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getyourwordsoutGYWO is BACK for 2015! We’re starting our 7th year-long writing challenge with seven pledges to help you challenge yourself, achieve your writing goals, and build a writing life. Keep in mind that even our smallest word count goals require a serious commitment throughout the year. Before choosing your pledge, please take note of the few requirements we have of our members, and carefully consider which of the seven pledges you'd like to choose.
Membership Requirements & Information
Given that this is a year-long challenge, we expect members to be writing throughout the year. While obviously some months will be better than others, and life can toss roadblocks into writing plans, we are here to encourage you to develop a writing life despite these distractions.
There are a handful of requirements to joining GYWO.
Your word counts are used by the moderators to determine trends in the group and help gauge when additional encouragement may be needed. We also keep a backup of all members' word counts, available in a spreadsheet for members' viewing.
If you do not check in for a month, that will be noted; three months in a row without checking in will result in your removal from the community.
Since check-ins are so important, we strongly recommend you track the !monthly check-in tag at the community, or make note on your personal calendar that check-ins are always open during the first 5 days of a month. Additionally, if you know that you will be unavailable during the time frame for an upcoming check-in, you can request to be excused (information available on the website).
Other community information, including answers to questions you may have, is available on our external website. These include:
Guidelines—membership changes and member conduct
Countable Words—a guide to what words count (a pressing question for most members)
Monthly Check-ins—a preview of the check-in procedure
On-Topic Posting—some guidance for on-topic member posting
After reading these, please let us know in this post if you have any additional questions you need answered before making your pledge.
Pledging
Members who pledge for 2015 are permitted to use any number of writing projects to add to their word count over the year. Projects may include (among other things) novels, fanfics, poems, songs, and essays. You can find a guideline of what kinds of projects we count at our website.
When choosing your pledge goal, keep in mind your personal writing habits and what you find most motivating. Will hitting your goal early help propel you to keep writing through the year? Do you need a major challenge to keep you on pace? Have you surpassed smaller goals in previous years and need more of a challenge? Make sure the pledge you make is one that will motivate you.
To make your pledge there are two steps to complete: Pledge & Request.
Step 1: Pledge Follow the link for your pledge to the appropriate post and leave a comment using the journal you intend to have join the community.
Reminders: Sign up with only ONE account.
You may sign up using Livejournal, Dreamwidth, or OpenID.
You may use a fic/writing journal instead of your personal one.
Include your username on the other platforms requested to have access everywhere.
If you have previously participated under a different username (or on Livejournal, if you are signing up on Dreamwidth), please let us know so we can track our repeat members.
Step 2: Request Once you have made your pledge, please request to join the community. We’ll approve memberships on December 31st/January 1st (as we still have the 2014 members scrambling to hit their goals!), but we'll hold you in the queue.
Some members may need to take one more step:
Step 3: Verify Before approving new membership requests we want to make sure your journal is not a bot or a troll—so if your journal is f-locked with little information in your userinfo, you may want to send us a PM to tell us about your writing goals (which confirms you are a human).
If you’re concerned we didn’t receive your pledge: We will be updating the 2015 member list in the profile as new members are verified. Please give us at least 24 hours from submitting your pledge before inquiring about your status. (Over the Christmas holiday we will not be vetting pledges, so please check back on Dec 27th.)
IMPORTANT: Anyone requesting to join the community who has not made a pledge will not be added. To ensure you are not left out, make your pledge first, then request to join.
You have until January 20, 2015 to make your pledge.
After that time you will NOT be able to change your pledge
or join the challenge, so think carefully before committing.
Promotion
If you want to share GYWO with your friends, please feel free to use either of the codes provided to let them know you’ll be writing a lot of words in 2015 and you think they should too.
GetYourWordsOut: Year Seven!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net
GetYourWordsOut: Year Seven!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net
Hopefully that covers everything you need to know about what is required of members, what our pledge options are, and how to make your pledge. Questions are welcome in this post! We hope to see your pledge soon!
Membership Requirements & Information
Given that this is a year-long challenge, we expect members to be writing throughout the year. While obviously some months will be better than others, and life can toss roadblocks into writing plans, we are here to encourage you to develop a writing life despite these distractions.
There are a handful of requirements to joining GYWO.
- You must have an account on Livejournal, Dreamwidth, or OpenID. (If you are a previous member using a new name or new service, please let us know.)
- Sign up using ONE account from any of the above mentioned services. (You may use a writing journal instead of your personal one, just please sign up with only one. You’ll be asked for your username on other services so we can allow you access everywhere.)
- All members must participate in the monthly check-ins. Each month members provide their current year-to-date (YTD) totals to the moderators. You will only ever be required to provide numbers; sharing what is written is completely optional.
