Get Your Words Out

Membership Closed

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:42:15 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

We have now closed pledging for GetYourWordsOut 2026. If you did not submit a completed 2026 GYWO Pledge Form or did not submit a registered Dreamwidth account or OpenID that can access Dreamwidth, you are not a member for 2026.

The GYWO moderators are thrilled to spend the next year writing with 823 writers.

Those who have come by too late, we appreciate your interest, and we hope that while you aren't able to join us officially, you'll make your own writing goals and achieve them. You’re welcome to subscribe to the community to keep a look out for 2027 news, or follow us on gywo.bsky.social or gywo for prompts, writing advice, and resources. Pledging for 2027 will open in December 2026.

Have a great year!

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Last Day for GYWO 2026 Pledges

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 03:50:33 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

Today is the ABSOLUTELY LAST DAY to make your pledge for getyourwordsout 2026. We will not accept any pledges or membership requests made after January 15—no excuses or exceptions. You MUST PLEDGE to be a member. (If you are listed on the 2026 Writers list, you’re good to go.)

PLEDGE! REQUEST MEMBERSHIP! PLEDGE!

Have you pledged?
Read the Pledges & Requirements post before committing to your writing goals for the year & then fill out the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form (linked at the post!)

Have you requested to join the Dreamwidth community?
Request to Join

Have you confirmed your pledge was processed?
Check the 2026 Writers list

After today you cannot make ANY further changes to your pledge or membership, so it's also the last day for second guessing and switching pledges.

If you're not sure if pledging has ended, a post announcing "Membership Closed" will be posted. You may pledge until that post goes up and the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form is deactivated on Jan 16.

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Membership PSA

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 19:16:01 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

All Writers: If you are not on the 2026 Writers list, we have not received your pledge. You MUST PLEDGE before requesting membership access to the DW community.

Check your email or DW inbox.
If there is a problem with your pledge, we have attempted to contact you. This private contact will have more information about what you need to do to be a GYWO 2026 Writer.

New to Dreamwidth?
There are some Dreamwidth users who requested membership, but we have not received a completed pledge form for those usernames. Some of these users have a new journal, have not confirmed their email address with Dreamwidth, or don't have any public posts on their journal, which means we have no way to contact you with questions! Please check for your username on the 2026 Writers list. If it's not there, fill out the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form (available at the linked post).

Looking for Access to the Dreamwidth Community?
If you want access to the GYWO Dreamwidth community (the main hub of Get Your Words Out) and have already pledged, please make sure your membership request has been approved or that you have accepted a member invitation sent by a moderator. You have access to the GYWO DW community if your name appears in the Members list (scroll to the bottom of the page and look under “Members”) and/or if you can see the post at this link.

If your name is not on the profile-generated Members list and if you cannot see the linked post, please check to see if you have an invitation to accept or request membership. (You also should have received an email from us with the same links.)

Looking for Access to the Discord Server?
Make sure you updated your server nickname to include your GYWO username. More information about our Discord server and changing your nickname is available here.

Pledging closes end of day on Jan 15, so please act quickly to make sure you have the access you want!

If you have not pledged,
you MUST PLEDGE before
requesting membership to the DW comm.
Pledge Form = Membership.
No Pledge Form? No membership.

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GYWO 2026 Pledges: Ten More Days

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:37:34 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

There are 10 DAYS to make your pledge for getyourwordsout 2026. We will not accept any pledges made after January 15. You MUST PLEDGE to be a member. (If you are listed on the 2026 Writers list, you’re good to go.)

To pledge, you must fill out the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form found on the Pledges & Requirements post. (Linked below!)

Have you pledged?
Read the Pledges & Requirements post before committing to your writing goals for the year & then fill out the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form (linked at the post!)

Have you requested membership to the Dreamwidth community?
Request Membership

Have you confirmed your pledge was processed?
Check the 2026 Writers list

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How's It Goin, YEM-edition

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 11:52:43 GMT

Posted by: hitokage

Hard to believe, but it's true: we're in the final stretch of 2025's Year-End Marathon. If my calculations are correct, this should put par at 24 days or 24 590 words, depending on your pledge type. Any way you look at it, that's a lot. If you're on par or ahead of the curve, congrats, you're amazing. If you've fallen behind, that's okay, too. You're trying and that also makes you amazing. Yes, even those who feel (rightly or wrongly) there is no way you can meet your pledge. Abuela is proud of all of you!

So as we enter this final stretch, how are things going? If you've hit your goal, are you going to keep going? If you haven't, do you have any strategies you intend to use to carve out writing time during this busy time of year? What can we do to help you, ahem, get your words out?

For myself, after (accidentally) hitting my goal in the first week of the month, I've let myself shift gears a bit to work on revising and rewriting, while also being very aware that the last half of this month was likely to be Very Tiring. Banking so many words in November definitely helped take the pressure off, but I'm going to keep at it for at least another week. For one thing, I've got some dangling ends I'd like to get settled before the new year!

Whether you're soaring ahead or trailing behind, the fact that you've tried at all is awesome. Writing is hard work! Writing in December is even harder! No matter how things have gone over the course of this marathon, I hope you've found it useful. And if you feel up for an even bigger challenge, pledging for 2026 is open! Pledging unlocks the full GYWO experience starting January 1st, so if you think you'd like to join us, we'd be happy to have you.

