the 9 to 5 writing experiment // is my old work routine better??
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- Опубліковано 5 бер 2020
- Which is more productive: my current, dysfunctional writing routine or my old corporate 9 to 5? Let's compare words written, scenes revised, and debate what counts as "work" when you're a creative professional! :)
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#authortube #writingvlog #writingexperiment - Розваги
A few months ago, I started watching for the writing content. And now? Now, I stay for Duke, the Goodest Boy, the Handsomest Lad, the Happiest Friend. And I still love the writing content!
🐶💙🐶💙🐶💙🐶💙🐶💙🐶💙🐶
Yes! Duke is a dog-god
you all prolly dont care but does anyone know of a tool to log back into an instagram account..?
I somehow forgot my password. I appreciate any tips you can offer me.
I am a full time college student with ~20 hour work weeks and several leadership positions besides. All this while attempting to write four things at once. To say that my schedule depends on the day is an understatement. But here is the bare bones:
I get ready at 7 and am on campus around 8. My classes don’t start until 9/9:30ish. So I do whatever is most pressing that day before class (homework due that day, planning an event for my organizations or writing). Then I go about my day, doing homework or writing in the wait time.
When I get home (anywhere from 5 to 7), I give myself two hours to do any work left that day. Whether that’s household chores, homework, or writing. Then I am done. That’s it. No matter how bad my schedule looks for the next day, I am done. After that point, I knit and watch tv until bed.
The reason that is so important to me is that no matter how stressed my schedule is, I would rather miss a deadline or get a bad grade than have burnout with no day off in sight.
Yay voting! As a fellow Texan, I love to see young Texans getting out to vote despite the long lines and ridiculous wait times.
YESSSSSSS!
You have such a great channel. For the past years, you've inspired me to write my own book series. AND IT GOT PUBLISHED! Thank you so much for all the advice and support your channel provided!
What did you write?:)
Title please!
whats your series name?
The Ashburn Chronicles
@@MichielBLKorte WOW.... congratulations 😃
Hey Kate! I think it's a cool idea to do a high school schedule. 7:35 - 2:25. Lunch is either A, B, or C. A is at 10-11ish, B is 11 to 12ish, and C is 12 to 1ish. Instead of writinh straight through, you can take breaks by doing "classes". You can go to the gym (physical education), crafts (a variation of art) etc.
This is a genius idea and would bring me waaaaay back bahah. I've put it on the list!
@@KateCavanaugh Awesome! I'm glad you like it😁
Mistborn is my fav book. I have read it it six times and I’m listening to it on audio now.
This one was really interesting to me! I've always been a night owl (ideal writing/deep focus time: 10pm-2am, waking up sometime between 10am-noon) but every productivity guru EVER suggests waking up early to get more things done. Reluctantly, I made the switch about a year ago just to see. I realized two things:
1. My mental health is definitely more stable when I keep a fixed sleep schedule and wake up early. This is the most stable I've been in like a decade.
2. Even after a year to adjust to the earlier schedule, my ideal writing time STILL starts at 10pm... and I go to bed at 11pm now. So I'm either writing at non-ideal times or I only get an hour of ideal writing time per day now :(
I've really thought about trying to confine my focus work to a 9-5 schedule or similar in the interest of discipline, but I can't make myself sacrifice that last bit of my late night writing prime-time. So IMO, if you have a system that works for you and no urgent incentive to change, don't give up your early-morning hours if you don't have to.
I've incorporated your videos into my morning routine. I get my coffee, turn on my diffuser and nestle into my reading nook for a dose of inspiration! They push me to follow my dreams and they are incredibly relaxing as well. Thank you for putting out genuine content of the good, the bad and the ugly that is pursuing passions!
Some people have to travel for work. Even 9-5ers. Mail runs have to happen. Meetings out of town. Even tissue has to be bought for businesses and the ones that don’t have it delivered someone has to buy it, which counts as working time. What I’m saying is I would not have scraped Tuesday, that would count as a work day for me, it would just be a travel day. Since my business doesn’t want to pay extra hours or time, that travel has to happen during the work day hours. Anyways this was fun to watch I love your experiments.
Or you leave early, or have a day 'off' from the office because the function is in non-working hours.
I also have one of those talking alarm systems so when yours said “front door“ (12:46) I freaked out for a second thinking someone came into my house 😭😭 I think Tuesday should have counted as a business trip lol
Bahaha oh no! I can't imagine the immediate panic. 😂 That's how I feel when someone has the same alarm song, my body is like NOOOOooooOOOOooo.
