Admin Post: Choosing Your GYWO 2024 Pledge

[gywomod]

With GYWO 2024 Pledges opening next week, which pledge to choose is hopefully on your mind. Instead of letting everyone stew in their personal hells, we’re running down a few of the common things the mods tell panicked participants, and then offering up a pledge calculator to help you make this somewhat difficult decision.

If you have any questions about GYWO or what it's like to aim for a specific pledge, the comments are open for all your concerns. Sometimes talking to a writer currently working on a pledge can help you come to a pledging decision!


If you're new to GYWO and have a question related to our membership requirements, general guidelines, monthly check-ins, what words or activities count, or why the heck you should pledge for GYWO, please visit our website. More information about pledging for 2024 will be released the week of Dec 11.


Word Count Pledge Vs Habit Pledge
Deciding between a Word Count Pledge or Habit Pledge can be a difficult decision. Here are some things to consider as you make your choice:

• If you want to emphasize the habit of your writing life—encouraging you to sit down to write more often—a Habit Pledge is built to support that. With a Word Count Pledge, it’s easier to write in sustained sprints to reach your goal, but a Habit Pledge forces you to write more days than you might with a Word Count Pledge.
• If tracking your word count is stressful or confusing, try one of the Habit Pledges. You’ll only need to keep track of the number of days you write, instead of all those fiddly words.
• If you are planning to have a year that focuses on revising or on planning stories, a Habit Pledge might be right for you. The Habit Pledges allow you to count days you work on recorded creative writing activities beyond drafting or revising. Our website has more details about the Habit Pledges and further explains what writing activities count toward this pledge.
• You could, potentially, miss a Habit Pledge by running out of days in the year. The most challenging Habit Pledge allows missing up to 15 days, which doesn’t give much wiggle room for accomplishing the pledge later in the year. The Word Count Pledges offer more flexibility since you can catch up at (nearly) any time.
• If you’re already consistent (and happy) with your writing habit, choose a Word Count Pledge to continue to challenge yourself and grow your writing life.
• If you've completed a Word Count Pledge multiple times, but don't think you can hit the next highest Word Count Pledge, consider working on your writing habit this year with a Habit Pledge.
• While you must pick one pledge for GYWO, you can unofficially keep track of a secondary pledge. Your secondary pledge may give you information about choosing a pledge for a future year!

Habit Pledges
Choosing between Habit Pledges comes down to deciding how much you plan to write each month:

• If you plan to write mostly on weekends, choose the 120 Day Pledge. That’s weekends + 16 days.
• If you plan to write mostly on weekdays, choose the 240 Day Pledge. That’s weekdays – 20 days, giving you a few days off.
• If you want to write every day, choose the 350 Day Pledge!
• If you've participated previously and 120 Days was too easy, but 240 Days was too hard, try the 180 Day Pledge to land right in between!
• If you haven’t tried writing daily before but want to, we recommend the 180 Day Pledge as a way to ease into a semi-daily writing habit before tackling a more challenging pledge.

Word Count Pledges
First Time with a Word Count Pledge?
If you’ve never tracked your word count for the year, take a moment to assess how many words you think you’ve written in the past year. Consider things like whether or not you participate in word-count based writing challenges, how much you’ve published in the last year (self or traditionally published, fanfic, blog, etc), and how much you tend to revise your work (writing it entirely over or just editing lines).

• If meeting your goal is more motivating, choose a goal that matches a conservative estimate of how much you wrote in 2023.
• If you think you’ll lose interest if you meet your goal early, choose a goal that matches a liberal estimate of how much you wrote in 2023.
• There are no penalties for not meeting your pledge, so don’t be afraid to choose a pledge you may not be able to meet!

Pledge Calculator
Thinking about what projects you'll work on next year is another common way writers make decisions about their GYWO pledge. To aid that, we've created the Pledge Calculator. Click the link and download or make a copy to use the spreadsheet.