Whatever your holidays this busy season, we wish you the best. May your heart be full, your mind at peace, and your favorite beverage at the exactly right temperature.

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GYWO 2026 Promotion

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 15:57:00 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

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 in 2026 and you think they should too.

You can also recommend they follow us on Tumblr (gywo) & Bluesky (gywo.bsky.social) for writing advice, prompts, memes, and other great information to develop their writing life. (Our Tumblr and Bluesky accounts are open to the public.)

GetYourWordsOut: Year Eighteen!
Pledges & Requirements | getyourwordsout.net

( Promotion )

Thanks for sharing getyourwordsout!

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GYWO 2026: Pledges & Requirements

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 15:51:49 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

GYWO is BACK for 2026! We're starting our eighteenth year-long writing challenge with thirteen pledges to help you challenge yourself, achieve your writing goals, and build a writing life.

Keep in mind that even our smallest goals require a serious commitment throughout the year. While it’s okay for writers to be behind or even entirely miss their pledge goal, we want you to pick a pledge that will keep motivating you all year long. Before choosing your pledge, please take note of the few requirements we have of our members, and carefully consider which of the thirteen pledges you'd like to choose. You may choose only one pledge.

( Membership Requirements & Information )

( Pledge Types )

Pledging

If you pledged in a previous year and didn't meet your goal, quit, or were removed from the comm for missing check-ins, you are welcome to pledge again.

When choosing your pledge, consider your personal writing habits and what you find most motivating. Will hitting your word count goal early help propel you to keep writing through the remainder of 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? Are you already writing multiple days a week? Make sure the pledge you make is one that will motivate you. (If you need help deciding, please check out our post Choosing Your 2026 Pledge.)

To make your pledge, there are two steps to complete: Pledge & Request.

Step 1: Pledge
Complete the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form. You must provide (1) your email address, (2) your Dreamwidth or OpenID username, and (3) your 2026 pledge level.

Your email

Your Dreamwidth or OpenID

connected to Dreamwidth

Your Pledge Level

If you participated in GYWO previously under a different username than the one you plan to use this year, please take your best guess at your previous username—we track repeat members so we can see how the community has grown year to year.

Optionally, we request your Discord, Bluesky, and Tumblr usernames and your birth month for a monthly celebration post.

Any GYWO writer may join the GYWO Discord at any point during the active year—just follow the instructions once you join the server to receive full access.
For Bluesky, we only follow back GYWO writers who have provided their accounts for the current year.
On Tumblr we interact with accounts who ping or message us, but it's helpful to know if you're a current GYWO writer.
For birthday celebrations, we only include GYWO writers who have provided their birth month for the current year.

Reminders:

Step 2: Request
Once you have completed the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form, please request to join the Dreamwidth community if you are not already a member. We will approve memberships on January 1st (as we still have 2025 members scrambling to hit their goals!), and we'll hold you in the queue until then. You're also invited to use the link provided on the confirmation page to join our Discord server. Access roles are assigned starting on December 31, but it's a good idea to get yourself acclimated to our server rules before then.
If you are a current GYWO member or already have access to the GYWO Discord server, you won’t need to request membership. But it may be a good idea to confirm you can view Dreamwidth member-locked posts and see the full channel list on Discord.
If you are not planning to use Dreamwidth, let us know in the pledge form. You still need to sign up with a DW or OpenID account, but we won't hound you about joining the community. (But really, we strongly recommend it.)
If you are not planning to use Discord… you don't need to do anything, actually. But it is where we host writing sprints.

If you’re concerned we didn’t receive your pledge:

GYWO 2026 Writers

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 through January 15, 2026 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.

Got all that? Then it’s time to complete
the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form

If you still have questions, ask them here! But hopefully this post covers everything you need to know about what is required of members, what the pledge options are, and how to make your pledge. We hope to see your pledge soon!

FAQ
• If I’m a 2025 member, do I need to pledge? Do I need to request membership?
• Can I pledge if I previously quit the challenge, was removed for missed check-ins, or didn’t meet my goal?
• How do I change my pledge? What if I decide I'm not ready for GYWO this year?
• I participated before but can’t remember my previous username. What do I do?
• How do I track my pledge?
• What happens if I finish my pledge early?
• What happens if I don’t finish my pledge?
• Do I have to participate in the Dreamwidth community? Do I have to regularly check Dreamwidth?
• How do I get or retain membership on GYWO Discord?

If you want to share GYWO with your friends, feel free to snag one of our banners at the GYWO 2026 Promotion post.

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Tips for Getting Unstuck

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 19:36:57 GMT

Posted by: theemdash

Welcome again to everyone joining us for the Year-End Marathon and to everyone looking for a peek behind the curtain at GYWO. Each month volunteers post discussions about writing craft, life, and publishing. This rare public post is to give a taste of the full GYWO experience. We welcome you to interact, comment, and share your own experiences on the topic.

Tips for Getting Unstuck

No matter how much planning you do, there is always an opportunity for a writer to get stuck. Maybe your characters don’t agree with your plan, or you realize the plot twist is too obvious, or for whatever reason today this scene just doesn’t want to be written. Regardless of what’s actually going on, the bottom line is that you’re stuck in your writing and you need to not be stuck.