Hi Kate
Actually, I think you are learning a lot about yourself as a writer thanks to these (crazy!) experiments!
It's very important to make time for things other than working (even if your work is what you love) and I've found out that doing things totally unrelated to writing has upped my creativity a lot! I discovered I like to paint (I'm terrible at it, but still lol) and a crazy ton of ideas and solutions to plot holes or outline issues come to me when I just take the time to relax.
I can't wait for your next video, you always make me so motivated :)
Okay, I came up with three things to adjust if you decided to repeat this experiment. 1 Shift the time. Try 7-3 or 8-4. That still gives you time to get stuff done around the house before you start your work day. And also if you have a night 'meeting' you could start later or end earlier to compensate for you 'meeting' time. Or even a split shift where you have a four hour break in the middle to eat, clean, run errands, ect. 2 Travel time. Many travelers read (if on a bus or subway) or listen to audio books/podcasts (especially in the car). So you could use that time, not only for reading, but for research or working on a hobby. For example, I would probably use if for language learning which I can incorporate into a story, but you could use that for your knitting or just plain old research on your stories. 3 Your off time. I would classify at least one project that is fun. That way even if you feel like you just need to write and it is six o'clock, you have something you can pull out to do so. And I guess I would add 4 for a re-experiement. 4 Classify your parameters. You hinted at this towards the end. And even as I say that I don't think you need to hold so tight to them. You don't have a 9-5 and even if you did there are different levels of flexibility in what you can do while at work, and after work. For example, I use to work in a call center, very rigid,; and when I worked in retail, much more fluid in what I could do while still on the clock, or even at work. I don't know if that is making sense but it does in my brain. By the way, none of this is meant as critism, but as variables I would readjust if I was going to re-run an experiment (my undergrad was in psychology).
"What is the definition of work?"
Dude, my brain exploded....thanks.....
RIGHT. BUT WHAT IS IT THOUGH. Hahahah
@@KateCavanaugh as a stay at home mom who doesnt get paid (because watching the monster grow and flourish does NOT buy me a chai at Starbucks!!), I would say work is any forward movement to the end goal.....what is the end goal? For some it's lots of money, or a healthy family, for others it's a painless death (I'm tired LOL).
@@AMG_Creates I like that "forward moving to the end goal." I have been working corporate for a very long time and in May I'm going to be taking a break and stay home. During that time I want to finish my novel.... maybe other works also. I like that definition. It makes complete sense to me.
Work = Force x Distance
I've *tried* to set a solid writing schedule for myself, but being married, having an apartment to keep up with, and working 40-hours a week? I need to MAKE time for writing. Now, this is a completely different mindset from where I was at a little over a year ago; I thought I didn't have time for it. Also, I'm the type of writer who NEEDS an organized environment, so if I'm writing from home, the apartment needs to be in order. But when I do sit down and focus, I can usually knock out 1300-1500 words in an hour.
Also, I did start reading "Mistborn", and I KNOW it's one of Sanderson's earlier novels, but I got distracted by a lot of the repetition that's in the narrative. I had to DNF it - for now. I love where the story is going; I think I'm reading too many other 500+ page books right now, so I'll have to go back to it. Maybe that'll be a summer sci-fi read. :)
I don't look at writing or making videos as "work." Thinking of writing as a job sucks the fun out of it for me. In the past, I would try to treat it as a job because I wanted to be a "professional" writer, but thinking like that ended up burning me out. I had to change my mindset and think of writing as something I enjoy doing. Not that I don't enjoy working at my day job, but there is that pressure of having to work to make a living, and putting writing in that category stressed me out and gave me a serious case of writer's block. Once I took that pressure away by relabeling writing as "fun," I was able to break through the block and get back to what I love.
Having said that, I do want to get into a good daily routine so I can make more time to write. Lately, the only time I've gotten any writing or writing-related things done is Friday night. But I want to write more than once a week! My current work schedule is fantastic in that it gives me plenty of time to write any day of the week. However, I don't take advantage of it the way I want to. I'm slowly working on changing that.
I think your experiment was helpful in that it shows the benefits of having a cut-off time at the end of the day to relax and unwind. That's something I need to learn, too. Thanks for the inspiration! 😊
This is off topic but I've been binge watching all your videos and you've been my inspiration to start my writing journey! Which I'm proud to say that I started outlining! Also Duke is too adorable!
Rereading is definitely important to the editing process and that time should certainly count as work! Maybe count it as pages or scenes like you would when doing the actual writing part of the edit? I also think that if you are having to do things with timelining than that counts as well. Again you could count progress as scenes timed or literally how much time it took. Just some suggestions from the "I need a metric to judge by" crew. Cause word count sucks as a metric for rewriting!
