WRITING EXPERIMENT // Living My "Ideal" Writing Week 

Oooh! That's awesome to discover about yourself. I think I'm the same way. I try to plan a "week ahead" at a time because I benefit from visually SEEING what I have to do and purposely making that time ahead of the date. Otherwise, like you, the list kind of just doesn't get crossed through (or if it does, most of the items don't haha).

I need to get back on doing this too. Of course it's when I finally decide to go back to school that I stop remembering this truth about myself. Literally at this moment I have three assignments due tomorrow (one of them is a portfolio of 3-5 pieces) for just one class and I'm absolutely not done, but I'm typing this comment instead lol. I spent all day watching booktube, authortube, reading, in the car, writing IDEAS down but not actual potential sentences for when i was back at the computer, and saying "oh well, I'll just stay up late tonight." even though I just have pre-class panic attacks when I do that, having not gotten much done when I could have just scheduled it all.

AWWW! I'm so glad! :)

Aww thank you so much! I usually only wear them when I'm too lazy to put in my contacts or just before bed haha.

Bahaha thank you! I felt like I had to do something because I realized I didn't record enough content for it all to make sense. 😂 And yesss! I love all your new planners and journals too though. But this has convinced me I might want to return to my Passion Planner again. :)

GOOD LUCK! Glad you're taking care of your mental health. :) Yeah, underestimating the time something takes is a constant struggle. And I'm always surprised, too, because I feel like I get better at a lot of other tasks but then still can't estimate properly to save my life haha. I think the lesson for me is to purposely over-estimate and then maybe I'll hit it right. (But then I sometimes like to work under deadline so not sure how that will work.) It's all a process! :)

Aww, thanks so much! :)

I tried learning Japanese through Duolingo when I was going to visit Tokyo for two weeks! I definitely didn't practice enough haha, but I'm so glad it's an option. I'd love to return to it eventually.

OOOOOH! I'm so curious what your productivity tables look like! I find all of that so interesting. That's fantastic that it's helped you improve. And totally agreed: whatever works! And YAY! See you then. :)

I wish I was better at time tracking on a regular basis! If I don't make it a priority - like these type of experiments! - it never happens. Maybe that can be a goal of mine, to make tracking a priority hahah. And thank you, you too !:)

It was muuuuuch harder than just one day but probably more valuable in what I learned from it! This also goes into when I make daily vs. weekly vlogs for NaNo or the Camps! I'm muuuuch better at doing things daily and wrapping them up than trying to keep track each week.

Yes, I definitely think that's it! Structuring your own time is both the best and worst thing in terms of productivity haha. And thank you so much! I felt much better the next day and was so relieved there was no "migraine hangover" this time around. :)

I'm glad!

TehBuggy That sounds really interesting. What were all the categories you had?

AHHHH that sounds so cool! I'm so impressed you were able to see that up for months! Totally might not be something you'd want to share, but I'd love to see pictures! Or maybe you have it up on Instagram and I missed it? Let me know. Your experiment sounds awesome.

Thanks guys! 💜 Lebasi: Here’s my list of categories -Work -Sleep -Necessary (meals, showering, etc) -Social -Productive -Relaxing -Fun -Nothing And I had an “other” for the first month or two but never needed it so I stopped that one Kate: Sure, I’ll post a picture on Twitter 😊

TehBuggy Thanks! I might try this, it seems interesting

OOOOoooOOooOoooh! I love that idea! I'll definitely add it to the list. Poetry in general is on there but I like the idea of narrative specifically. AND THANK YOU! Slowly but surely hahah.

OOOOH YES! Please do. And let me know when you do it so I can watch! :)

Aww thanks so much and I know I said this on another comment, but BEST OF LUCK with your channel and making videos! It's been so much fun for me and I always encourage it! :)

@@KateCavanaugh aw thanks!! I'm really enjoying it so far, though I do find it a bit awkward when people from work tell me they have seen it - I don't quite know how to reply, haha! :D x

OMG! Thank you so much for commenting! :) I love these long ones too because it's how I leave comments on other people's videos hahah. For the dedicated focus - it's exhausting. I did it for the experiment (and the similar experiment that lasted a day) and I am WIPED after the day is done. I went to bed a lot earlier than usual most of the days, just because my brain needed time to recover I guess. But it was a great lesson to learn that I *could* do it even if I don't always. And fellow optimists unite! I'm all about the ridiculously ambitious plans. I think, even though I don't usually achieve them exactly as I wanted, I still accomplish way more than I would have otherwise by aiming so high. AND I KNOOOOOW. That's totally what it is! "So close" because I've come so far, not because I'm actually so close hahaha. And thank you! :)

@@KateCavanaugh Haha glad to know I'm not the only one on any of those things! Also, random question, but it looks like you're using the nano website to track your writing?!?! I thought it was only available during November/the camps!

Aww thank you, I'm so glad! :) I think I've gotten a lot faster at video editing but MYGOODNESS sometimes they take forreeevvveerrrr haha. It's definitely been a learned skill so I'm hoping I'll just keep improving haha. And love the Passion Planner! I realized I need to get another one haha.

WOOHOO!!