Let’s talk about some ways to apply a little grease and get your draft moving again.

( Tips for Getting Unstuck )

How do you go about getting unstuck while you’re drafting? Have you tried any of these strategies? And if you’re stuck right now and want to throw spaghetti at a wall, some of us will be around in the comments.

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Choosing Your GYWO 2026 Pledge

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 18:01:18 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

With GYWO 2026 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 2026 will be released around 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:
( Choosing Between Word Count and Habit )

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 2025.
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 2025.
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.

File > Make a Copy

Share & export > Make a Copy

File > Download

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 )
( Step Back on Word Counts )
( Keep Your Word Count Consistent )

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)

350 Days (Globetrotter)

Word Count Pledges

75K (Light)

150K (Modest)

200K (Basic)

250K (Moderate)

300K (Difficult)

350K (Herculean)

500K (Outrageous)

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 2026. Come back next week and follow the instructions in the Pledges & Requirements post to make a pledge for 2026.

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GYWO 2026

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 20:00:55 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

Pledging for GYWO 2026 opens Dec 12, 2025. To become a member for 2026 you will need to:

Read our 2026 Pledges & Requirements post. (Coming December 12.)
Make a pledge via the GYWO 2026 Pledge Form.
(optional) Request membership to the GYWO Dreamwidth community and/or GYWO Discord server. (Links to both are included in the Pledge Form.)
Have patience! New members for 2026 will be added to the community on January 1, 2026.

The community is manually moderated and most of our moderators are in GMT -5, so please bear with us and know we'll add you to the community (and post 2026 tracking materials) as soon as possible on January 1st.

Comments are disabled on this post so the mods can focus on getting 2026 materials prepared, which will likely answer many of your questions. If you have a burning question, start by checking out our website, or you can email gywomod at gmail. (You can DM or leave a comment on the gywomod journal, but an email usually gets a faster response).

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GYWO & YEM Writers Share: What Are You Working On?

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 15:13:43 GMT

Posted by: theemdash

If you're running around GYWO—whether you're a 2026 writer or just joining us for the Year-End Marathon—you've got a work in progress and we want to know about it. Comment to tell us a little about what you're working on (obviously only what you're comfortable sharing—please note this post is public), and read other comments to find out what everyone else is working on, too. If you find an idea you love, let that writer know you're excited about their work!

What Are You Working On?
Answer the questions below and/or include a few other fun or unique things about your WIP that you want to share.

Fandom or original work?
Working or file title?
What's your pitch, your vibes, or a major component or trope driving your story?
What are you looking forward to the most (a specific scene/moment, writing a twist, being DONE)?

One last reminder that this post is public to allow our YEM-only writers to participate, too, so make sure you only share what you feel comfortable sharing publicly.

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How's It Going YEMers?

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 00:21:35 GMT

Posted by: hitokage

Can you believe it? We are twenty days into our Year-End Marathon! That means we're roughly a third of the way through the challenge, for a par of 10 000 words or 10 days towards your YEM pledge. But whether you're on par or not, we'd love to hear how things are going for you. Your triumphs and your frustrations. Are the words flowing like water or does it feel more like time is slipping through your fingers? What can we do to help you reach your goal?

For myself, I've been struggling to get words into the project I was wanting to focus on this month. The desire is there, but bum glue has been in short supply. And then a whole new (and much shorter) project blossomed into my GYWO Scrivener project and oh look at that, words! 😅

If you're soaring ahead, great job! If you feel like you're falling behind, just remember this is a Marathon and we've still got a good ways to go. You could have zero days of writing and still make a daily writing pledge, so hang in there!

This is not a check-in post and participation is entirely voluntary. The official YEM check-in will happen on Discord at the end of the month, and while that is also entirely optional, we strongly recommend it as a way of supporting your writing habit.

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Establishing a Writing Routine

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:50:32 GMT

Posted by: theemdash

Welcome to everyone joining us for the Year-End Marathon and to everyone looking for a peek behind the curtain at GYWO. Each month volunteers post discussions about writing craft, life, and publishing. This rare public post is to give a taste of the full GYWO experience. We welcome you to interact, comment, and share your own experiences on the topic.

Establishing a Writing Routine

The idealized writing routine looks something like this:

make a cup of tea or coffee while getting in a creative mindset
sit down to free write with a fountain pen as a warmup
light a candle or incense to draw the muse and other creative spirits
put on the perfect music or silence, as needed
get comfortable and write 1,000 or 2,000 words in an hour or so

Mmm, sounds nice, doesn't it? That aesthetic set up is absolutely the ideal. It feels more writerly and like it’s what’s missing from our writing lives. If only we could free write with a fountain pen, light a candle, and be blessed by the muse with inspiration to write for an hour. If that, then we could be successful and productive writers.

But writing routines are not that idealized or consistent. Writing routines have to fit around real lives and incorporate personal quirks. Writing routines are not one-size-fits-all and they must be flexible so you can write on days when you’re busy, tired, or just not feeling it.

Writing routines won’t make you write, but they can help you find your way to words.

What Does a Real Writing Routine Look Like?

Probably the best way to figure out what writing routines look like is by examining an actual routine that works for someone. So, mine, heh. Let's talk about my writing routine on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the days when I write with a fairly steady schedule.