I am very resistant to routines, but I know I would benefit from having one. It's a constant struggle lol. NaNo was soooo good for me because it forced me to hit a goal by the end of the month and there was some outer accountability.
I think I may need to make a weekly word count goal instead of a daily goal. I find I naturally tend to have big writing days and zero count writing days (my NaNo graph was crazy lol). So if I have a weekly goal instead of a daily goal I can be more flexible day to day which really appeals to my relaxed nature.
One of the big things I've been noticing is taking breaks in between doing things is helpful.
Maybe try getting up and writing for a few hours when you feel the most productive, take a break for a few hours, then go back to it in the afternoon for a few hours?
Though that might be what you're doing already. XD
Hahah yeah actually!! That's a lot closer to my "normal" routine! Chunks of stuff followed by breaks. And a bigger break from like 2:00 to 6:00ish.
I voted for this 9-to-5 routine, but I based my vote on a flexible work day! I thought you would work 6 to 2, or 7 to 3!!! ARGH!!! I apologize. LOL Waiting until 9???? You did a magnificent job. *laughing*
Your videos crack me up. You are so forward and authentic to you. It's nice to see that you aren't a "put-together" person. I mean that in a good way. You round-about in the way that you talk and it kinda reminds me of myself, which is probably another reason I enjoy your videos... besides the fact that they make me laugh and I do tend to learn something too. Most of the time. lol
I think a 9-5 type workday would work for you if you had deadlines on some of your projects. Like the re-read, you had to get done by the Saturday in your video so you knew when you had to get something finished.
From watching a lot of these experiments and your channel, I think you need to set heard deadlines on your projects. When you work in a corporate world you have projects with deadlines and now that you're working for yourself and you have taken a break, which we all need from time to time, from the deadline-oriented style of work you should try to emulate that. I know it seems wrong because you're working for yourself and you can do whatever you want, but I find in anything creative working a deadline helps focus the mind and work.
Maybe that could be another experiment: working a hard deadline.
I could pull a 9:15 am to 3:30pm.....you inspire me.....I plan on pulling that this upcoming Monday!!!
I'm a video editor that works from home and my "9 to 5" is actually 7-4 so I have an hour in the middle for "lunch" where I go to the gym and I'm done before dinner - this doesn't include my book writing time since I don't get paid for that yet. Though most of the things you said wasn't work sounded like work to me! I define work as anything touching content that could make you money. That includes anything marketing related like commenting on youtube or mailing something or traveling for videos. For instance, I traveled for work recently and I was paid for my time going to the airport and flying. Don't sell your time short and respect what you put into your channel and writing as work, not just the hobby/downtime you do on the side!
Yay! Another writting experiment!
I feel like a deadline (5pm) would increase productivity because you only have so long, but it’s how much you do in that time which really counts. Perhaps an experiment where you only work X amount of hours per day? I’m currently in the middle of a writing experiment: following my 3 most hated pieces of writing advice for a week. And it sucks.
Bahah that sounds like a FASCINATING experiment though! I can't wait to see it!
If I ever got the opportunity to work as a writer from home, I know I would absolutely plan myself 9:00-5:00 days. I have a dream schedule already in my head :) I would want to make sure I was actually working in the day and enjoying weekends and time off with the spouse. I would pretty much super schedule myself to include writing everyday and I think I would start a UA-cam channel as well. Honestly I am awed by people who can stay productive without a strict schedule when working from home. But then, I am a SUPER plotter. As it stands now, scheduling is the only way I get anything done because I have to work full time and do lots of volunteer. Without a plan in place I couldn't get any writing done. Right now it still has to be somewhat flexible.
I’m so glad I have notifications on for your channel. Instant inspiration boost every time! Yessssh! ✨
9-5 is murder 😂😂 I work a billing job during the day and try to write at night, and just OOF. But I do like our structure more, because I’ve got from free time? Technically it’s 8-5, with an hour lunch break and 2x 15 min breaks, so I only have 7 1/2 hours of actual work and breaking everything down into chunks of “before and after” breaks is very helpful.
What is work kinda blew my mind lol I’m really bad at defining that in my life. I work full time, usually 8-5, but I also go to school full time so my writing has to be pushed to the weekends and week days are my “work” days. Lately though my weekends have been catch up days instead of writing days which is frustrating.