- At the March check-in, members must have written some number of words for their goal.
Your word counts are used by the moderators to determine trends in the group and help gauge when additional encouragement may be needed. We also keep a backup of all members' word counts, available in a spreadsheet for members' viewing.
If you do not check in for a month, that will be noted; three months in a row without checking in will result in your removal from the community.
Since check-ins are so important, we strongly recommend you track the !monthly check-in tag at the community, or make note on your personal calendar that check-ins are always open during the first 5 days of a month. Additionally, if you know that you will be unavailable during the time frame for an upcoming check-in, you can request to be excused (information available on the website).
Other community information, including answers to questions you may have, is available on our external website. These include:
Guidelines—membership changes and member conduct
Countable Words—a guide to what words count (a pressing question for most members)
Monthly Check-ins—a preview of the check-in procedure
On-Topic Posting—some guidance for on-topic member posting
After reading these, please let us know in this post if you have any additional questions you need answered before making your pledge.
Pledging
Members who pledge for 2015 are permitted to use any number of writing projects to add to their word count over the year. Projects may include (among other things) novels, fanfics, poems, songs, and essays. You can find a guideline of what kinds of projects we count at our website.
When choosing your pledge goal, keep in mind your personal writing habits and what you find most motivating. Will hitting your goal early help propel you to keep writing through the year? Do you need a major challenge to keep you on pace? Have you surpassed smaller goals in previous years and need more of a challenge? Make sure the pledge you make is one that will motivate you.
To make your pledge there are two steps to complete: Pledge & Request.
Step 1: Pledge Follow the link for your pledge to the appropriate post and leave a comment using the journal you intend to have join the community.
- 75K words, the Light level, approximately 6.25K words/month, 206 words/day (reserved for members with chronic or recurrent conditions)
- 150K words, the Modest level, approximately 12.5K words/month, 411 words/day
- 200K words, the Basic level, approximately 16.6K words/month, 548 words/day
- 250K words, the Moderate level, approximately 20.8K words/month, 685 words/day
- 300K words, the Difficult level, approximately 25.0K words/month, 822 words/day
- 350K words, the Insane level, approximately 29.1K words/month, 959 words/day
- 500K words, the Ludicrous level, approximately 41.6K words/month, 1,370 words/day
Reminders: Sign up with only ONE account.
You may sign up using Livejournal, Dreamwidth, or OpenID.
You may use a fic/writing journal instead of your personal one.
Include your username on the other platforms requested to have access everywhere.
If you have previously participated under a different username (or on Livejournal, if you are signing up on Dreamwidth), please let us know so we can track our repeat members.
Step 2: Request Once you have made your pledge, please request to join the community. We’ll approve memberships on December 31st/January 1st (as we still have the 2014 members scrambling to hit their goals!), but we'll hold you in the queue.
Some members may need to take one more step:
Step 3: Verify Before approving new membership requests we want to make sure your journal is not a bot or a troll—so if your journal is f-locked with little information in your userinfo, you may want to send us a PM to tell us about your writing goals (which confirms you are a human).
If you’re concerned we didn’t receive your pledge: We will be updating the 2015 member list in the profile as new members are verified. Please give us at least 24 hours from submitting your pledge before inquiring about your status. (Over the Christmas holiday we will not be vetting pledges, so please check back on Dec 27th.)
IMPORTANT: Anyone requesting to join the community who has not made a pledge will not be added. To ensure you are not left out, make your pledge first, then request to join.
After that time you will NOT be able to change your pledge
or join the challenge, so think carefully before committing.
Promotion
If you want to share GYWO with your friends, please feel free to use either of the codes provided to let them know you’ll be writing a lot of words in 2015 and you think they should too.
GetYourWordsOut: Year Seven!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net
GetYourWordsOut: Year Seven!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net
Hopefully that covers everything you need to know about what is required of members, what our pledge options are, and how to make your pledge. Questions are welcome in this post! We hope to see your pledge soon!
Previous Members
Date: 2014-12-15 02:35 pm (UTC)We do not ban members for quitting the challenge, missing check-ins, or not meeting your pledge.
If you previously participated under another username, please make sure to tell us that previous username. If you're not sure, make a best guess and we'll check our records to confirm with you.
question about what qualifies as a "mental illness" in terms of the "Light" option
Date: 2014-12-19 12:47 am (UTC)Do you include neurological disabilities like Dwn's syndrome, Autism and so on in that description or does it apply more to actual mental illnesses like depression, and biploarism and so forth? Thank you for your answer, and your time.
Re: question about what qualifies as a "mental illness" in terms of the "Light" option
Date: 2014-12-19 12:54 am (UTC)