To save it to your Google Drive, you can go to File > Make a Copy from the web. If you are on mobile from a phone or tablet, tap the 3 dots at the top right, and go to Share & export > Make a Copy

To download in another format, go to File > Download from the web. On mobile, tap the 3 dots at the top right, and go to Share & export > Save as….

Fill in the title of your projects, estimated word counts, or estimated number of days you'll work on the project. The calculator will recommend a Word Count Pledge and a Habit Pledge based on the information you provide.


download or save the Pledge Calculator


Whether you've done GYWO before or used the calculator, you might have narrowed your choice to two goals. Here’s our advice for choosing between two word count goals…

Go Big on Word Counts

• If you wrote 50,000 words or more above your 2023 GYWO pledge level, choose the next pledge level up.* You've already "beaten" it once, so do it again officially.
• If having a big goal motivates you, choose the bigger goal you're between. There's no penalty for not meeting your goal, so if having the big carrot will push you to write, set yourself up with the most motivating goal.
• If you look ahead and see a lot of free time, a more relaxed year, or fewer obstacles between you and your writing time, choose the bigger goal you're between. Just keep an eye out for unexpected things that might take away that time!

*This advice is somewhat dubious if you are currently pledging 75K, 350K, 500K, or 1M

Step Back on Word Counts

• If you wrote 50,000 words below your 2023 GYWO pledge level, consider the next pledge level down if knowing that you will meet your pledge is more motivating to you.*
• If having a big goal intimidates you, choose the lesser goal you're between. It's great if you write above your pledge level, so if hitting your pledge early will keep you in a happy writing mood, set yourself up for success.
• If you look ahead and see a lot of non-writing projects, a major life change (moving house, changing jobs, getting married, having a child, etc), or another serious obstacle between you and your writing time, choose the lesser goal you're between. While life can be unpredictable (which we all know, thanks), there are some things we can predict, so there's no reason to stress out about your word count on top of your real life.

*This advice is somewhat dubious if you are currently pledging 75K, 150K, 500K, or 1M.

Keep Your Word Count Consistent

• If you're going to hit your 2023 GYWO pledge level within the month of December and it was a comfortable pace, keep it the same! The community goal is to keep you writing, so if your 2023 pledge level works for you, let it work for you in 2024.
• If you came close to hitting your 2023 pledge level or it was a reasonable challenge to make it, this might be the right pledge level to try again in 2024.

The best advice we have is to look at your schedule and figure out where writing fits into it. Use the pledge calculator (or pen and paper) to list the projects, ficathons, and stories you might write next year and consider the word tallies or time involved. Really think about what's motivating for you—knowing you'll hit a goal or chasing down the finish line.

And if all else fails, you can do what some of our current GYWO members have suggested and pick your pledge based on the associated pledge color. 😉

Habit Pledges—120 Days (Backpacker), 180 Days (Excursionist), 240 Days (Explorer), and 350 Days (Globetrotter)
Word Count Pledges—75K (Light), 150K (Modest), 200K (Basic), 250K (Moderate), 300K (Difficult), 350K (Herculean), 500K (Outrageous), and 1M (Ludicrous)

As a reminder, your GYWO pledge is locked in for the full year.
You cannot change pledges mid-year.
If you hit your goal early, you're still part of the same pledge group.
So choose a goal to sustain you ALL year.


In the comments, let us know your pledging woes! Wonder how difficult another pledge is? Still need clarity on the pledge types? This is your opportunity to ask. After some discussion, hopefully you'll come away with a confident decision.

Note: Commenting to this post does not constitute pledging for 2024. Come back next week and follow the instructions in the Pledges & Requirements post to make a pledge for 2024.

Comments

[prettysophist]

This year is my fourth year since switching to a Habit Pledge, and 2024 will be my fifth! As always, I gave careful consideration to switching back to a Word Count Pledge, but I'm not ready to risk the stress and anxiety of that again yet and maybe never will be - that is ok too.

