@@KateCavanaugh I am. I am getting so much written just doing 1 - 60 minute block or 2-30 minute blocks with a short break. I will finish NaNo long before my 150 sprints though. I am on sprint 86 and only have 1064 words left to reach 50K. But in the spirit of full disclosure, I have 5K of Worldbuilding, Character profiles, and Plot pathing so prepping really helped maintain the pace.
@@PenumbraMineMMWard Awesome work! I seem to be floating in a sea of weird non motivation. Some friends have been going through tough times and I know that affects me. But part of me is finally ready to retire and just write for the joy of it. (Indie writer, so I publish my own.) I feel like I am moving at a snail's pace, although my editor reminds me that I'm still doing a lot. What was it Kate & Ursula said? Art is not a foot race? For me, it should be "Editing is not a foot race." Love the drafting and creating, bog down in the pre-pub corrections, etc. So happy that Kate is feeling well enough to make vlogs again.
@@reginaduke7451 Me too. Love Kate's content. Don't get down on yourself if you feel non-motivated while editing - You Are Not Alone! Writing for the joy of it is something we struggle to hold onto when the business of writing gets in the way. I hope your friends come to a better place and that you find yourself something to refill your well of happiness and creativity. Be Blessed.
I read all the books of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin and loved her style! It is so detailed and packed and yet slow. She takes her time to really dive in without making it boring. I was really inspired after :) Cheering you on and sending love and creative vibes
I love all the doggy and kitty screen time. :) Writing like Ursula LeGuinn sounds awesome. I used to work that way. Up at 5, writing by 6, working through the morning. And turning into oatmeal in the evening. Now I do the lie in bed and think thing for longer than I should, and to be honest, I'm dozing/sleeping, until about 8:00. The dogs insist I get up by then. I used to have lots of drive and publishing goals. Now I just write because I love it and I need to write. But the old push to do more, more, more has faded a bit. Re: breakfast, you are having coffee and warm milk. Don't forget the milk portion. LOL It's a fine breakfast. Oh! I got a Ubotie keyboard!!! Just like yours! Um....is there an off button or do you just let it go to sleep? Hugs and love!!!
Bahaha TRUE, the milk counts!! And ooooh yay, I love this keyboard so much! So I actually just leave it "on" all the time and it's plugged into my dock (but when I unplug the dock, obviously I can't use the keyboard anymore bahah). I've had to change the batteries once so far, but that's it!
@@KateCavanaugh I adore your cute keyboard just as much as your pets. Do you mind sharing what brand is it? And definitely please do share if you have an affiliate link. Am sorry you may have been asked this a million times. In my defense all I can say is I read the description. 😅 Or maybe Regina can help?
@@soniarosejohal Hello Rose. Yes it is a Ubotie. Comes in many colors and color combinations. I love the retro round keys and the fact that you don't have to press as hard to move them. (personal opinion, may vary for others) I got the lavender with multi-colored keys. It's so pretty. Got it on Amazon, after taxes, around $45??? I hope this helps. It also has a feature that turns itself off (goes to sleep) after you stop using it for a few minutes.
Hi Kate! This is the first time I've actually caught one of your videos the same day it was released, no idea why it's taken so long haha. I just wanna let you know that you're one of my major writing inspirations (next to Sanderson) and the entire reason I believe that I *can* do this whole writing thing, even if it's a struggle sometimes. Keep up the amazing work! :D
OMG! I'm in such great company. You absolutely CAN do this whole writing thing (and I'm convinced there will always be a bit of a struggle bahaha). Always here to cheer you on, you got this! :)
I live at an artist colony and one of the old-timers told me about your videos when I asked her for advice about overcoming my fear of sharing my words. This was an awesome video, I'm going to watch more! I'm feeling inspired to commit to my personal essays and opinion pieces with a graphic component 🤗✨ let's see how it goes!
