THE AVERAGE WRITER | 1,000 writers answer questions on their writing routine | I TRIED WRITING LIKE! 

I think I might be the Barb whose routine you followed. I'm so sorry you had to try my haphazard routine! I did do NaNoWriMo two years ago, so I did track words at that time. Thanks for the exciting start to my week!

It'd be really cool to see you do the "abnormal" writer's routine and do all the things that had the lowest percentages!

If you dictate your novel are you really a writer or are you a dictator? 🤔 I'll show myself out...

I don't know why, but the shots of your office space during the stats was really fun to see! The thing I love most about your 'I write like,' videos is how much you learn about yourself and your own writing routine. You confirm what works for you, and what doesn't. And yes, I also love bopping to Lindsay Stirling, even when I'm not writing. Her music is very inspiring.

Kate: *holds up lighter* Me: ...burn the house down? Kate: Light a candle Me: yeah that's totally what I was thinking. Also me: Is a house not just a gigantic candle?

* holds up lighter * Me: _She's going to smoke a cigarette?_ Kate: CANDLES. Me: Oh.

Just to explain myself why I write 2 hours+ as a writing session since you were confused at that. I have too much free time and when I start writing, I lost myself in my imagination and don't even realize the time passing, so when I look up to the clock it's been 3 or 4 hours already xD I'm a night owl, so I just remember to look at the clock because my eyes are heavy, hehe ^^

So excited for this! We’ve seen so much from your famous writer’s routine, but I’m anticipating creating a new writing routine, and since writing isn’t really my career seeing how average writers work will be wonderful for that! Thanks for doing so much for the community, Kate.

I love all those stats!! You should do more questionnaires, the answers are so interesting :)

YAY! I love that this video is finally here (I filled out the form and it turns out I'm pretty average among your audience)! I also loved The Kiss of Deception so it made me stupidly happy to see it on your bookshelf. Calling Zelda "the little book eater" made me smile.

I really liked comparing my writing routine to the poll results! And I liked this version of the "I tried writing like..." series a lot :3

Always stepping it the heck up with these writing challenges Kate, awesome work. Also, Sarah's quote "weird, but it works" pretty much sums up all the things I do to get writing done hahaha 😂

EXCITED FOR THIS VID! Also I am a no music while writing girl too, otherwise I waste half an hour sat there singing my head off and not writing 😂😂

It’s so surprising how many people are night owls!! I could never. I’m such a morning writer!

Love that you tried Barb's routine--she sounds like she knows her best triggers and comforts 😍

I love ASMR while I write. I love listening to long videos of ambient world sounds, like one thats over 7 hours long of different sounds from the Harry Potter world. I also will write chapter by chapter and then I’ll immediately go back and edit my chapter, making sure I got everything I needed to put there, and then I won’t look at it again until I’m going through actual edits.

Kate: 2+ hours feels like a long writing session Me, whose writing sessions last 5+ hours due to ADHD struggles: oops.

Waking up to a new Kate C vlog is lovely! That was fun, and good to see how I fit in with the other respondents. I end up in a lot of the “most writers do this” categories. :) Re: Pomodoro-it’s just a kitchen timer so you can set it for 20 minutes, then do ten of physical activity. Then write the way you like for the rest of the day. My timers have four legs and if I get into the zone, they give me about 40 minutes before they want me to open the door or dispense treats. LOL So I track words, not time, because doggies cannot be ignored. :)

I hosently didn't know there was a avegra writer because what I have seen all of the writer are amazing

I love this poll

Honestly ASMR (no talking), or fantasy music really get's me in the mood. I am also finding it interesting that a lot of these writing challenges and systems can also be transferred into my drawing- as rather than writing novels I have found I would prefer to publish a webcomic. Despite the format differences, your channel is still inspiring for me!

hello, I honestly just write when I feel like it and often not at the right place or time sadly :)

I love these stats! And also you making it abundantly clear they're not representative soothes my scientist heart 🤣🤣

The cutesy turn of Black Widow before another chart haha. I ADORE writing with music. It's either music or the sound of rain, but I prefer music. And yes to a video where it's just candles being blown out haha

I love everyone's specific asmr/music preferences 😆 Mine are rain/thunderstorm noise videos and laundromat ambience from mynoise

Oooh seeing the candle wax melt in the time lapse was fun!

I'm filling in a 2021 diary while listening to you and happened to glance up right as you cut to the Fruits Basket manga - that's one of my favourite manga's!

