One of my very favorite author tubers is Kate Cavanaugh because she always tries the most interesting writing challenges. And the one that I watched recently was where she asked AI to give her a “crazy” writing routine. Which it definitely delivered. It told her to get up at three or something and eat a handful of chocolate chips for breakfast hahaha.
So I was certainly curious about this. Obviously, I wasn’t going to try to ask it for “something crazy” like Kate did. I am a stay at home mom with three kids. Ages 6, 4 and 1. So when it comes to writing routines… I have to have a regular babysitter or else there just is no routine at all. And that was something that Kate doesn’t have to work around, so I thought I would ask the all-knowing AI and see what kind of advice it would give to a stay at home writer person such as myself.
Basically what Chat GPT came back with was a writing routine where you do thirty minute sessions throughout the day in between caring for your kids. One before they wake up, a mid morning session while they “play quietly”, an afternoon session while they nap or have “quiet time” and an evening session after your kids go to bed.
Seems feasible, but at the same time they’re little kids. Nothing is feasible hahaha.
At the end of the writing routine, the AI told me to be flexible and it’s okay to adjust as necessary. I responded back a thank you and also asked it to please remember me if it ever takes over the world. To which it said this:
Concerning. That little wink. Is that a threat? I can’t tell.
So the next day I set an alarm for an hour earlier than my kids usually get up and got to work. And of course, my four-year-old woke up an hour earlier than he usually wakes up. (How did he know?) I wrote anyway and was okay productive. I did have to stop once or twice because my son asked me to open his yellow popsicle at 6:30 in the morning.
Gosh I hope he naps today.
Mid Morning session turned out to be later than I thought but worked fine. I settled my four year old with Blippi on my phone and gave the baby her favorite puffs in her high chair. I had only gotten a couple of minutes in when my son wanted to play “ghost” with me, so I had to get him a sticker book to entertain him. Then I found myself immediately texting my husband about work and dang. The morning session sure was easier. Sad for me because I don’t like getting up early. But also had I followed Chat GPT’s advice and done a mid-morning session while my baby was asleep instead of almost falling asleep myself I would have been more productive altogether. Oh well. Plan for exhaustion if you’re a parent. Just pencil it into your schedule.
Afternoon session I opted to try to squeeze in while waiting to pick up my son from school. I usually get in the pick up line super early so I thought it would be a nice natural break to try it out. I also slowly drove around the neighborhood so the four year old who woke up ridiculously early would pass out. He did. But then the baby was complaining of course. I brought extra toys. All of which were really loud, so that was dumb of me. I wrote as best as I could in the awkward, hot car. It was okay. So far I had a total of 1400 words by the time I had done the three half hour sessions, so honestly that wasn’t too bad!
During the evening session I put up this blog post. So you’re welcome haha.
valmanwill.com 