Three days a week, I meet with 2–3 members of my in-person writing group on Discord for a mid-day write-in.

Prep Time: My writing prep starts about an hour before when I eat lunch, take a break, and let my mind rest and switch tasks. I usually watch a TV show and play a phone game. I make sure to choose a show that won’t adversely affect my writing, specifically by making me want to watch the next episode, flail about it with a friend, or otherwise pull my thoughts away from writing.

I then check-in with the other writers who join me. This is when we confirm attendance or delays to our normal start time. Then I clean up from lunch, make tea, and open my files.

Hopefully I also have time to clean up my file from the previous writing session and get a grip on what I need to work on today, which usually includes rereading the last couple paragraphs in a scene or notes I made about what comes next. If I run out of time, I finish my prep in the first 5–10 minutes of our first sprint.

Writing: I have a desk in my home office where I write. Aside from my laptop and/or iPad (and various desk fidgets), I try to clear my desk except for my tea, phone, project notebook, and a set of colored pens. (Sometimes I clear my desk by setting things out of sight on the floor.)

I set the timer for our first sprint and get to work.

We usually write for three 20-minute sprints, giving about an hour of writing time over an hour-and-a-half period. We report what we worked on, complain about various things (including how mushy our brains are), and share pictures of our cats.

Wrap Up: By the end of the third sprint, I’m usually done writing for the day. If I’m really on a roll, I might continue long enough to finish a conversation, but if it feels like it will take longer than about 10 minutes, I jot some notes about what comes next and trust I’ll be able to pick up where I left off the next day.

At that point, writing time is done and I move on to other things I need to do with my day.

How Do You Make A Routine Happen?

The writing routine I described above happens in a group. Meeting with a group is a great way to establish a writing routine. When you make a plan to meet with others, you are more likely to show up than if you just tell yourself that you’re supposed to write at noon.

You know how I know that? Because the days of the week when I don’t write with other people, I don’t write on a schedule. I do write, but I fit it in wherever makes sense in my day, which means on a very busy day, I’m squeezing in words at the last possible second. (Not my best choice.)

Routines also happen when you take similar steps to get there. The whole “routine” part is that you have a consistent set of actions that lead you to writing. You may not need lunch + break + tea before writing, but a series of steps before writing that can become your pre-writing routine can help you get there.

You know how I know that? Most days if I follow lunch with tea, I sit down to write. My brain has associated mid-day tea with writing, so it’s become an easy way to get my brain to shift into the writing gear. (It’s also a way for me to tell my brain to shift into writing. If I want to write and have been dancing around it, if I make a cup of tea, it’s a short-cut to my brain being able to settle.)

The other Big Secret to a writing routine is figuring out what works for you. While tea and a writing group work best for me, maybe you need something different. Maybe your routine is:

Make Breakfast + Notebook to Freewrite
Take Shower + Let Hair Dry + Write 20 Minutes
Walk to Park + Eat Lunch + Write 15 Minutes
Pick Up Kids + Fix Snacks + Write While Helping with Homework
Everyone Else In Bed + Write Until Sleepy

Your routine can be whatever helps you get to writing, so figure out what works for you and is something you can achieve—whether that’s daily or a handful of times a week. Remember, routines can be adjusted for specific days (my MWF routine is different from other days) or you might have a routine for Busy Days that’s different from your routine for Extremely Busy Days. As long as you have your own secret to get you writing, you have a routine.

Think about what you did the last time you sat down to write, is that your writing routine? Do you think something might work better for you?

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Admin Post: Year-End Marathon 2025

Sat, 18 Oct 2025 17:24:26 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

At the end of the year, it can be tempting to give up on your writing goals. But giving up is not the Get Your Words Out way! We believe in writing. We believe in trying. We believe that any progress is good progress. So even if your big writing goals are out of reach, you can still reach a goal.

Let's set that new goal today.

Join us for the Year-End Marathon. And this is a special party, because we are inviting everyone!

Everyone—whether you're a current or previous GYWO member or have never even heard of this thing (is it a writing community? how do you pronounce "GYWO" anyway?)—EVERYONE is invited to join the 2025 GYWO writers in this marathon to the end of the year.

What Is the Year-End Marathon?

The Year-End Marathon begins Nov 1 and runs through Dec 31.

Make a pledge to write 15 Days each month (a total of 30 days) or 15,000 words each month (a total of 30,000 words).

Join other writers with the same goals on the GYWO Discord server in a set of channels exclusive to the YEM challenge where the moderators will be hosting special discussion topics and challenges for our YEM writers. YEM writers will also have access to GYWO writing sprints hosted on our Discord.

This year, we’re incorporating public, unlocked Dreamwidth discussion posts for you to participate in, as well as extra challenges and discussion posts on Bluesky, and a 30K leaderboard on Trackbear.

If you're new to GYWO, this can be a way to see if this community is right for you before our pledge drive for 2026 begins. And if you're a GYWO 2025 writer, this can be a chance to seize your goals and put in some concentrated effort at the end of the year so you can start 2026 on the right foot.

What Are the Requirements?