Okay, I will contribute here since I didn't take the survey. I don't have a route, but I would like to. I don't have any writing goals but I average 500 to 1000 writing and 3K to 6K dictating. I normally dictate my "0th draft" on a walk, I just keep speaking and let all my ideas come out. Some times I do scenes or a really wordy outline of what I want to do. Then I translate with dragon naturally speaking. When its time to edit that work, I put on "Two Steps from Hell" and clean up that draft. Mostly adding on extra 1000 words. I just drink ice water. If not, then its a green/black/white tea combo I make.

My writing routine; 7am on train - jot down ideas 11am when my brain is wandering during lecture 12-1 During lunch (Remember to set alarm so as not to accidentally skip bioinformatics again because you got caught up in writing) 3-4 pm train home - edit docs, doodle new ideas... and watch Kate cavanaugh videos

I love how you shot this! This kind of video could be pretty boring if you had just read the poll results to the camera, but all the shots around your office made it visually engaging.

since im living with my parents again temporarily, i dont have set times to write so much as a section of the day. i basically eat dinner which can be anywhere from 6pm to 8pm and then when im upstairs depending on how close to 8pm it is i'll either start writing or i'll watch the unus annus video for the day and maybe a few others and THEN start writing. I write for at least an hour with no limit as to how long, and while i dont technically have a word goal, my time goal of at least an hour is based off of the fact that i write about 1.7k words per hour, so i know i'll get over 1000 words every session, and if i go for about an hour and a half it'll be over 2000. so everything is very rough yet still is a routine in itself. its very strange.

18:17 I want that water bottle. November is my birthday month, so I'm gonna treat myself. I love your videos, Kate. Keep up the good work.

I know I am late but I really think you should make it a series where you practice the writing routine of your fans! Its so interesting!

OMG I LOVE ASMR. I have a writing/editing playlist on spotify that is only writing/typing sounds. I include the library video you showed.

The only album I use to write is Nick Cave - Push the Sky Away. It is fairly soft and puts my brain into writing mode. Great video, Kate.

This was so interesting! I loved all of your charts and office shots :)

What I learned from this video that a lot of people are consistent and perhaps prolific writers but they don't make Authortube videos. It makes me see how large Authortube really is.

This is so cool! I love watching you try different writing routines.

I LOVE that bottle!!! Omg I need it!!

I was so excited to hear the answers to these questions! Loved filling them out! I also really enjoyed how you structured this video with different shots around your office. :-)

I love your writing experiment videos, I pick up so many new ideas for my own writing routine and it's so helpful! I want to transition into writing full time in the near future.

I love ASMR, but not usually during writing. I almost always write with music. Keeps me focused. I also write by hand pretty often so I can’t go online as easily. Oh and sprints are life :)

Amazing video. I just came across your channel & you've help me discover so much about the writing world. Thank you. @12:43 I never knew that ASMR existed. Do ppl listen to this to relax or for focus? Honest question cause those videos game me a panic attack. Idk why. I find it very interesting either way. Thanks again.

It was interesting to see such variety in the writing routines, even if they were similar. Loved this! I've been trying to get a routine, but as a stay-at-home mom who's now adding homeschooling to the list of things I need to do in a day, that routine is changing. It'll be interesting to see how it morphs...

I enjoyed this thank you 💜

You are going to be one of the best selling authors ever. Keep grinding.

Hi! I love your videos and it's taken an all-nighter but I finally get to tell you and be sure you'll see! I'd love to see a I tried writing like Mary Shelley.

While I don't write at the moment, I still remember my old college routine for doing assessments at home. I would usually get up around 7:30am, be up and ready (after having breakfast and bathroom stuff) by 9:00am, do any house chores like washing up for a 1hr, start working until roughly 12:30, have lunch for around 1hr, 1:30pm I would start up again and finish with assessments at around 2:00, take the dog out for 1hr and then just chill until dinner which is usually at 7pm. I still follow some semblance of this routine as following one does relax me quite a bit. If I ever do take up something like writing I'll probably go back to this old routine unless something else prevents it...like an eventual job. Which I still don't have...lol thank you 2020.

I now have to try pomodoros and ASMR while writing :) it seems like it could be helpful.

I definitely thought you were eluding to 420 activities when you held up the lighter. lmao i was like 'gasp. kate this is a family channel' 😂😂😂 I wonder what a high Kate is like.