Okay I've finished the video now and I have to say I kind of liked the balance of time with this experiment, the writing in the earlier part of the day and the refilling of the well for the rest of the day seems like a very nice balance to keep from getting that burned out feeling. Now I don't know about getting up at 5 in the morning because I am most certainly not a morning person lol. I think something like this would help someone who feels like they're always forgetting to do one thing because of the time they've devoted to the other (example those who feel like they focus so much on writing that they don't get the reading done or vice versa) because this allows for both in nearly equal measure. I loved this video Kate and I really will have to go check out that craft book by Ursula and her other books as well. Once again, please take care of yourself! And give Zelda, Buffy, and Vin hugs and kisses for me lol. ❤❤
I am reading Ursula LeGuin's short story collection The Unreal & The Real, Outer Space, Inner Lands - and it is so good. The stories are just amazing, her writing immediately brought me out of both a writing and a reading slump. She was a quality writer for sure. A master of her craft.
The Earthsea Trilogy was my introduction to fantasy as a child. I was a weird kid. I would happily read whatever book the teacher assigned, my attitude was "great, I'm going to be left alone to read for a little while, awesome!" While I might prefer to read something else, I preferred reading to anything else that might be expected of me in a classroom.
This is such a great video and routine! I’m like Ursula in that I write in multiple formats (TV drama pilots, short film scripts, flash fiction/short stories, novellas, and novels). It’s good to diversify your writing. 🥰 Congratulations on reading so much! It’s such a good feeling. I’ve also exceeded my reading goal (60 books) and I’m on my 75th book right now. I know I won’t get to 100 books read this year, but maybe I can get to 80. 😬 The pups and kitty are precious as always. I don’t know if if this answers one of your questions at the end, but I’ve been doing my own short story/flash fiction challenge (inspired by RachelWrites) where I try and write at least one short story or flash fiction per month. I missed February and July and worked on the same short story in August through October (since it’s getting traditionally published next year and I had deadlines). And that one was the LONGEST short story I’ve written in years (6K). But hopefully I can write one last flash fiction in December. It’s been an interesting challenge! The story I wrote in January is getting published soon, so that’s something. 😂
I want to be this prolific a writer.- edit, I am going to read that artical about “The Next Great American Novel” I think I will agree with a lot of it just based off my own principal. It never mattered to me how many books I sold, or who was reading them, I was a success because I had published my books myself and that was what I had always wanted to do. My 8 year old self would be so proud of me because that little kid would see me grow up to be an author who wrote and published and sold books. To me it was never about money or fame or anything else, because that is all the cherry on top of the cake, like if I get to write and share my writing with the world, and even 1 person reads it and connects with those stories then I am a lucky person. Because that is all I ever wanted. I know the odds of being ‘New York Times Best Seller’ is like 1 in 100,000 books and that even if you are a NYT best seller you are maybe making like 2000 sales a year which like isn’t something to sniff at but its also not as much as people think it is. Im not trying for that, because what I want isn’t to be famous if it was I would be working way harder to promote my books. If I wanted the money I would be working way harder to promote my books. What I want is to write. So I write, and I will continue to write, until I can’t any more.
The way I got so excited when I saw your video pop up in my notifications lol 😁 I'm not completely finished the video just yet but I just had to say, you have Buffy, Zelda, and Vin so well trained lol. I love seeing them. Does my heart good. Ashamed to say that I have never heard of Ursula K. Le Guin before so thank you for giving me someone to look up and get into. Now back to the rest of the video. And in case I don't come back with any further comment, take care Kate! ❤❤
So excited to watch this!! Since you’ve mentioned being into podcasts before, the Between the Covers podcast is doing a series where they dive into different aspects of UKLG’s craft with different contemporary writers. I especially enjoyed the recent episode w Maria Dahvana Headley on feminist translation and the classics, but they talk about so much that there’s something there for everyone!
Look at Vin being so good, sitting on your desk to keep you company without trying to put all your possessions on the floor or block your view of the monitor or pull all the pens out or lie down on your keyboard.
Oh this is Perfect Timing!! I’ve been consuming Ursula k. Leguin content all this week. Reading Earthsea for the first time, watching videos about her as a person and her thoughts and now this! Kismet! 🔮
This was amazing. Another vlog of you, that made me wish I had no job but this. It sounds incredible to have that much time to be creative! I made myself a schedule for my creativity after my fulltime job. 3 times a week minimum 1 hour writing. First week was a success. But Nanowrimo was so stressful last year, that I skip it this year. Thanks for the vid, you're great!