🤝 Like writers who sign up for the year-long GYWO challenge, you must have an account on Dreamwidth or through OpenID. GYWO usernames are based on Dreamwidth or OpenID usernames. New writers signing up for the Year-End Marathon will not have full access to the GYWO Dreamwidth community at this time, but there will be two unlocked discussion posts per month that YEM members may participate in. We hope you understand keeping our naming system consistent means the mod team doesn't have to sort duplicate usernames.

✍️ Write your words! The whole purpose of this challenge is to develop and maintain your writing life, so write something! All words and time counted toward your pledge progress must be your own work. Use of generative AI or passing off the work of a collaborator as your own is against the spirit of Get Your Words Out. See our website for an overview of what words count for the word count pledge and what activities count for a habit pledge.

🌈 Be a rainbow, not a pain-bow. We would love for you to participate in our Discord community and basically ask that you not be a jerk when doing so. Disrespect of the community and its members, along with hate speech, harassment, abuse, and endangerment may result in your removal from the community. We're pretty chill and ask that you be chill, too. (Also, if you have a problem with a member or find a conversation veering into uncomfortable territory, alert a moderator and we'll be on it as quick as can be.)

A monthly check-in specific to the Year-End Marathon will be posted for your own accountability, but attendance will not be taken and it is not a required part of your membership.
(Current GYWO writers—you're still responsible to check-in as part of your GYWO 2025 membership. Attendance is taken there, not on the Year-End Marathon check-in, so make sure to check in as usual.)

How Do I Participate?

To participate in the Year-End Marathon, complete the Year-End Marathon Pledge Form.

If you choose to join our Discord server, once your pledge has been processed, a moderator will assign you a pledge role to give you access to the YEM-exclusive area and writing sprints channel. Join other YEM writers to chat about the challenge, writing in general, and your writing life in particular.

On Discord: each week, moderators will post either a discussion topic or a writing activity for YEM writers. You can respond directly to the moderator as a reply or join in the wider discussion with other writers, depending on your comfort level.

On Bluesky: each week, moderators will post either a discussion question or writing challenge. Feel free to reply, quote post, tag us at getyourwordsout.bsky.social, or use the #gywo hashtag.

On Dreamwidth: twice a month, moderators will post discussion posts where you can talk about your progress and chat with fellow YEM participants.

All moderator-led engagement is crafted to support a wide range of writers, so whether you're writing fiction, nonfiction, or poetry or you engage in horror, romance, absurdism, or fanfic we do our best to find something to support your writing life.

✅To participate in the monthly check-in specific to the Year-End Marathon, you'll need to have access to the GYWO Discord server. The link to check in for the YEM challenge will only be posted on Discord. Check-in is optional but recommended.

Have you picked your pledge for the Year-End Marathon?
Remember, your choices are 15 Days per month (30 days total) or 15,000 Words per month (30,000 words total).

Pledging for the GYWO Year-End Marathon Ends Nov 7, 2025.

Pledge for the Year-End Marathon

If you have any questions, we're happy to answer them!
For more information about Get Your Words Out, please visit our website. Pledging for 2026 will open around December 12.

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Membership Closed

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 14:12:43 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

We have now closed pledging for GetYourWordsOut 2025. If you did not submit a completed 2025 GYWO Pledge Form or did not submit a registered Dreamwidth account or OpenID that can access Dreamwidth, you are not a member for 2025.

The GYWO moderators are thrilled to spend the next year writing with 827 writers.

Those who have come by too late, we appreciate your interest, and we hope that while you aren't able to join us officially, you'll make your own writing goals and achieve them. You’re welcome to subscribe to the community to keep a look out for 2026 news, or follow us on gywo.bsky.social or gywo for prompts, writing advice, and resources. Pledging for 2026 will open in December 2025.

Have a great year!

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Last Day for GYWO 2025 Pledges

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 13:39:33 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

Today is the ABSOLUTELY LAST DAY to make your pledge for getyourwordsout 2025. We will not accept any pledges or membership requests made after January 15—no excuses or exceptions. You MUST PLEDGE to be a member. (If you are listed on the 2025 Writers list, you’re good to go.)

PLEDGE! REQUEST MEMBERSHIP! PLEDGE!

Have you pledged?
Read the Pledges & Requirements post before committing to your writing goals for the year & then fill out the GYWO 2025 Pledge Form (linked at the post!)

Have you requested to join the Dreamwidth community?
Request to Join

Have you confirmed your pledge was processed?
Check the 2025 Writers list

After today you cannot make ANY further changes to your pledge or membership, so it's also the last day for second guessing and switching pledges.

If you're not sure if pledging has ended, a post announcing "Membership Closed" will be posted. You may pledge until that post goes up and the GYWO 2025 Pledge Form is deactivated on Jan 16.

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Membership PSA

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 13:39:43 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

All Writers: If you are not on the 2025 Writers list, we have not received your pledge. You MUST PLEDGE before requesting membership access to the DW community.

Check your email or DW inbox.
If there is a problem with your pledge, we have attempted to contact you. This private contact will have more information about what you need to do to be a GYWO 2025 Writer.

New to Dreamwidth?
There are some Dreamwidth users who requested membership, but we have not received a completed pledge form for those usernames. Some of these users have a new journal, have not confirmed their email address with Dreamwidth, or don't have any public posts on their journal, which means we have no way to contact you with questions! Please check for your username on the 2025 Writers list. If it's not there, fill out the GYWO 2025 Pledge Form (available at the linked post).