Half of the week I work from home on my graphic novel, and I let myself work when I've just woken up and take my 9 hour workdays from there. I looovee the feeling of immediately working because I feel so focused in the little drowsy state. Then after a couple of hours my first break will be breakfast, showering and general things! It also makes me feel way ahead of my work which keeps me motivated all day, and I get to knock off at around 3/4 pm if I've stayed generally focused! :D
I really don’t like 9 to 5. My productivity starts to nosedive between 2 and 3. Thankfully, I can get to work anytime between 7 and 9 and do my 7.5 hours workday. I used to work 8-5 for 40 hours a week and I wouldn’t go back.
If you think of your work hours as a place where all your work-related things are locked away outside of those work hours, it’s easier to separate. If your computer was only a work computer, you couldn’t write. If you could not log in on your social media unless on your work computer, that’s work. You couldn’t get access to your filming equipment until you unlock that place at 9, so setting it up outside those hours is work.
That was a fun experiment!
I have a 9-5 job after years of working shift works and im still trying to make a routine for the creative - but it has made me aware of making writing a habit - and its happening... slowly😂
You have some of the craziest experiments and this is definitely one of my favorites =)
I should get some routine into my days... but 9 to 5 sounds like too much for just writing (even though I'm on break atm). Still... I need something, since I can't seem to get productive at all. You are at least somehow productive no matter what schedule
Yay for voting!! :)
Another wonderful video. I know I've watched day in the life videos from neuroscientists, astrophysicists, mathematicians, etc and they often include social media and research activities in their 9-5 work day
I'm so feeling amateur right now. Oh. I really try but I have like no schedule. Just write and my edit is my main trouble. Still zero drafting. Your videos are inspirational. Hope you get published because I can't wait to read your books. Like these and the writing like ones.
When I was a college professor I had a FLEXIBLE schedule. The only scheduled "requirements" were teaching and office hours for my classes, and a couple faculty meetings for a total of about 10 hours/week. Otherwise, nobody cared when I was in my office or on campus. However, there were annual requirements for research productivity and there was always something that needed to be done. Since I had no mandatory schedule for WHEN TO WORK, that also meant I HAD NO MANDATORY SCHEDULE FOR TIME OFF. Thus what actually happened is that I ALWAYS FELT LIKE I SHOULD BE WORKING. I eventually got out of academia and started a 9-5 job. I missed the flexibility, but overall it was healthier for me (more peace, more happiness) to know I was truly "off duty" at 5pm.
I LOVE Mistborn!!! Kelsier was my favorite character. Great video as per usual, Kate! 😁
woo hoo! your writing experiments are the best!!!
Aww yay!!! I'm glad you like them. :)
This is such an interesting writing experiment, something I'm gonna want to try for myself now!
I just had to get more organized with my schedule. Working for myself, I find, I work similarly to you where I work in chunks. However, I have a tendency to be scatter-brained so having a “schedule” keeps me “on-task”. I use quotes because I’m using those words loosely.
Hey Kate, I love watching your videos. I usually have them on while I'm drawing. I also work from home and do different hours depending on what shift my hubby is on. Early shift means trying (and sometimes failing) to get up at 4:30 am. This week is a late shift which means I get a lay in and have the rest of the afternoon and evening to work on my art shop and portfolio 😁
I just did this experiment the other day. I swear you can read my mind.
As a freelance artist, i devote 10-3 to one project that pays me in an attempt to do a work-life balance. However, then i do art for myself the rest of the time, whenever it strikes me to do it, which is a LOT. Watching videos on the topic, making plans for projects, all that stuff. So i tried the 9-5 thing, and once 2 or 3 rolled around, i just lost steam. i too do the nap thing, so i needed to include that in my daily schedule becuase fighting through it did not help me in any way.
Someone you may be interested in is a UK author called Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn. She has a ton of UA-cam videos offering advice and talking to authors. She does a lot on productivity in writing fiction and non-fiction. Joanna also writes a lot of how-to books which are nicely constructed in a free-flowing way.
Her podcast is one of my absolute favorites!! She's so lovely and knowledgable.
According to Gary Vee , engaging with your community, creating for social media and posting is work. It's one of the most important parts of your job as an author or any type of creator. Building your audience will always be the biggest and best strategy :-)
Yay voting! I have opinions on voting and who is the best candidate for writers.
As an early riser myself I'm not sure I could have waited until 9:00 to do work. My productivity slows down around 1 or 2 but I start working (work in corporate now) at 7:30 and have an hour and a half commute so sometimes I'm working on my commute in to the office. Waiting until 9 every day would make the day very unproductive for me. I agree with @AKinglyLife -- try the 6 -2 schedule and see what happens.
Another great video! ❤️🔥
I always love your experiment videos! You inspired me to start my own channel! I’m loving it, thank you!
