everyday Advice for Adults with ADD
(with D. Steven Ledingham)

The ADDed Dimension:
Celebrating the Opportunities, Rewards, and Challenges
of the ADD Experience (with D. Steven Ledingham)

The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults
with Attention Deficit Disorder

KATE KELLY
AND
PEGGY RAMUNDO
Foreword by Ned Hallowell, M.D.

SCRIBNER

New York London Toronto Sydney

DISCLAIMER

This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its authors. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed in the publication. It is sold with the understanding that the authors and publisher are not engaged in rendering medical, health or any other kind of personal professional services in the book. The reader should consult his or her medical, health or other competent professional before adopting any of the suggestions in this book or drawing inferences from it.

The authors and publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

SCRIBNER
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New York, NY 10020

Copyright 1993, 2006 by Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo

All rights reserved,
including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.

First Scribner trade paperback edition 2006

SCRIBNER and design are trademarks of Macmillan Library Reference
USA, Inc. used under license by Simon & Schuster,
the publisher of this work.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases,
please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales:
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Manufactured in the United States of America

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Library of Congress Control Number: 9440538

ISBN-13: 978-0-684-80116-2

ISBN-10: 0-684-80116-7

ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-6448-8 (Pbk)

ISBN-10: 0-7432-6448-7 (Pbk)

eISBN-13: 978-0-743-28894-1

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is dedicated to my partner and soul mate,
Paul Ravenscraft. He is the answer to a prayer for one who
shares my vision of life as a spiritual journey. Namaste, Paul.

Kate Kelly

I dedicate this book to:
Mom and Pop Eliezer, Roger, Nona and Noni,
Uncle Bill, Phil and Julie.
You have left this earthly plane and I miss you. Though I cant see
or touch you anymore, I hold each of you in my heartyour
memory lovingly wrapped and carried forever in my soul.

Peggy Ramundo

General Office Management

Here for Anyway?

Our wholehearted thanks go to all the people who made this book possible. Please forgive any ADD oopses if you have contributed and fail to find your name mentioned here. While our hearts are full of gratitude, our memories have been known to go south from time to time.

First, we wish to acknowledge those people who made substantial contributions to the original, self-published version of the Lazy Crazy book. Rob Ramundo tops the list as the person who put his heart and soul into the publishing and promotion of our first, self-published edition in 1993. Without Rob, we would never have been able to create and run Tyrell and Jerem Press. His dont tell me no attitude got us major distribution at a time when all the experts were saying that the big guys were not interested in dealing with a one-title publishing house. The book was so successful, in fact, that soon our phones were ringing off the hook with calls from major publishers wanting to buy it. We cant thank you enough, Rob, for your passion, dedication and hard work. You made it all possible.

Next, we wish to thank Tony Magliano, who created all but a few of the cartoons you will see in this second edition. We liked his original artwork so much that we basically recycled most of his cartoons from the original book, using them in various places in the new chapters.

Thank you, Larry Silver, for writing a foreword to endorse our book back in the days when no one had heard of Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo, and very few people knew that the adult form of ADD even existed.

We fondly remember Perry, who manned the phones and took orders for our self-published book from his outpost like Northern Exposure in upper Michigan. He had a special talent for getting ADDers off that expensive 1-800 line quickly, without making them wrong. He was a genius at customer service.

David Stull gave us the invaluable gift of the perfect title for our book. We promptly threw out the long list of possibilities when he called us with the results of his brilliant brainstorm.

A grateful thanks go to Rita Stull and George Schober who made substantial editorial contributions.

Many thanks to the following people who provided moral and/or practical support:

The original Cincinnati ADD Adult Support Group, the ADD Council of Greater Cincinnati, Dr. Bonnie Green, Rob Allard, Billy Stockton, Marjorie Busching, Marta Donahoe, Angela Field, Suzanne Behle, Liz Wymer, Bunny Hensley, Doug Pentz, Tyrell Pentz and Mary Jane Johnson.

For the Scriber/Simon and Schuster 1995 hardcover and 1996 paperback edition of You Mean Im Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! we thank our agent, Jody Rein, and editor, Maria Guar-neschelli. Special thanks to Jody for her ability to rock and roll with all our ups and downs and writers heebie-jeebies. Thanks also to Phyllis Heller, publicist.

For the current, second edition of this book, the lions share of gratitude goes to Paul Ravenscraft, Kates significant other and our project manager. We could not have pulled it together without his heart-centered involvement and considerable skills. We love you, Paul.

Special thanks go to Dave Brattain, who kept ADDed Dimension Coaching on an even keel while the book was in progress. We also thank him for his contribution to the meditation chapter.

We also express our gratitude to Doug Pentz and Tom D Erminio for sharing their experience treating multitudes of ADD adults at The Affinity Center.

We wish to honor and acknowledge our coaching teacher and mentor, Madelyn Griffith-Haynie.

Thank you, Ned Hallowell, for writing the Foreword and for all that you have done to inspire and encourage adults with ADD.

We are grateful to the following people and organizations, who contributed ideas, knowledge and moral or practical support:

Terry Matlin, Kathy Aker, Claudia Foster, Steven Ledingham, Wendy Richardson, Sari Solden, Pat Quinn, Kathleen Nadeau, Thom Hartmann, Andrea Little, Neil Anderson, Maegdlyn Morris, Lee Schmidt, Janet Robinson, Michelle Sellers, Ursula Stegall, Richard and Antoinette Asimus, Mark Stucker, Lisa Henry, Roland Rotz, Sarah Wright, Louise Lavey, E. L. Kersten, Ph.D., Julie Nichols, our many clients, The ADDed Dimension Coaching Group, The New Thought Unity Center of Cincinnati, the folks from GDT and The Designers workroom and The Affinity Center.

Beth Wareham, our editor for the second edition, deserves a round of applause for her unflagging support and encouragement. She was endlessly patient and never made us wrong when we needed deadline extensions. We honor Beth as a person who leads from the heart.

Peggy expresses a special thank-you to James Richardsonfirst my daughters high school friend and then mine. You seem to know when my now empty nest has me feeling particularly sad. You appear unexpectedly with your ready smile and encouraging hug. That you trust me with your private hurts and disappointments is a gift I treasure. Thank you, James, for your unconditional loveknow that you have mine in return.