Looking for Access to the Dreamwidth Community?
If you want access to the GYWO Dreamwidth community (the main hub of Get Your Words Out) and have already pledged, please make sure your membership request has been approved or that you have accepted a member invitation sent by a moderator. You have access to the GYWO DW community if your name appears in the Members list (scroll to the bottom of the page and look under “Members”) and/or if you can see the post at this link.

If your name is not on the profile-generated Members list and if you cannot see the linked post, please check to see if you have an invitation to accept or request membership. (You also should have received an email from us with the same links.)

Looking for Access to the Discord Server?
Make sure you updated your server nickname to include your GYWO username. More information about our Discord server and changing your nickname is available here.

Pledging closes end of day on Jan 15, so please act quickly to make sure you have the access you want!

If you have not pledged,
you MUST PLEDGE before
requesting membership to the DW comm.
Pledge Form = Membership.
No Pledge Form? No membership.

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Affiliate & Writing Community Bump

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 16:06:17 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

GYWO is not just a community of writers, it is a community within a community of writing communities. (Say that ten times fast.) We want you to get your words out however you need to, including by joining and participating in other writing communities, challenges, and events.

The communities below are affiliates and friends who have supported GYWO over the years by allowing us to advertise in their communities.

If there’s a writing community you’d like to promote, feel free to leave a promo in the comments.

If you run a writing community and would like to affiliate, please let us know.

Descriptions taken from community user info or provided by a moderator

Active Affiliates & Friends
betaplease
Beta, please! is a community for writers and beta-readers of all fandoms and writing styles. Obscure fandoms and original fiction are also welcome!

dailyprompt
Prompts posted regularly. Comment with a drabble, fic, poetry, art or anything else inspired by the prompt. Fan and original content are accepted.

drabble_zone
This community is for people who enjoy writing 100 word drabbles and is open to all fandoms. There is a new challenge prompt every Saturday.

fandomweekly

fandomweekly is a multifandom weekly writing challenge community open to both fandom and original fictions, where participants write and submit a short story (1000 words or less) based on a given prompt. Readers vote at the end of each round for their favorite submissions to decide the winners. Each challenge has two unique elements: a Weekly Theme and a Bonus Goal to meet.

New challenges are posted every Wednesday!

fffc
The Froday Flash Fiction Challenge is a low-pressure community for all kinds of fanwork that can be found at LJ, DW and AO3. It's a place to get inspiration to do a little creative something each week. Everyone is welcome to participate. All media types accepted. All fandoms, pairings, ratings, genres, and languages are fair game, as is real person fiction. We also love original works.

ficlet_zone
A monthly multi-fandom fic writing community. All fic lengths are welcome.

genprompt_bingo
Gen Prompt Bingo is a low commitment multi-fandom, multi-media bingo challenge. Its aim is to provide bingo cards of gen-style prompts to be used as inspiration in creating fic, images, meta, fanmixes, vids or any other kind of fannish activities. Prompt lists are renewed at the start of December and April, and new cards can be claimed then even if a previous card has not been completed.

goals_on_dw
Find resources about making and keeping resolutions, pros and cons of setting them, ideas for resolutions, alternatives if traditional resolutions aren't your style, goal setting systems, and more.

rainbowfic
RainbowFic is an original fiction community built to encourage writing and act as home base for a community of authors. We provide lists of prompts, sorted by color, and special add-ons of style or content, to spark inspiration.

ushobwri
A support group for struggling writers of any genre who would like the support and encouragement of other struggling writers. There will be no judgments, no deadlines, no reason to justify your non-productivity.

writethisfanfic
A community to help you work on your fanfiction. We aim to provide support and resources for everyone.

Additional Affiliates & Writing Communities
12monthsofmurder
A year-long challenge where you choose a character and let him die each month of the year. Due to the nature of this challenge it is a 16+ challenge.

fan_flashworks

[Image: An array of 19 round achievement badges, with text that reads
"Put Yourself on a Deadline - Three themed challenges per month,
any fandom, any media, achievement badges optional - fan_flashworks"]

Based on old-style flashfiction comms, fan_flashworks is an all-fandoms multimedia flashworks community. Mods post a new prompt on the 1st, 10th, and 20th of each month; you make any kind of fanwork in response. Also, we have achievement badges.

No sign-ups. On-going. All welcome.

Please check out our rules and guidelines before you join in.

We have an associated community for discussion and creative brainstorming: ffw_social. (Posts there are locked, which means you have to join to see them.)

picture_prompt_fun
This community is for every writer who wants to have fun with picture prompts. If the weekly prompt doesn't appeal to you, you are free to choose one or more pictures from the archive. You can interpret the pictures in whatever way you like.

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GYWO 2025 Pledges: Ten More Days

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 14:23:28 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

There are 10 DAYS to make your pledge for getyourwordsout 2025. We will not accept any pledges made after January 15. You MUST PLEDGE to be a member. (If you are listed on the 2025 Writers list, you’re good to go.)

To pledge, you must fill out the GYWO 2025 Pledge Form found on the Pledges & Requirements post. (Linked below!)

Have you pledged?
Read the Pledges & Requirements post before committing to your writing goals for the year & then fill out the GYWO 2025 Pledge Form (linked at the post!)