I love The Dispossessed and I think it's time to re-read it. I read the Earthsea trilogy in my early 20s and it just wasn't for me, not at that time. Overall I enjoy her books tho and I will pick up a copy of Steering the craft. What hits me is how important it is to refill the well, something I am awful at (with burnout as a result) and I think a lot of us creatives are, especially if we want to one day be able to make a living from it.
This is such uncanny timing as I've just borrowed The Left Hand of Darkness from the library. It's my first time reading one of her books and so I appreciate this video!
I’m writing a screenplay currently (for an open submission in the UK) and I’m on the editing and rewriting stage. I’m a discovery writer who does outline the key plot points then fill in the gaps. I find the drafting was than the re-reading and re-editing. Good luck with your project
oooooh thank you for the rec!! One of the absolute best/worst things about authors as prolific as Ursula is sometimes not knowing where to start. This sounds FASCINATING and I'm excited to dive in!!
This sounds like my ideal writing life! Though with kids it's virtually impossible lol maybe when they are older and I have more free time. *sighs wistfully*
That's very true!! It's one of the many downsides of these "I Tried Writing Like" concepts, is most of the famous authors share their current routines, and not the routines when they were working 1 or more non-writing gigs. I did one copying N.K. Jemisin's routine and really loved the way she talked about balancing work, life, and writing!
Hi Kate, I'm very interested in trying Ursula's craft book with the actionable exercises. I found several craft books by her on Amazon. Which one did you refer to?
The one I love is called Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story. And I think I have the 2015 edition. Cannot recommend it enough, glad you're looking for it! :) www.amazon.com/Steering-Craft-Twenty-First-Century-Guide-Sailing/dp/0544611616
@@KateCavanaugh Aww, that's so sweet! Meanwhile my ex breeding cat only begrudgingly lets our other cat snuggle her - we're not sure whether she knows he's actually her own son! We adopted him as an enormous one year old when he needed a new home 😂 He seems to know she's his mum though and follows her around brooing and she's like dude, calm down. At least they like playing together and she has company now when we're out!
During your day 1 morning routine, the cut from one clip to the next made me think for a split-second that you'd wiped your face - and then thrown the wipe in a sizzling frying pan. 🙃
“Art is not a horse race” is my new favorite quote. ❤
It's so good!! Such a perfect, quick reminder.
A combination of a "I tried writing like" and a NanoWriMo vlog?!!??? I'm excited for this :)
Heheheh a two-for-one!! :)
19:28 absolutely livid you cut away just before the 2 lava blobs hit each other 😂😭
Looool I promise to make it up to you in the next vlog where the lava lamp will absolutely be featured again bahaha
I thought it was just me!
UKLQ promoting a 5 hour work day and not rushing right out of bed to get to work? Yes please and thank you 😌
I did not realize I was doing her method by doing the NaNo150 (150 one-hour sprints over the 30 days of NaNo). She is one of my favorites.
WHAAAT. That's such an interesting challenge, I love it! Maybe I'll have to take that on next time. :) How are you enjoying it??
And YES! Very close to her routine!
@@KateCavanaugh I am. I am getting so much written just doing 1 - 60 minute block or 2-30 minute blocks with a short break. I will finish NaNo long before my 150 sprints though. I am on sprint 86 and only have 1064 words left to reach 50K. But in the spirit of full disclosure, I have 5K of Worldbuilding, Character profiles, and Plot pathing so prepping really helped maintain the pace.
@@PenumbraMineMMWard Awesome work! I seem to be floating in a sea of weird non motivation. Some friends have been going through tough times and I know that affects me. But part of me is finally ready to retire and just write for the joy of it. (Indie writer, so I publish my own.) I feel like I am moving at a snail's pace, although my editor reminds me that I'm still doing a lot. What was it Kate & Ursula said? Art is not a foot race? For me, it should be "Editing is not a foot race." Love the drafting and creating, bog down in the pre-pub corrections, etc. So happy that Kate is feeling well enough to make vlogs again.