I'm going to achieve my 350 day habit pledge later this month, and I have enjoyed the challenge of it and learned from it a lot, but I do not wish to continue on this difficulty setting indefinitely, so I will be switching back down to a 240 day pledge with an unofficial stretch goal of 300 days and an unofficial word count target of 150-200k words.

[gywomod]

I love all these goals for you!

[celli]

Ah, time for the annual math! I'm a Habit Pledger, and I've gone from 120 days to 180 days to...hm...I'm not sure. I might stay at 180 days because I think I would be incredibly discouraged if I missed 240. I'm not sure.

[gywomod]

"The annual math." 😂

[fleetsparrow]

I've never tried a Habit Pledge before because my schedule is... inconsistent at best (despite having a regular routine, no actual plans ever, and a non-existent social calendar) because of brainstuff, but...

maybe...

I might try it this year???

Must think on this one. Maybe do a reading. See how it feels.

[gywomod]

A reading is a good idea!

[capsquared]

I went with the word count goal this year, but I think I'm going to switch to a habit goal for next year. I'm most likely going to go with the 240 day pledge as I do most of my writing at work.

[gywomod]

Awesome! Sometimes just having the flexibility to try something new can bring new vigor to your writing routines.

[lakeglitter]

Word Pledges work best for me. This year I picked my personal highest (300k) and failed spectacularly (lowest YTD since I started doing GYWO) because life. I anticipate a major change and some unknowns in 2024, so reason says to fall back on a "safer" word count, but I'm tempted to go big and attempt 300k again... I'll probably decide when filling the form 😂

[vriddy]

I'll probably decide when filling the form 😂

That's a very relatable feeling 😂 I want to move down to a safer pledge next year as well, but by the time sign-ups open, it's hard not to eye the higher pledge and go, "but what if...! 👀"

[lakeglitter]

Exactly! I feel like anything's possible when I look at the Pledge Form, then I look at at my planner for the next year and it's like, are you sure? xd

[myulalie]

I feel you! I'm coming out of a low writing year so I'm torn between go big or go home and a safer, more achievable goal! Hope you figured out what to do!

[lakeglitter]

Not sure if this will help but I decided to go big 😂 I'm not sure if I'll actually meet the goal (I've never written that much before!) but I should at least have fun trying :D Good luck with choosing the goal that works for you!

[myulalie]

I went big as well 😂 Best of luck to us both ♥

[vriddy]

I already have a consistent writing habit (thanks, 4thewords!) so habit pledges are less interesting to me at this stage.

I've been trying and failing at the 200K words pledge for the last couple of years, just about reaching 150k words in December. So, next year I think I'd like to aim for 150K words and possibly meet my pledge for the first time ever :D Additionally, I think I'd like to focus on discovering and sharpening the tools in my writing toolbox. I talked a bit about it on my journal but I recently found a structural editing method that works well for me, in addition to the outlining method that already fits my planning style, and it's been amazing how much a good system can help. So I'd like to have the space to explore new methods for the weaker parts of my writing process... and hopefully come back stronger and well equipped in 2025 for another stab at the 200k pledge :D

I'm really excited about this plan! But I also tend to hesitate between 2 pledges right until the end of the pledging period so we'll see how it plays out, haha.

[majorr]

I think I want to switch to a habit pledge for the first time. I checked, and I've written exactly 100 days this year. 120 wouldn't be too much of a stretch. I might even hit that this year since the month isn't over yet. I need to go through the tab about what counts first. I've had days where I wrote one sentence and called it quits. Those words count fine for a word count goal, but maybe I wouldn't want to count that for a habit-tracking one? Maybe I could personalize being a backpacker to only count days when I write over X amount of words.

I'm excited at the idea, though. It's fun to switch things up sometimes.

[innitmarvelous_og]

I need 324,997 words to hit 2.5 million words written since I began tracking my words in 2013 (two years before I joined GYWO). I am considering switching back to Word Count pledge and going for the 300K (Difficult) level because that would mean if I make the goal, I'd only be 24,997 words away from the 2.5 million. I'd got for the next level but I think the Difficult level might be more than I can handle already LOL!