Have you requested membership to the Dreamwidth community?
Request Membership

Have you confirmed your pledge was processed?
Check the 2025 Writers list

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GYWO 2024 Finishers

Sat, 04 Jan 2025 19:27:37 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

Now that the final numbers are in, we have one more post to wrap up GYWO 2024.

While we commend every writer who stuck with getyourwordsout through the entire year, we’d like to take a moment to celebrate the writers who didn’t just stick with the community but who also achieved their pledged goal.

Below the cut is a list of the writers who met or surpassed 100% of their pledge. Alongside their name we've listed either the percentage they achieved or the number of additional days they wrote and when they completed their pledge. Come celebrate these writers for completing their GYWO challenge! (If you want to check out the amazing word count and day count totals, see the 2024 Pledge Progress Spreadsheet or look at the community totals at the 2024 Progress page to see how much we wrote as a community.)

( GYWO 2024 Finishers )

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GYWO 2025 Promotion

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 01:50:06 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

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 in 2025 and you think they should too.

You can also recommend they follow us on Tumblr (gywo) & Bluesky (gywo.bsky.social) for writing advice, prompts, memes, and other great information to develop their writing life. (Our Tumblr and Bluesky accounts are open to the public.)

GetYourWordsOut: Year Seventeen!
Pledges & Requirements | getyourwordsout.net

( Promotion )

Thanks for sharing getyourwordsout!

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GYWO 2025: Pledges & Requirements

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 01:39:48 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

GYWO is BACK for 2025! We're starting our seventeenth year-long writing challenge with thirteen pledges to help you challenge yourself, achieve your writing goals, and build a writing life.

Keep in mind that even our smallest goals require a serious commitment throughout the year. While it’s okay for writers to be behind or even entirely miss their pledge goal, we want you to pick a pledge that will keep motivating you all year long. Before choosing your pledge, please take note of the few requirements we have of our members, and carefully consider which of the thirteen pledges you'd like to choose. You may only choose one pledge.

( Membership Requirements & Information )

( Pledge Types )

Pledging

If you pledged in a previous year and didn't meet your goal, quit, or were removed from the comm for missing check-ins, you are welcome to pledge again.

When choosing your pledge, consider your personal writing habits and what you find most motivating. Will hitting your word count goal early help propel you to keep writing through the remainder of 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? Are you already writing multiple days a week? Make sure the pledge you make is one that will motivate you. (If you need help deciding, please check out our post Choosing Your 2025 Pledge.)

To make your pledge, there are two steps to complete: Pledge & Request.

Step 1: Pledge
Complete the GYWO 2025 Pledge Form. You must provide (1) your email address, (2) your Dreamwidth or OpenID username, and (3) your 2025 pledge level.

Your email

Your Dreamwidth or OpenID

Your Pledge Level

Any GYWO writer may join the GYWO Discord at any point during the active year—just follow the instructions once you join the server to receive full access.
For Bluesky, we only follow back GYWO writers who have provided their accounts for the current year.
On Tumblr we interact with accounts who ping or message us, but it's helpful to know if you're a current GYWO writer.
For birthday celebrations, we only include GYWO writers who have provided their birth month for the current year.

Reminders:

Step 2: Request
Once you have completed the GYWO 2025 Pledge Form, please request to join the Dreamwidth community if you are not already a member. We will approve memberships on January 1st (as we still have 2024 members scrambling to hit their goals!), and we'll hold you in the queue until then. You're also invited to use the link provided on the confirmation page to join our Discord server. Access roles are assigned starting on December 31, but it's a good idea to get yourself acclimated to our server rules before then.
If you are a current GYWO member or already have access to the GYWO Discord server, you won’t need to request membership. But it may be a good idea to confirm you can view Dreamwidth member-locked posts and see the full channel list on Discord.
If you are not planning to use Dreamwidth, let us know in the pledge form. You still need to sign up with a DW or OpenID account, but we won't hound you about joining the community. (But really, we strongly recommend it.)
If you are not planning to use Discord… you don't need to do anything, actually. But it is where we host writing sprints.

If you’re concerned we didn’t receive your pledge:

GYWO 2025 Writers

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 through January 15, 2025 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.

Got all that? Then it’s time to complete
the GYWO 2025 Pledge Form

If you still have questions, ask them here! But hopefully this post covers everything you need to know about what is required of members, what the pledge options are, and how to make your pledge. We hope to see your pledge soon!

FAQ
• If I’m a 2024 member, do I need to pledge? Do I need to request membership?
• Can I pledge if I previously quit the challenge, was removed for missed check-ins, or didn’t meet my goal?
• How do I change my pledge? What if I decide I'm not ready for GYWO this year?
• I participated before but can’t remember my previous username. What do I do?
• How do I track my pledge?
• What happens if I finish my pledge early?
• What happens if I don’t finish my pledge?
• Do I have to participate in the Dreamwidth community? Do I have to regularly check Dreamwidth?
• How do I get or retain membership on GYWO Discord?

If you want to share GYWO with your friends, feel free to snag one of our banners at the GYWO 2025 Promotion post.

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Choosing Your GYWO 2025 Pledge

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 13:31:56 GMT

Posted by: 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:
( Choosing Between Word Count and Habit )

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.

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!