@@reginaduke7451 Me too. Love Kate's content.
Don't get down on yourself if you feel non-motivated while editing - You Are Not Alone! Writing for the joy of it is something we struggle to hold onto when the business of writing gets in the way. I hope your friends come to a better place and that you find yourself something to refill your well of happiness and creativity. Be Blessed.
I read all the books of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin and loved her style! It is so detailed and packed and yet slow. She takes her time to really dive in without making it boring. I was really inspired after :)
Cheering you on and sending love and creative vibes
I love all the doggy and kitty screen time. :) Writing like Ursula LeGuinn sounds awesome. I used to work that way. Up at 5, writing by 6, working through the morning. And turning into oatmeal in the evening. Now I do the lie in bed and think thing for longer than I should, and to be honest, I'm dozing/sleeping, until about 8:00. The dogs insist I get up by then. I used to have lots of drive and publishing goals. Now I just write because I love it and I need to write. But the old push to do more, more, more has faded a bit. Re: breakfast, you are having coffee and warm milk. Don't forget the milk portion. LOL It's a fine breakfast. Oh! I got a Ubotie keyboard!!! Just like yours! Um....is there an off button or do you just let it go to sleep? Hugs and love!!!
Bahaha TRUE, the milk counts!! And ooooh yay, I love this keyboard so much! So I actually just leave it "on" all the time and it's plugged into my dock (but when I unplug the dock, obviously I can't use the keyboard anymore bahah). I've had to change the batteries once so far, but that's it!
@@KateCavanaugh I adore your cute keyboard just as much as your pets. Do you mind sharing what brand is it? And definitely please do share if you have an affiliate link.
Am sorry you may have been asked this a million times. In my defense all I can say is I read the description. 😅
Or maybe Regina can help?
@@KateCavanaugh thank you!
@@soniarosejohal Hi Rose. It looks like a UBOTIE keyboard. You should be able to find it easily enough with a search. 🙂
@@soniarosejohal Hello Rose. Yes it is a Ubotie. Comes in many colors and color combinations. I love the retro round keys and the fact that you don't have to press as hard to move them. (personal opinion, may vary for others) I got the lavender with multi-colored keys. It's so pretty. Got it on Amazon, after taxes, around $45??? I hope this helps. It also has a feature that turns itself off (goes to sleep) after you stop using it for a few minutes.
Hi Kate! This is the first time I've actually caught one of your videos the same day it was released, no idea why it's taken so long haha. I just wanna let you know that you're one of my major writing inspirations (next to Sanderson) and the entire reason I believe that I *can* do this whole writing thing, even if it's a struggle sometimes. Keep up the amazing work! :D
OMG! I'm in such great company. You absolutely CAN do this whole writing thing (and I'm convinced there will always be a bit of a struggle bahaha). Always here to cheer you on, you got this! :)
I live at an artist colony and one of the old-timers told me about your videos when I asked her for advice about overcoming my fear of sharing my words. This was an awesome video, I'm going to watch more! I'm feeling inspired to commit to my personal essays and opinion pieces with a graphic component 🤗✨ let's see how it goes!
Okay I've finished the video now and I have to say I kind of liked the balance of time with this experiment, the writing in the earlier part of the day and the refilling of the well for the rest of the day seems like a very nice balance to keep from getting that burned out feeling. Now I don't know about getting up at 5 in the morning because I am most certainly not a morning person lol. I think something like this would help someone who feels like they're always forgetting to do one thing because of the time they've devoted to the other (example those who feel like they focus so much on writing that they don't get the reading done or vice versa) because this allows for both in nearly equal measure. I loved this video Kate and I really will have to go check out that craft book by Ursula and her other books as well. Once again, please take care of yourself! And give Zelda, Buffy, and Vin hugs and kisses for me lol. ❤❤
I am reading Ursula LeGuin's short story collection The Unreal & The Real, Outer Space, Inner Lands - and it is so good. The stories are just amazing, her writing immediately brought me out of both a writing and a reading slump. She was a quality writer for sure. A master of her craft.
