Admin Post: Choosing Your GYWO 2025 Pledge

[gywomod]

With GYWO 2025 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, or what words or activities count, please visit our website. More information about pledging for 2025 will be released on Dec 12.


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 encourages 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've participated previously and 240 Days was too easy, but 350 Days was too hard, try the 300 Day Pledge to land 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 2024.
• 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 2024.
• 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 2024 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 2024 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 2024 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 2024 pledge level works for you, let it work for you in 2025.
• If you came close to hitting your 2024 pledge level or it was a reasonable challenge to make it, this might be the right pledge level to try again in 2025.

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), 300 Days (Adventurer), 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 2025. Come back next week and follow the instructions in the Pledges & Requirements post to make a pledge for 2025.

Comments

[melayneseahawk]

Every time I make some writing commitment, I get hit with the block or RL things get busy or something, so even though I want to increase my goal by one step for next year, I'm worried that will mess me up (I beat my goal this year in September).

[gywomod]

There's something to be said for getting comfortable at your current goal.

[melayneseahawk]

Yeah, that's what I'm currently deciding between: sticking with the same goal, or going up one tier. I'll have a decision by sign-ups.

[veronyxk84]

It's not an easy choice.
While I did complete my pledge in June and wrote +50k words above my pledge level (75k), I hit a huge block in September because of family health issues.
For the 1st time this year I wrote half of the expected month tally, and even knowing that I had already surpassed my level, seeing those red numbers in the September spreadsheet really gave me a little anxiety. 😅

So I'd rather keep my light level next year; doubling it with those health issues still ongoing seems too much of a gamble right now.
I will probably come close to 150k at the end of this month, but I have about 15k to go and I don’t think I'll make it, seeing my current work/life schedule.

So I will most likely be pledging for 75k again. :)

[gywomod]

With current health issues you know will continue, staying at your current pledge makes a lot of sense.

[kalira]

2024 was my first year and when I was caught debating between two (350k and 500k) I erred on the side of the lower one, as I hadn't tracked a year's worth of words in many years before (and only once before at all), and I know that failing to reach a goal demoralises me but exceeding one encourages me.

It was the right call, I feel (and I had some months that absolutely kicked me down and I got very little writing done), but I hit 350k in July and 500k in October, and I'm going to optimistically go for the 500k for 2025! (I'd consider a step higher than that, but 1m is way too far a jump. >.>;)

[nerakrose]

I don't have any trouble choosing my pledge this year - I've been doing the 120 habit pledge for the past couple of years I think? I think last year I made 160 days and this year I've both achieved 120 days so early and overshot it so much that I'm now determined to hit the next pledge level as a kind of stretch goal and get 180 days in before the end of the year. I can and will make that goal as I only need to write on 7 out of 11 days remaining in order to get 180 days, and aside from Christmas Eve there isn't actually anything this month (anymore) to keep me from getting the work in, so that's very satisfying. especially considering this week I just moved from one country to another and I am exhausted, lmao. I have done so much moving prep these past two months I'm amazed I'm still on track to reach the stretch goal.

all that to say: I've signed up for the 120 days pledge again!

I've come to realise over the past many years that setting a low pledge level and achieving it is far more motivating to me than going for the next tier up and potentially struggling or stressing about achieving it. I do the same with reading challenges - I set a low goal of 10 books for the year, and when I get close I up it in increments of 5 until the goal says 50 books. after that I no longer up it and let it overshoot. I usually manage to get at least 50, but it works better for my brain to be able to up the goal as I go along than to continually see how much further there still is to go.

I don't know if these musings will help anybody who's in a similar place, but I hope so.

(as a small aside, because I don't want my secondary tracking to be words or pages or hours or whatever it is that the GYWO habit tracker includes as standard, I always unhide the columns with the secondary tracking bits and modify so that I can set 'sessions' as the secondary tracking. so if I write in the morning for 10 minutes, 15 minutes on the commute, and then 1 hour in the evening, I can count 3 sessions for the day. it's more fun for me to see how many times in a day (sessions) I've worked on a given project than how many hours as number of hours doesn't necessarily mean anything (for me). the number of sessions is always higher than the number of days, and when looking at individual projects it becomes very clear which one occupied my brain the most as I've been adding in sessions as many times as I can in certain periods :D)

[theemdash]

Oooh, that sessions idea is interesting.....

[nerakrose]

it's all fun and games until you have seven sessions on a fic in one day and you're like, oh.

[theemdash]

You may be pleasantly surprised when you download a tracker this year....

[nerakrose]

👀

[antpower]

I'm torn between a few of the middle word count tiers. I've absolutely failed the past few years due to health issues but I'm a lot better now and need to start my writing routine again. Plus, I'm planning a big overseas trip Aug/Sept so I need the sweet book $$$ to fund it.

Ideally, I'd like to get 6-8 books out at 40k-50k a pop before August and then spend Oct-Dec on something more serious that I'm looking to get trad published, prob at 100-150k, so any of the pledges between 250-500k look good to me. Maybe I will just pick on colour!

[theemdash]

When you're between several, color seems to be a good decider. I wish you luck!

[meridian_rose]

I lost a lot of days this year for various reasons, caught up a lot during November writing for Yuletide and then got ill during December and I won't be able to complete my 180 days. But I am at 172 days so not far off. I guess it will be another year of 180 days which I've managed before, if not this year!

[elaiel]

I did so little writing this year, largely because of complicated stuff going on with my family and work, and I didn't actually track a lot of the word count of the writing I did do. I've just been checking in with "same amount" and I'll need to go back and add up the word counts before the end of this year, just for my own info really. I'm thinking for the first time this coming year I'll do a habit pledge, just to rebuild my writing habit a bit.