When I answered the questions, I basically wrote from 7.00 - 11.30/12.00-with a 10 to 15 minute break for a quick sandwich and some tea. I didn't work in sprints, but tried my best to find a balance between wordsmithing the hell out of the first draft and getting the story told. Often within two weeks time I would read the chapter, and edit the draft so the general flow became better or add in words that I missed along the way. Partially because my wife and one of my friends read my work already during this stage. I would never give them a true first draft...even though my first drafts are relatively clean because I just don't want to edit my story four times to get to a final draft. Meanwhile, I started to use dictation to put my first draft on paper. My session became around 2 hours (perhaps 3 hours on pumped days), and I produce on average 3500 words in those two hours-which in my book structure is about the average chapter length. These voice dictation sessions are done in 30 minute sprints to stop myself from overthinking too much, and somewhat disable my editor self while getting stuff done. I do these sprints often back-to-back, and see an increase of WPH after the first sprint until my fourth or fifth sprint. After that I start to drop to my average for every sprint after that point, which is often equal to my second session.This text will require heavier editing! Which often results in me going through it in about 1.5/2 hours, and completely rewrite it and wordsmith away on the template for the chapter I have laid out for myself via voice dictation. This chapter will after that point be ready for my inner circle test readers to read, and would at first glance require less editing/revisions down the line. I've tried multiple things for a week, at an attempt to optimize what works for me. That is also why I love these "write like..." videos. They give methods to try and see if they fit, or little pieces that I could add without distrubing the workflow too much.

Love this

Great video. So interesting. While I remember, it would be amazing to see you do a 'Writing like Dean Wesley Smith' video. (Writing In The Dark.) 🙂

This was a really fun video! I especially like your writers water bottle.

This was such a cool set of experiments. I had fun answering those poll questions! I like ambient rooms more than ASMR and I've been enjoying videos on RU-vid called, "study with me" or "gongbang" in Korean. Having someone else working with me just makes me productive. lol

It is so weird comparing styles. I like my style, and i don't think any of these are inherently better than others (if it works it works)! But this does feel sharing class notes to see what other people got from the teacher to prep for a test and that's cool.....

Ahhh i love data!!! This is so fun!!!

This survey is amazing I hope I could join next time.

I've slowed down my writing process because my arm is healing. I went down from 2000 - 2500 in an hour to 1000 - 1200. I only aim for 5,000 words Weekly instead of 10,000. The rest of the day I am sleeping. Long 4 hour naps to recover from the mental exhausting journey of learning to become a writer. I must rest my eyes and do the work quickly before my Glaucoma takes away my eyesight. I am writing a personal library for my Wife. I am not aiming for publication publishing. I am going to use Amazon as a printing service alone.

The only time I will listen to music while writing is when there is a lot of noise in my environment. I’m looking at you, grandkids! The music is not implemented for inspiration, merely as a way to drown out the rest of the world. Nothing random, Just Clair de Lune on repeat.

Wow I’ve never tried ASMR while writing, but it’s so popular! Love the writing nutrition water bottle. I might... acquire one 😁

So, I usually write 3 hours at a time. BUT I include my break time in that because I'm still thinking about the book while I'm up and moving around. I do stretches, lift a bit with hand weights, do deep breathing, close my eyes and/or refill my beverage. I carry a dollar store mini sketch pad with me and jot down any notes that come to mind while I'm on break. I do a daily goal based on the hours I write per day, but I will definitely stop once I get to 10k (on those rare days). Any more than that and I'll have trouble writing the next day.

Lindsay Stirling on the violin--yes!!! She's amazing to dance to, as well!

It’s so interesting to see how other people write... I definitely don’t have a writing routine, but I really want one!

Oh my god, I love writing with asmr. Most of the time I write with no talking asmr, but sometimes when it's loud at my house, I opt for talking. And that's only when I can concentrate lol