Every time I watch any of your experiment videos, I'm inspired to write. Thank you for all the inspiration and motivation you've given me
The Earthsea Trilogy was my introduction to fantasy as a child.
I was a weird kid. I would happily read whatever book the teacher assigned, my attitude was "great, I'm going to be left alone to read for a little while, awesome!" While I might prefer to read something else, I preferred reading to anything else that might be expected of me in a classroom.
This is such a great video and routine! I’m like Ursula in that I write in multiple formats (TV drama pilots, short film scripts, flash fiction/short stories, novellas, and novels). It’s good to diversify your writing. 🥰
Congratulations on reading so much! It’s such a good feeling. I’ve also exceeded my reading goal (60 books) and I’m on my 75th book right now. I know I won’t get to 100 books read this year, but maybe I can get to 80. 😬
The pups and kitty are precious as always.
I don’t know if if this answers one of your questions at the end, but I’ve been doing my own short story/flash fiction challenge (inspired by RachelWrites) where I try and write at least one short story or flash fiction per month. I missed February and July and worked on the same short story in August through October (since it’s getting traditionally published next year and I had deadlines). And that one was the LONGEST short story I’ve written in years (6K). But hopefully I can write one last flash fiction in December. It’s been an interesting challenge! The story I wrote in January is getting published soon, so that’s something. 😂
I want to be this prolific a writer.- edit, I am going to read that artical about “The Next Great American Novel” I think I will agree with a lot of it just based off my own principal. It never mattered to me how many books I sold, or who was reading them, I was a success because I had published my books myself and that was what I had always wanted to do. My 8 year old self would be so proud of me because that little kid would see me grow up to be an author who wrote and published and sold books. To me it was never about money or fame or anything else, because that is all the cherry on top of the cake, like if I get to write and share my writing with the world, and even 1 person reads it and connects with those stories then I am a lucky person. Because that is all I ever wanted. I know the odds of being ‘New York Times Best Seller’ is like 1 in 100,000 books and that even if you are a NYT best seller you are maybe making like 2000 sales a year which like isn’t something to sniff at but its also not as much as people think it is. Im not trying for that, because what I want isn’t to be famous if it was I would be working way harder to promote my books. If I wanted the money I would be working way harder to promote my books. What I want is to write. So I write, and I will continue to write, until I can’t any more.
Ohh, what a perfect thing to pop up in my notifications during my break between writing sessions!
Hehe I'm taking my break now too!
I love Ursula LeGuin!
The Wizard of Earthsea series & Catwings are my favorites.
The way I got so excited when I saw your video pop up in my notifications lol 😁 I'm not completely finished the video just yet but I just had to say, you have Buffy, Zelda, and Vin so well trained lol. I love seeing them. Does my heart good. Ashamed to say that I have never heard of Ursula K. Le Guin before so thank you for giving me someone to look up and get into. Now back to the rest of the video. And in case I don't come back with any further comment, take care Kate! ❤❤
So excited to watch this!! Since you’ve mentioned being into podcasts before, the Between the Covers podcast is doing a series where they dive into different aspects of UKLG’s craft with different contemporary writers. I especially enjoyed the recent episode w Maria Dahvana Headley on feminist translation and the classics, but they talk about so much that there’s something there for everyone!
Look at Vin being so good, sitting on your desk to keep you company without trying to put all your possessions on the floor or block your view of the monitor or pull all the pens out or lie down on your keyboard.
Oh this is Perfect Timing!! I’ve been consuming Ursula k. Leguin content all this week. Reading Earthsea for the first time, watching videos about her as a person and her thoughts and now this! Kismet! 🔮
Ahhhh, truly! That's incredible. :) Sounds like you've had a great week!
I love that woman so much, Earthsea is like my fave book series
This was amazing. Another vlog of you, that made me wish I had no job but this. It sounds incredible to have that much time to be creative! I made myself a schedule for my creativity after my fulltime job. 3 times a week minimum 1 hour writing. First week was a success. But Nanowrimo was so stressful last year, that I skip it this year. Thanks for the vid, you're great!
I love this video and it makes me want to try Ursula’s routine.
