4 outlines, 27,000 words, 14 days. | THE OUTLINE-A-THON VLOG!

[@ElaineUribeWrites]

OUTLINE-A-THON! OUTLINE-A-THON! OUTLINE-A-THON!

[@KateCavanaugh]

SUCH A GOOD IDEA. THANK YOU FOR SHARING ELAINE!!! :)

[@KerriB]

Perfect timing! I just sat down to write for today. I saw a meme about how January is a trial month and that February 1st was the real start of the year. I've been really tired this week so I'm rolling with that!

[@KateCavanaugh]

Absolutely love that! Play around and ease yourself into the year with January.

[@PhoebeWritesFiction]

As someone who enjoys outlining, you know I was LIVING for this haha. I totally find it easier to write a blurb/synopsis/summary/pitch before writing the book - so much easier to summarise when the unimportant details can't distract you because you haven't even thought of them yet! Also all the food you made in this looked so yum. CONGRATS ON MAKING 100k!! 🧡 P.S I've just finished my first 'big' crochet project (a soft toy as opposed to granny squares and stitch practice).

[@KateCavanaugh]

AHHH PHOEBE HOORAY!!! So happy for you finishing your first big crochet project, I LOVE THAT. What kind of soft toy was it!??!

[@PhoebeWritesFiction]

@@KateCavanaugh A 'polar' teddy bear in a striped jumper and bobble hat 🥰

[@KateCavanaugh]

@@PhoebeWritesFiction AHHHHH it sounds SO cute!!!! 🐻‍❄

[@reginaduke7451]

"Done, done, done! I achieved!!!!" Fantastic!!! Doing a happy dance for you. That is freaking awesome. Congratulations!!!! You are a rock star!!! Love you!

[@agameoffangsandthrones584]

My main project this year involves a take on “saving/freeing” dragons 😂. I’m planning on setting up my own to be written list and brain dump document - such a clever and simple idea!

[@KateCavanaugh]

YESSSSS, great minds! :) And I learned about the To Be Written list from Zara Hoffman -- absolutely a game changer for me to organize them all in one place!

[@thenewdarling1]

11:17 Me: "wait what spot on the glasses..... i can't see a spot on your glasses" *gets lost thinking about how gross my glasses probably look on camera, stops listening to the video for 30 seconds and has to rewind* 😂

[@KateCavanaugh]

LOLOL! I swear, I didn't notice it AT ALL while I was recording and then immediately spotted it while editing. I'm sure I've had spots on them before and never noticed, but then it was the ONLY thing I could focus on for MINUTES OF FOOTAGE bahaha. I now realize my comment had the opposite effect bahahah.

[@tonyaroche7733]

I love the idea of a Scrivener document for “to be written” ideas. You’re so organized! 😊

[@KateCavanaugh]

Absolutely I stole this idea from Zara Hoffman!! She was the first person I ever heard talk about it and had the exact same "wait this is GENIUS." Highly recommend giving it a try! :)

[@sofiepeeters8565]

For the cake tin: before you open the clam stick a knife in between the edge and the cake and drag it around until you went around the tin completely. It will reduce the chances if the cake splitting.

[@KateCavanaugh]

Yessssss, thank you! That's what I ended up doing after I'd already made the split bahaha. Silly me. Will definitely add that as step one of the process next time! :)

[@jadeitor_png]

Outline a ton sounds like a good way to start the year let's go!!

[@KateCavanaugh]

HECK YES!! YOU GOT THIS! Let me know how you enjoy it!! :)

[@bookishsyd]

I loved this video! Admittedly I’m in the middle of drafting scenes necessary for revision to happen, but this is tempting for some other projects. Maybe even some fictional podcast ideas? But I also have a giant ‘writing ideas’ document lmao. Maybe this will get me to cut down on that by making new scrivener documents for the more advanced ones. Hmmm. Also, I loved your earrings for December 31st, so gorgeous.

[@thewriterssoundtrack]

an outline-a -thon sounds so fun! I should definitely try that out (and clean up the 15+ chaotic notes on my phone titled "IDEA") 😂

[@PippaCrews]

I'm obsessed with outlining. It makes my life so much easier.

[@KateCavanaugh]

I'm finally aboard Team Outliner and feel exactly the same way!! It's so nice.

[@charmedvenuss]

I have to outline right before i first draft so that the tempo is still rolling and fresh in my mind for when i draft, otherwise this would be my new favorite thing to do haha

[@KateCavanaugh]

Oooh, that's very fair! It'll be interesting, since this is the first time I've done something like this. But I often leave projects in all sorts of states, so I'm hoping it's just an easy re-read and I'll fall back into it. Fingers crossed!

[@vikillustrations]

well, I just finished act 2 of my book, and for ages I thought act 3 would fill itself out on its own. It did not. I need to sit down and fully rethink that part of the outline so yes. Perfect timing as always

[@KateCavanaugh]

VIK! Yeah I fully understand that. I've had that happen to me so many times. Sometimes re-outlining after you have some of the draft already figured out is incredibly helpful though! I'll keep my fingers crossed your brainstorming is fruitful. You got this!

