I have a quick question: I have finished RTK 1 and am just on the reviewing (have to do about 70 cards a day and don't exactly have the greatest rate of success, at about 70% but that's another story) and was wondering whether it's worth it to keep writing all the kanji I'm reviewing on paper in 楷書 (block letter, both kanji that occur in it are ones that were marked "leech" by anki but will never be suspended) style. About half the time I write the kanji down and the other half (when I'm reviewing on my phone) I ever think of the elements or hover my finger over the screen and draw in the air.

So your question is about the benefits of actually writing vs just 'air-drawing'? I'd say that writing them out with a pen or pencil will improve your hand-writing, but if it's just learning/reviewing them, then either would be fine.

Guess so. I would say my handwriting is much better than it would be if I always air drew. One thing to note though, is that when I air draw and then see something kind of similar when I push "Show Answer" I say, "Well that's what I meant to draw" then push Hard instead of Again.

Well, how strict you are is a matter of what works for you, I think.

I find I'm more motivated to study if I'm less strict on myself. For example, on anki for learning or forgotten cards, I'll normally pass it if I'm vaguely right, because my steps are set to 1 5 10, so I'll still see the card plenty more times before it goes to the next day. I found that my recall of cards the next day was much better if I didn't get stressed and depressed about failing a card half a dozen times. Some cards cards are just like that and you need to see them plenty of times in a short space (like every day for 1-3 days before they go in, or you need to see them in other contexts for your brain to decide to remember them )

On this site you can't change the intervals, though, so I guess that advice is of limited use, sorry.

Thanks for the information. It's really forgotten cards, not new ones especially since I'm not yet doing RTK 3, so there are no steps, though I do have the lapse at 0% so it starts my cards from 1 day again.

Unless you have some specific reason to learn to write the kanji even in advance of being able to read them, I would recommend reviewing kanji -> meaning in the first instance and worry about writing them later (if at all).

If you ever have to, or want to, take a course in Japanese, or travel to Japan, you will 100% need to be able to write the kanji from memory. So I definitely recommend doing it the Heisig way of meaning/vocab to kanji. Sure, it takes a few extra minutes now, but depending on your plans, it would pay off double.

I see no reason not to learn how to write the Kanji. If I'm going to review, I might as well review the most information possible, including the primitives, where they are, stroke order, how to draw them, and finally the Heisig-assigned keyword. Plus, Kanji just look cool, especially when handwritten in block style.

just try it and see. You'll find out soon enough whether it's worth it or not.

I switched to recognition only about halfway through RtK and learned the meanings just fine. I'd say you don't have to write them down at all if you're just concerned with learning the meanings.