I've never read anything by Ursula K Le Guin, she sounds like a character! I would not appreciate the 5.30am start!
I really want to try my hand at some literary criticism in the near future
Planning to watch any more Masterclasses? I love those videos
Actually yes! More info in a month or so. 👀
@@KateCavanaugh Yay!
I was so hoping you'd do this challenge with Le Guin's methods! Very insightful and fun
This video was a joy to watch! The animal cutaways were so calming. I can't wait to read your book. It sounds really fun!
I love The Dispossessed and I think it's time to re-read it. I read the Earthsea trilogy in my early 20s and it just wasn't for me, not at that time. Overall I enjoy her books tho and I will pick up a copy of Steering the craft.
What hits me is how important it is to refill the well, something I am awful at (with burnout as a result) and I think a lot of us creatives are, especially if we want to one day be able to make a living from it.
This is such uncanny timing as I've just borrowed The Left Hand of Darkness from the library. It's my first time reading one of her books and so I appreciate this video!
I really love your “I tried writing like” videos.
I’m writing a screenplay currently (for an open submission in the UK) and I’m on the editing and rewriting stage. I’m a discovery writer who does outline the key plot points then fill in the gaps. I find the drafting was than the re-reading and re-editing. Good luck with your project
I honest thought you meant Ursula from the Little Mermaid at first glance and I was like... How would that work? But I was here for it.
😂 Gonna grow a mermaid tail real quick and try to write with that bahahah.
I love all of Leguin's writing about writing and story in general, and I defintely recommend her "Carrier Bag theory of fiction" essay.
oooooh thank you for the rec!! One of the absolute best/worst things about authors as prolific as Ursula is sometimes not knowing where to start. This sounds FASCINATING and I'm excited to dive in!!
i wanna read this !!!!
I love this series of routine challenges!
Ahhh, thanks M! They're always so fun to test out. :)
What keyboard are you using? Love the sound!
Where did you get your keyboard I love it!!!! SO freakin' cute! Can you link it?
This sounds like my ideal writing life! Though with kids it's virtually impossible lol maybe when they are older and I have more free time. *sighs wistfully*
I never knew you lived in Texas. I do too that's so exciting
Ahhh, which city/area do you live in??
@@KateCavanaugh Irving! It's in the DFW area~ i think its so cool that someone who inspires me lives in my state!
Alas, day jobbery doesn't really admit of this sort of schedule :(
That's very true!! It's one of the many downsides of these "I Tried Writing Like" concepts, is most of the famous authors share their current routines, and not the routines when they were working 1 or more non-writing gigs. I did one copying N.K. Jemisin's routine and really loved the way she talked about balancing work, life, and writing!
Hi Kate, I'm very interested in trying Ursula's craft book with the actionable exercises. I found several craft books by her on Amazon. Which one did you refer to?
The one I love is called Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story. And I think I have the 2015 edition.
Cannot recommend it enough, glad you're looking for it! :)
www.amazon.com/Steering-Craft-Twenty-First-Century-Guide-Sailing/dp/0544611616
@@KateCavanaugh thank you so much! I appreciate it
I do a lot of things like writing catalogs essays novels grocery lists
Vin and Buffy together 😍
They are seriously SO precious, truly a little sister/big sister dynamic, I love to watch them bahaha.
@@KateCavanaugh Aww, that's so sweet! Meanwhile my ex breeding cat only begrudgingly lets our other cat snuggle her - we're not sure whether she knows he's actually her own son! We adopted him as an enormous one year old when he needed a new home 😂 He seems to know she's his mum though and follows her around brooing and she's like dude, calm down. At least they like playing together and she has company now when we're out!
I know that this was two days ago but I need to know. What kinda couch was that with the parts that make it into like a bed couch?
Does anyone know kind of shelf(?) (I can't think of a better word) does she use for her laptop? I really like how high that one sits.
During your day 1 morning routine, the cut from one clip to the next made me think for a split-second that you'd wiped your face - and then thrown the wipe in a sizzling frying pan. 🙃
😂😂😂
YES for "the great [insert country here] novel" being useless in terms of finding amazing literature!
Pretty fingernails ♥️
Thank youuuu!