And wow, I've counted the years twice since I've been with GYWO and it looks like next year is going to be like Year 10 for me to be writing with the comm!

[vriddy]

Ten years!! That is such a cool milestone! Definitely one I'd like to reach someday, too :D (2024 will be my 4th year!)

Good luck picking a pledge to help you reach 2.5 million words, that's an incredible and also really cool milestone :)

[innitmarvelous_og]

Ten years!! That is such a cool milestone! Definitely one I'd like to reach someday, too :D

Yeah I can't believe I've been on this comm that long or have been writing that consistently.

And all I can say is KEEP signing up every year and keep going!

Good luck picking a pledge to help you reach 2.5 million words, that's an incredible and also really cool milestone :)

Thanks! 2.5 words would be amazing and mindboggling to reach this year but I'm not sure I have enough steam to get the job done LOL!

[muscle_wizard]

I was just thinking about what to do for 2024 and this post came along aaa, and after a series of unpredictable events that really railroaded me this year - the word pledge is not for me lmao. I made a pr earnest attempt last year but this year really showed me I did not feel challenged so much as burdened by a word count goal. Which is not a bad thing, it just highlighted from a different angle I need a steady routine more than anything.

The first two habit pledges I did had been fun overall (and I even met my goal once!) and I think it'll go well with my new schedule in the coming new year. It's been a journey but I'm excited to finish out this year and start a new one.

As for which habit pledge I want... I will probably dance between two options until I'm on the sign up page lmao.

I love the new habit tier names btw, super cool!!

[meridian_rose]

I'm nearly at my 180 habit pledge, so for 3rd year running I'll be choosing that again. Any more would be too much of an increase, this is my current Goldilocks "just right" with enough of a challenge but achievable overall.

[linaewen]

This year my writing took off for some reason, and I met my pledge of 250K (Moderate) in July! I'm going to finish up December a bit over 400K, so I think the only option for me is to see what happens if I aim for the outrageous 500K. I think I will be writing at least as much next year, so I might as well try it! I don't believe it will stress me out too much to go for a bigger goal than I have managed before -- I think I need the harder goal to keep stretching myself!

[gywomod]

I love this enthusiasm!

[obstinatecondolement]

I switched to a Habit Pledge this year and I should just about limp my way to 120 words by the end of the month. I am nine days away, so never say never but it seems like I'm probably going to make it at this point, but there were whole months where I didn't write or where I didn't write much and I had to pick up steam a lot toward the end of the year. With that in mind, I don't think I'm going to step it up to 180 days just yet and I will try 120 days again to see if I can make it more comfortably on the second try before kicking it up a gear. I think that, barring disaster, this may be the first year I actually successfully complete my GYWO pledge, so I'd like to build more momentum with what will hopefully be realistically achievable successes before trying to stretch myself further.

[vriddy]

Building momentum sounds like a wise plan :D Congrats on possibly/quite likely meeting your pledge this year, this is very exciting!! :D

[kizzia]

Okay so if I write every day for the rest of this year I’ll only be 3 days short of the 350 day habit pledge. So I’m really tempted to sign up for that next year (I pledged 240 this year) but I worry that the stress of having to write almost every day to hit target, rather than choosing to because I want to, might be too much. Plus I’m hoping to move house next year too, which makes me think maybe I should be picking the 180 day pledge to really take the pressure off?
I just don’t know what to do, so any and all advice is most welcome!

[vriddy]

Moving house sounds like a big deal!! If 350 is too much (congrats on getting so close this year btw, that's really cool!), and with the uncertainty moving always involves, maybe sticking to the same 240 as this year would make sense?? Still a good challenge, but not as intimidating as 350 which seems to require a super solid routine. (While 180 might not feel like much of a challenge, especially if the move might not happen yet?)

Obviously, just random non-binding thoughts 😂 Good luck making a decision, and with the move!

[kizzia]

Thank you! I think that's a very sensible suggestion.