I'm a rookie, but here's my take: I personally have to be almost 'as free as possible'. No schedules, no timers, no nothing. My mind tends to rebel rather aggressively when I restrict it artificially, causing me to lose focus rather than gain it. I'll look at the clock, wishing it all to be over, I'll write worse because I feel guilty if I'm thinking, etc. etc. I like to let things stew, and to figure out how to funnel my natural motivation rather than force it. Some days, that completely falls through. Other days, that succeeds greatly. What I do try to do, is to limit 'addictions'. So gaming, youtube, candy, etc. Stuff that doesn't really do me any good. I can do so even to my rebellious mind, because even it can understand to some extend that "doing these things doesn't help me and doesn't make me feel better", in other words, they're restrictions I can justify on an emotional level. I'll use youtube music for music, and then go from it from there. I try to get some outlining or writing done every day, even if it's just a literal word or two. By keeping my mind 'near' the topic of writing, it will eventually latch on to it naturally without the need to force it. This is probably because I'm a rookie writer - I will probably have less and less issue in writing every day as time goes on. I do tend to edit as I write. I'm fairly self-aware, so editing doesn't make me hate myself or my writing enough to block my motivation to continue. On the contrary, I think I might actually like editing, lol. In general, I take 'the worst' right off the bat (spelling mistakes, bizarre sentences, etc), and then I finish a chapter. As I've finished the next chapter, I'll go back to the previous chapter and edit it with the following chapter in mind. So I go with a sort of computer-science-agile model of writing, slowly but surely improving the product as I got along, as defined by these minimum viable products called 'chapters'. I also do world-building in-between chapters. I haven't tested these strategies much as of yet, so I've no idea if they actually work for me, but that is what imma be doing as I push forward. It's not a fast writing style, but I find this continued self-crtique mixed with natural motivation allows my ideas to slow-boil and hence increase in quality in a relatively consistent manner.

I had answered "in pockets" but also "2+ hours" because I write in pockets but only in a couple hours of the day. I work nights so I set aside some time usually 11am-3pm to write and within those four hours I'll write for a little bit then go do other things before getting back to writing and so on.

YEEEESSSS YOU VOTED!!!!!!

I LOVE the Mistborn series and Bird by Bird lol I hope you enjoy them!! This was so cool to see the stats but I think I was definitely one of those people who misinterpreted "session" so a few of us probably screwed up your numbers oof

I'm stuck with preparing for NaNo myself for my character is just being difficult. As for videos, I would be curious to see how many filled notebooks you have and many empty notebooks you have. Me personally, i can't stop buying notebooks, even though I have twenty empty ones ready to be used (it's not a problem, I swear), a few that I have already begun to write in, but because I was a more disorganized writer in the past I would always misplace notebooks in my house, and many filled journals. I'm curious about a journal tour and maybe looking over old writing ideas kind of video. Kind of like those looking through art sketchbook videos, but different? IDK

I have given in to the fact that I do my best work between 10-12 am which means I am now spending those two hours as my best brain powered hours to get as much down as possible. The afternoon is spent adding to or building on what i did that morning. Evening I spend reading/watching/listening to media when possible, and will make minor changes the next day as they hit me. work days are editing days, as stopping and starting all the time has actually been an advantage to line edits lol. I feel like I can only really draft when I KNOW i'm not going to be interrupted, otherwise the day gets filled with 'settling in' activities to get back in the groove and i wind up not getting much done but brain still be drained =.= in terms of editing on the go i've heard people will edit yesterday's work before doing the next thing. For me I go 'episode' (which may be multiple chapters) by episode, or chapter by chapter, and when the episode or chapter goal is ticked off it's break time uwu

Sadly I missed the questionnaires, but this is still very interesting to watch! Hooray for the puppies like always! Anyways, my routine (if I could call mine that) consists of me writing in the morning and resuming it on evenings, or anytime as long as there is quiet. It's really during the quiet times I tend to write, but if it's a particlarly good day and I can still work through the noise, I just put on some ASMR or music in the background, basically whatever fits the mood of the scene I'm working on. Mostly during the afternoon I do some art or just play video games since there's a lot of free time for me at present.

Took me until lunch to watch, but totally work it. Congratulations @Igotablankpage (Sarah)!!!!!!! I knew you were busy but what a great routine and balance (I know some days it doesn’t play out well).

It's been a long day. I needed a Kate Cavanaugh video. I'm trying to set up my writing space better so it suits working. I live alone so there's no reason I can't do whatever I want. What do you think of the "average" writer? Did any of the results surprise you? I was surprised about the 1 to 2 hours thing. I mean, I write that much usually, but I'm also really slow, so I might get 500-1000 words done in that time. I've written faster before but I always struggle with it. Yaay Kate! This was awesome. I love watching your videos because you don't give writers advice, you just document your journey of trying a bunch of stuff and that is something I can relate to.

