Get Your Words Out

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.

Today is the ABSOLUTELY LAST DAY to make your pledge for getyourwordsout 2024. 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 2024 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 2024 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 2024 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 2024 Pledge Form is deactivated on Jan 16.

GYWO is BACK for 2024! We're starting our sixteenth year-long writing challenge with twelve 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 twelve 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 2024 Pledge.)

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

Step 1: Pledge
Complete the GYWO 2024 Pledge Form. You must provide (1) your email address, (2) your Dreamwidth or OpenID username, and (3) your 2024 pledge level.

Your email will be added to a GYWO newsletter mailing list. This monthly newsletter will include a link to the monthly check-in and brief community news. Your email is also the primary contact for moderator questions and reminders throughout the year. Your email address will never be shared without your explicit permission.

Your Dreamwidth or OpenID will allow you access to this community where you will find discussions and support, writing challenges and games, and more. Members are not required to participate in the community (but we hope you will). This username is your official GYWO username and will be used at each check-in to identify who you are in our database.

Your Pledge Level is your goal for the year. Even if you exceed your pledge, you’ll identify your official pledge level at each check-in.

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. If you plan to participate on our Discord server, you must provide your username to gain or retain access for 2024. Any information not provided for the current year, we assume means you no longer wish to participate with GYWO on that service.

Reminders: Sign up for only ONE pledge.
Sign up with only ONE account.
You may sign up using Dreamwidth or OpenID.
You may use a fic/writing journal instead of your personal one.
If you have previously participated under a different username, please let us know so we can track our repeat members.

Step 2: Request
Once you have completed the GYWO 2024 Pledge Form, please request to join the community if you are not already a member. We will approve memberships on January 1st (as we still have 2023 members scrambling to hit their goals!), and we'll hold you in the queue until then.
If you are a current member, you won’t need to request as you are already a member of the community.
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’re concerned we didn’t receive your pledge:

The GYWO 2024 Pledge Form will automatically send you an email confirmation of your pledge. Additionally, we will be updating the GYWO 2024 Writers page on the website as new members are processed. If you don’t receive an email and your name isn’t added to the 2024 Writers list, email gywomod@gmail.com. Please give us at least twenty-four hours before inquiring about your status. (Over the Christmas holiday we will not be processing pledges, so please check back on Dec 27th.)

IMPORTANT: Anyone requesting to join the community who has not made a pledge will not be added. To ensure you are not left out, make your pledge first, then request to join.


You have through January 15, 2024 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 2024 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 2023 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 2024 Promotion post.

Sign-ups for GYWO 2024 open the week of Dec 11, 2023. To become a member for 2024 you will need to:

1. Read our 2024 Pledges & Requirements post. (Coming December 12.)
2. Make a pledge via the GYWO 2024 Pledge Form.
3. (optional) Request membership to the GYWO Dreamwidth community. (Please note that you must complete the Pledge Form first.)
4. Have patience! New members for 2024 will be added to the community on January 1, 2024.

The community is manually moderated and most of our moderators are in GMT -4, so please bear with us and know we'll add you to the community (and post 2024 tracking materials) as soon as possible on January 1st.



Comments are disabled on this post so the mods can focus on getting 2024 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).