Oooh, that would be fascinating! Let me know how it turns out! And thank you so much. :)

YESSSS. I think I got addicted to those kinds of planners when I was in college. Getting to block out exactly when my classes were and work around them was life-saving. I haven't ordered a new one either and have been using this old one exclusively when I know a week is going to be insane BUT Imma have to add that to my Wish List bahaha. AND THANK YOU! :) OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG that's incredible! What a wonderful New Year's Eve surprise hahah. And absolutely! In some kind of weird cosmic timing, I was just listening to a podcast where these writers were talking about the pressure to be productive but then SPECIFICALLY mentioned what happens when you have a newborn. (You know, the typical, "they're only this size once" but how especially true it was for the interviewee as a parent.) But I could completely see what a big adjustment that would be! To your life and to your plans. DEEP BREATHS AND YOU GOT THIS! And I'm so happy for you! :)

@@KateCavanaugh Sometimes I'll break down and buy one of their academic planners at the end of the year because they mark them down significantly in Dec, or their regular planners which they mark down somtime mid-year. In these cases, you can only use them for 6 months, but they are such productive, organized months! Hahaha 😉 I got one for just $1 before, but the shipping cost is where they get you. Still, greatly worth it when compared to the regular $25 + shipping (which still is honestly affordable compared to other popular $60+ planners). Hmm, I might have just convinced myself to get a new one... Fantastic. 😏 And THANK YOU!!! Luckily my sister wanted to toast with sparkling juice this year, so I just played my lack of champagne low key as my role as the supportive big sister. It's so amazing (and creepy, but like a good creepy 😋) how perfectly how things fall into place like that! What podcast? I'm on the hunt for some mommy/writing content to help calm my nerves, to prove to myself that I CAN be a stay-at-home mother while still finding time to create intricate worlds and share the stories trapped in my head ♡ (Gah, I'm so mushy right now!)

It was all I could do to ignore their emails last month! I kept telling myself I already had a planner, I didn't need another one, but now part of me regrets it hahaha. It was The Creative Penn podcast, a specific episode and they touched on that aspect for maybe ~2 minutes? Let me see if I can find the exact timestamp on the episode and get back to you! :) (AFAIK, Joanna Penn doesn't plan to have children, but her guest was speaking from her own experience/experience with clients or the like.)

@@KateCavanaugh Their adverts are one of the reasons why I've started a new email, and I try to keep it as unattached as possible haha Ahh, I see! Vivien Reis did point out a few women on AuthorTube that are also mothers that have maybe one video each. It's a small niche it seems, but I'm grateful for anything. I like to compile my resources lol

YESSSSSS YES YES YES! I can't wait to see how that goes for you. I haven't given it a shot since my first (and maybe, at this point, only) attempt but I loooooove watching them hahaha. And I really do need to get one of those! I'm keeping my eye open for brands. How do you like yours and which do you have?

Yesss, fellow scatter-brained person! I have to write everything down everywhere. I will say that after the first month of tracking my words in a spreadsheet, I stopped, I just forgot! But I'd love to get back into it again.

yea there are days when I forget to add that into my spreadsheet but I'm pretty good about remembering where I stopped and where I began if I can catch it in time *holds up butterfly net*

UGH, I feel like crying for you. 😭 I'm so glad you were able to find something that worked! I'm super thankful mine have become much more sporadic. I had a friend who got botox that helped with hers. If they happened more frequently for me, medication would be worth trying (I used to be on it in middle/high school and for a short time in college) but I'm keeping my fingers crossed it won't be necessary.

@@KateCavanaugh Awe

48?!?! THAT SOUNDS INSANE. And not wanting to die is a very, very good thing haha. YAY FOR THE POWER OF PAIN MEDICATION!

RIGHT! I'm now convinced it's going to happen. I'll let you know what research I find haha.

Thank you so much! :) And those are great questions! Committing to one story is hard - usually I give myself deadlines. And then I work on the *most important* task first thing in the day. I don't let myself work on other projects until that task (certain number of chapters edited or words written) is done. Then I can work on as many other projects as I want! But one is always a priority. (I think I'm good at sticking with that work ethic 80% of the time and my inspiration for one project over another beats me the other 20%). Writing around family/school/work is really hard and there's not really a magic answer. Some weeks are better than others and some are busier than others. I'm a morning person, so if I can get the most important thing done in the morning, before anyone else is up or before I have to do other work - then that's what works for me! And I think nonfiction could be just as hard! It totally depends on what your brain likes more or what you have a drive for at the moment. :) Fiction is hard in that you have to have story arcs that nonfiction doesn't always need. Nonfiction is hard because you want the content to be engaging throughout while still giving information (whether that's narrative nonfiction or something like a cookbook haha).

Isn't it the best?? I've used a lot of different ones and still really enjoy this one and the Passion Planner.

@@KateCavanaugh Yeah! I've been using the Passion Planner since three years now, and I love it!

Bahaha I use my zero draft as a chubby outline for sure! (And I'm totally going to start calling it that.) And write the new draft in a new document. I might even still do this for the next couple drafts. It's only when I'm tinkering with things toward the later drafts that I'm manually adding/deleting from the same document.

@@KateCavanaugh Holy frijoles that's a lot of typing! I don't know that I'm prolific enough to get work out while completely rewriting, but I want to do whatever gives this completed chubby outline its best chance. Keep being you and putting out good work, you're inspiring me to get the fluff over myself and get the thing done! Thanks my friend. :D

Definitely not my full-time job! More like a part-time hobby haha. (Or, part of an "author brand," which could go into my job -- depending on how you want to look at it!) You can check out socialblade.com to see an estimate of what youtubers might make. I find it's pretty accurate.

Huh?

Kate Cavanaugh Oh just kidding. You have a pinkish shirt on in the photo.