[@kierrascott7704]

You are so inspiring! ❤ I need to finish my outline and now I feel like I can do it! 😊

[@KateCavanaugh]

YOU GOT THIS! :)

[@ninanatascha]

This might be the answer to all my writing problems (at least to the ones I have right now). I have decided to outline several peojects (my outlines are usually pretty short) until the end of January, so when I an visiting Amsterdam in Feburary I have decided on a project to draft!

[@KateCavanaugh]

YESSSSSS that sounds like such a good plan!! OMG I hope you have so much fun in Amsterdam. I'd love to visit there someday!! (Also lolol to the "at least the ones I have right now." So true. Writing is just ever evolving problems, only we're the ones who created them bahaha.)

[@Esmawrites]

I never heard of the outline a thon, but it sounds like a good idea. Maybe I do that for all the short stories I want to write this year. When it comes to outlining there are projects where it's easy to do the planning and then there are the projects where I always run towards a wall. 😂 It's interesting how you organize your story ideas. I stopped using Scrivener and moved completely to Notion. Currently I'm working on a database with all my 400+ ideas, sorted by year, genre and what kind of book it will be (a novel, novella, short stories or web comics).

[@KateCavanaugh]

FOUR HUNDRED PLUS!!! That's so cool! I like doing it this way in Scrivener and then taking my outline and breaking it into the individual chapters/scene cards. It makes sense for my brain. But I am VERY intrigued by everyone who's been using Notion. That sounds really cool, I'll have to check it out for that. I mostly use it to organize release schedules and things.

[@Esmawrites]

@KateCavanaugh I started with my idea list ten years ago (oh wow, time flies so fast). Tried to write down everything I could. 🙈 At the beginning I also used Notion for daily tasks. No everything is there.

[@maryearly3259]

congrats on hitting 100k before 2025! I'm also glad that your series is coming together it sounds great.

[@KateCavanaugh]

Thank you so much! :)

[@somedeepmystery]

congratulations on hitting the goal!

[@KateCavanaugh]

Thank youuuuu!

[@nellyalikyan]

I’ve never done this as a dedicated thing but I love the idea! Must try one day!

[@KateCavanaugh]

RIGHT! As soon as Elaine mentioned she was doing it, it was like a record scratch. "Hold up, wait, what is this???" Such a clever idea. And so fun, too! 10/10! Definitely let me know when you try it out! :)

[@amy-suewisniewski6451]

Is that a woobles advent calendar in the back I see 😂

[@KateCavanaugh]

Loooooool yes, from like a year ago I think! Bahaha.

[@Kat_Author2021]

Watching this after writing 1300 words in a 90 minute sprint (Thanks, Sarah Cahill!) and breaking to do a little clean up around the Airbnb. I love this idea! I have so many story ideas too! Hmm...

[@KateCavanaugh]

DO IT, KAT!!! And hooray for getting so many words on Sarah's stream! :) Can't wait to see how her experiment goes.

[@Kat_Author2021]

@ I really hope that she gets better soon, but she seems to be doing well with her story. I can’t believe that we both missed her starting today’s stream! Lol. 😂

[@76kilosofshade81]

😭 in having maybe one idea that could be developed like this. 😄 I love reverse outlining, though, since I'm such a pantser. But I wrote 360+K words last year with that method soooo 🤷‍♀ This year's revision hell is coming, however. Good job on hitting your goal!

[@KateCavanaugh]

HOLY SHIT!!!! 360,000+ is increeeddddiiibbbllleeee!!!! I also love a good reverse outline. Despite the intensity of my outlines now, I still find I need to do another after I've written the first draft. It strikes the perfect balance between letting me run free if I need AND acting as a good guide post for revisions. Sending you all the goo luck for this year. YOU GOT IT!

[@76kilosofshade81]

@@KateCavanaugh 💜 Thank you! I was kinda of astonished when I added it all up. But I finished a 250K word novel (oops), wrote an entire second novel (180K words), and started a third. It was definitely the Year of Drafting, making this the Year of Editing. I did the 100KQ4 and ended up crushing it with 118K words, so I carried it into Q1 to finish this book. 😁

[@glowllama]

That ending of the video. 🤣🤣

[@KateCavanaugh]

OH MY GOD. I don't even know how that happened!!!! I swear I had an entire 4 minutes at the end summarizing my thoughts. What the heck!! Bahahaahahah. I'm gonna have to go see what happened. That's SO funny.

[@KateCavanaugh]

Wait this is wild!!! I literally have it in my iMovie at 36 minutes AND the final footage that got exported is 36 minutes but then KZbin is 31:49?!?! THERE'S A MYSTERY ABOOT. Oh well, at least it ended at the perfect spot anyways! Hahahahaha.

[@Saskia_schreibt]

Do you knlw what is the status of Meridian Maps Book series?

[@KateCavanaugh]

Ooooh, I haven't worked on them in a while!! The plus side, the overarching series is outlined. :) But they're in my "back burner" area for now.

[@Heothbremel]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@reginaduke7451]

Hurray! first comment! I'll be back after I watch

[@KateCavanaugh]

🏆 thanks Regina!! 💛