File > Make a Copy

Share & export > Make a Copy

File > Download

Share & export > Save as…

Habit Pledges

120 Days (Backpacker)

180 Days (Excursionist)

240 Days (Explorer)

300 Days (Adventurer)

350 Days (Globetrotter)

Word Count Pledges

75K (Light)

150K (Modest)

200K (Basic)

250K (Moderate)

300K (Difficult)

350K (Herculean)

500K (Outrageous)

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.

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GYWO 2025

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 21:57:57 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

Pledging for GYWO 2025 opens Dec 12, 2024. To become a member for 2025 you will need to:

Read our 2025 Pledges & Requirements post. (Coming December 12.)
Make a pledge via the GYWO 2025 Pledge Form.
(optional) Request membership to the GYWO Dreamwidth community and/or GYWO Discord server. (Links to both are included in the Pledge Form.)
Have patience! New members for 2025 will be added to the community on January 1, 2025.

The community is manually moderated and most of our moderators are in GMT -5, so please bear with us and know we'll add you to the community (and post 2025 tracking materials) as soon as possible on January 1st.

Comments are disabled on this post so the mods can focus on getting 2025 materials prepared, which will likely answer many of your questions. If you have a burning question, start by checking out our website, or you can email gywomod at gmail. (You can DM or leave a comment on the gywomod journal, but an email usually gets a faster response).

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Year-End Marathon 2024

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 15:28:14 GMT

Posted by: gywomod

At the end of the year, it can be tempting to give up on your writing goals. But giving up is not the Get Your Words Out way! We believe in writing. We believe in trying. We believe that any progress is good progress. So even if your big writing goals are out of reach, you can still reach a goal.

Let's set that new goal today.

Join us for the Year-End Marathon. And this is a special party because we are inviting everyone!

Everyone—whether you're a current or previous GYWO member or have never even heard of this thing (is it a writing community? how do you pronounce "GYWO" anyway?)—EVERYONE is invited to join the 2024 GYWO writers in this marathon to the end of the year.

What Is the Year-End Marathon?

The Year-End Marathon begins Nov 1 and runs through Dec 31.

Make a pledge to write 15 Days each month (a total of 30 days) or 15,000 words each month (a total of 30K words).

Join other writers with the same goals on the GYWO Discord server in a set of channels exclusive to the YEM challenge where the moderators will be hosting special discussion topics and challenges for our YEM writers.

YEM writers will also have access to GYWO writing sprints hosted on our Discord.

If you're new to GYWO, this can be a way to see if this community is right for you before our pledge drive for 2025 begins. And if you're a GYWO 2024 writer, this can be a chance to seize your goals and put in some concentrated effort at the end of the year so you can start 2025 on the right foot.

What Are the Requirements?

🤝 Like writers who sign up for the year-long GYWO challenge, you must have an account on Dreamwidth or through OpenID. GYWO usernames are based on Dreamwidth or OpenID usernames. Writers signing up for the Year-End Marathon will not have full access to the GYWO Dreamwidth community at this time, but we hope you understand keeping our naming system consistent means the mod team doesn't have to sort duplicate usernames.

✍️ Write your words! The whole purpose of this challenge is to develop and maintain your writing life, so write something! All words and time counted toward your pledge progress must be your own work. Use of generative AI or passing off the work of a collaborator as your own is against the spirit of Get Your Words Out.

🌈 Be a rainbow, not a pain-bow. We would love for you to participate in our Discord community and basically ask that you not be a jerk when doing so. Disrespect of the community and its members, along with hate speech, harassment, abuse, and endangerment may result in your removal from the community. We're pretty chill and ask that you be chill, too. (Also, if you have a problem with a member or find a conversation veering into uncomfortable territory, alert a moderator and we'll be on it as quick as can be.)

A monthly check-in specific to the Year-End Marathon will be posted for your own accountability, but attendance will not be taken and it is not a required part of your membership.
(Current GYWO writers—you're still responsible to check-in as part of your GYWO 2024 membership. Attendance is taken there, not on the Year-End Marathon check-in, so make sure to check in as usual.)

How Do I Participate?

To participate in the Year-End Marathon, complete the Year-End Marathon Pledge Form and join the GYWO Discord server.

Once your pledge has been processed, a moderator will assign you a pledge role to give you access to the YEM exclusive area and writing sprints channel. Join other YEM writers to chat about the challenge, writing in general, and your writing life in particular.

Each week moderators will post either a discussion topic or a writing activity for YEM writers. You can respond directly to the moderator as a reply or join in the wider discussion with other writers, depending on your comfort level.

All moderator-led engagement is crafted to support a wide range of writers, so whether you're writing fiction, nonfiction, or poetry or you engage in horror, romance, absurdism, or fanfic we do our best to find something to support your writing life.

✅ To participate in the monthly check-in specific to the Year-End Marathon, you'll need to have access to the GYWO Discord server. The link to check in for the YEM challenge will only be posted on Discord.

Have you picked your pledge for the Year-End Marathon?
Remember, your choices are 15 Days per month (30 days total) or 15,000 Words per month (30K words total).

Pledging for the GYWO Year-End Marathon Ends Nov 7, 2024.

Pledge for the Year-End Marathon

If you have any questions, we're happy to answer them!
For more information about Get Your Words Out, please visit our website. Pledging for 2025 will open around December 12.

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