ChilledCow's 'Beats to Relax to' is my go to when writing. I'm autistic so sometimes I can just get into focus on my own but sometimes it's such a struggle. Music acts as like a movie soundtrack to what I'm writing and helps me get into the writing mindset when I'm not mentally there on my own. :)

Same re: words in songs! I tend to listen to ambience like the 10 hour Jeremy Soule Skyrim soundtracks, Harry Potter ambience, LOTR ambience etc. The key is nothing with ads as they really disturb me haha!

my answers: - Afternoon - water or coffee - 30min-2hrs - music sometimes - I will read through what I've written previously to get a handle on what I need to do next, IF the project is a chronological one. But most of mine are piece-meal so each scene is a chapter draft that gets edited once I'm done the draft. once-twice a week if my brain cooperates. (mental health struggles cut me off at the knees often) - Draft by hand. i do not trust phones or docs cause I have lost too many drafts via reboots and batched autosaving -_- - no word count. the scene is done when the scene is done. - routine: sort of? once a week me and a couple friends have an informal write-in in a party chat. other than that i just sit with my notebook at my desk or in bed and think about scenes until prose happens. - writing habits: clear desk and watch a couple author-tube vids to get my head in the right space//or sit on my bed with my notebook and think about scenes until prose happens. - no sprints this was a fun one :) also, thanks for inspiring me to try and have a bit more of a routine to get myself into a focusing headspace. i haven't been able to write all year, but said inspo has gotten me back to it.

Love listening to Lindsey Stirling while writing, or game/movie soundtracks.

I could never write without my music in the backround - or at least some kind of audiobook. But that is because I write since I was 12, and when I still lived at my parent's we often had noisy neighbours. Since I hated hearing my neighbours, I turned my music on, and that made me able to focus on my writing again. :D Meanwhile I live on my own and my neighbourhood is relatively peaceful, so I technically don't have to listen to anything anymore to keep myself a bit grounded... But old habits hardly die. :P

my routine is i do 2 hours a day. i do mostly every day that I could do. on my desk I have my outline notebook, water, my phone and earbuds. i listen to music when I write but when it edited i don't. my word goal is 500 words or more. i do timed sprints when I write. i do my 2 hours sprints whenever i can

Oh my gosh I love that literary water bottle. Where did you get it?

Your gigantic screen with a timer is interesting. I use a Time Timer for my Pomodoros, maybe I should try the giant screen, hmmmmmmm...

I basically can’t listen to music while writing...or reading, or talking. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part it’s like the music jams up my verbal brain and makes it so I can’t think

I don’t have a routine but I just make sure I write at least once a day

Huh I’ve never listened to ASMR while writing, I usually listen to Chilledcow’s livestream

I literally can't sit down to write unless I've worked out and had coffee! (PS. your channel is super inspiring!!)

I love that water bottle! Where did you get it?

This video made me excited to talk about my own writing routine, so I'm just going too. I can only write when it's dark. The sun has to be down, because closing my blinds doesn't work. I usually start around 8/8.30 pm and write until i have to go to bed (I'm 17, so my parents still tell me when to go) it depends each day but it is mostly around 11 pm. I only write with pen and paper. I mostly have coffee and water as a drink. I also listen to music while writing, but I have to start with a specific song, otherwise I just can't get into the story. (Sorry for any grammar mistakes as English is my second language)

This is fun! I missed the survey but I wanna talk about my "routine" anyway just for fun. I write in the afternoon typically, because they're my sharpest brain hours, and when I'm drafting I use only time goals (usually 2-3 hours--I'm an mfa student so this is basically my homework right now--but never sprints), but when I'm editing I set amount goals (as in, do one reviz pass on chapter 10, etc). I drink some kind of caffeine, not coffee because my stomach can't handle it but otherwise whatever is fine, but I don't have any rituals. I just sit down at my desk and rock 'n' roll. I don't listen to music but sometimes I'll put on an ambient noise RU-vid video, like a "10 hours of blizzard on a train" type thing.

I'm the early bird writer XD my brain is like fireworks at 4am while at 10pm it is completely flatlined by then

Gentle Whispering, the Queen of ASMR.

Hi can you tell please what you use to type your book it seems really nice and it has great sections for scenes ?

I so want to turn off wifi during my writing but since I often do my writing during livestreams that would not work. And I want to try to do more with voice to text on my phone and since the easiest way to do that is google docs I need the wifi for that as well. Speaking of voice to text, I wonder how people who primarily use that are able to edit? Anyway, I loved this video.

kate! could you do a query update?? :)

Definitely thought that lighter was an indication that things were about to take a very different turn😂

It's interesting that "whenever I can" is apparently usually chunked into hours-long sessions.

Definitely thought there were more “always writes with wine” comrades out there

try D&D ambience videos. It's phenomenal.

omg that water bottle! where is that from??

I imagine listening to Lindsey Stirling while writing helps with dramatic fighting scenes.