Ahhh no way!! Congratulations on starting your channel!!
Thank you 😊
This seems fun maybe I'll try this because I just started a first draft of a new story
Maybe you're not a 9-5. Maybe 6-2 or some other "shift" works better? Most people DON'T work 9-5. They may work 8 hours, but some work mornings, afternoons, evenings, or even split shifts. Tak care!
this is fun! :D
I can't wait to get home and watch this video in full 😍😍😍😍
Home and watching 😎
I need you to do an updated favorite writing related podcasts recommendations video. I have a few that I listen to, but I didn’t know about The Self Publishing Show!
That was so interesting because as a workaholic and prefering to work in chunks myself as well, I could relate so much :D Is there anything from that experiment that you will continue to do from now on?
I work from 8 to 4-5 and I've actually "forced" free time onto myself because I also turned out to be a workaholic :D
I decided to set an alarm so that the last 1,5 hours of my day are free time: I'm not allowed to write, do finances or chores. I can only recommend it, it's really helped me truly relax and take some time off.
I do so much better on 9 to 5. When left to my own devices I tend to either do nothing at all or work myself to total exhaustion. No middleground…I thrive on pre-defined work time.
I allow myself to work 6-8 hours a day. I usually break them up throughout the day. But if I hit 6 hours and I'm just exhausted, I stop. If I hit 8 hours, I force myself to stop. If I'm not careful, I will overwork myself and get burned out without even realizing it.
Maybe you should just move the hours up? Instead of waiting to an arbitrary time, you could take advantage of your productive time in the morning and then get done by 3 instead of 5. Or take a longer break in the middle and or a 15 halfway through each half?
Idk if that suggestion is helpful or not, but I wish you luck in figuring out your routine!
I have that same mug
do you ever reference that Popsicle commercial to Duke?
"the colors, Duke! the COLORS!"
Every time you close your laptop I am like 100% positive you're going to crack the screen 😂
I have an 8 to 5 job, while trying to balance my writing and art during my off hours. More and more I have to put them off till the weekends because I'm exhausted when I get home, which is disappointing and brings up a lot of frustration when I have spent a year doing what could have been completed in 4-5-6 months
Hey kate! What do you use for freelance?
I've never been one for routines. Sometimes I think creative endeavors need a more flexible framing time wise. I think you less failed and just learned more about how you work.
so many caveats, you're like a David Foster Wallace novel!
I'm so used to working in different shifts, I never worked 9 to 5 every day for a week and the idea exhausts me lol! I'm such a night owl..
I the filming before work is kinda like a new coaster or lawyer... yeah they work a 9-5 fish hours but there always working at home looking at emails working on stories or paper work... does that make sense.
"What counts as work?" Good question! Of course having a time when you have to stop working is more stressful, but I imagine that added stress might be a push to actually get things done. 'You know what I mean?
Question, if you ever see this (sorry if you've answered it already); how does one become a freelancer writer? And what kinda shit does that entail?
I'm trying to become a full time writer, and I would love to have some kind of backup money coming in just in case my books aren't selling so well. Freelancing sounds like a great option for that.
I feel a little silly pointing this out - but there are no discussion questions?
Or maybe my laptop is glitching. Could also be that.
I tried working in public yesterday - it did not work. People with colds are so distracing.
Also - I thought you might enjoy this - some studnets played a prank on the guy studying at my table in the library. They planted a monitor in his bag and played loud fart sounds.
The snickering of undergrads........
How did you give up your corporate 9 to 5?
wait, kate edits her videos on iMovie?? the only other youtuber i know who uses iMovie is shoe0nhead. yet, the difference in quality is remarkable ....
When you print your book, where do you go to bind it physically? I’m almost done with my first draft
I think Kate prints it at office depot/max. she has a few videos on how she does it aswell
I have no routine. I get most of my writing done while I’m waiting for amish people who I drive and that is all over the place lol
This was so interesting to watch, I've been unemployed since I left grad school and managing my time and turning off has always been difficult for me. During school it was fine cause who cares if you're writing a paper at 9pm. But when I'm applying to jobs it feels weird to be doing it at 9pm. This is probably something I should try for myself but I also think I'm likely to look less productive if I do... hmmmm
This is just a suggestion but you could always just start work at 6 and stop at 5
Old dogs are the best.
Edited to add: your employer is required to give you 2 hours off to vote.
Doing anything for an hour is hard...I can barely sleep for an hour straight 🤣
#QualityDukeContent
It seems like you want to work significantly more than 40 hours per week. To me that demands the question, is your work life balance healthy?