It's time for my annual pitch to encourage writers to join getyourwordsout.

While there are a lot of amazing reasons to join, including writing prompts, games, and sprints; space to discuss problems and roadblocks or celebrate a success; and encouragement to prioritize writing year round, the one I think is most important for 2025 is that GYWO is a compassionate community that encourages you to create no matter who wants you to stop.

Let's be honest, next year is going to be rough, and if you want to find the motivation to keep creating under all that pressure, you will need a support group. GYWO wants to be that support group for writers. We focus on mental and physical health alongside the writing process, have space for writers dealing with chronic illness, and provide tools to assist writers who need a break from accountability, specifically in excused absences, a flexible late-check-in policy, and a bottom-line rule that hitting your goal isn't as important as continuing to write.

GYWO fits well with other writing communities, challenges, and goals, as our goal is to get you to write. So whatever else you need to do to encourage that is fine in our books. (Unless it's AI, that is against the spirit of GYWO. You gotta write your own words.)

If that sounds like it will be useful for you, read more about the pledges and requirements at our community.


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

Pledging is open through January 15. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

It is no exaggeration to say that GYWO changed my life and I am eager to continue reaching out to help support other writers so it can change you, too.

For more information:
getyourwordsout.net
getyourwordsout
🦋gywo.bsky.social
gywo
Also on Discord!

I LIVE. Or I at least live to post about getyourwordsout once a year.


[img: notebook on wooden desktop with "GYWO 2022"
printed in large white letters with a black shadow. under that,
"writing decathlon" in handwritten white letters with a black shadow.]
GetYourWordsOut: Year Fourteen!
Pledges & Requirements | getyourwordsout.net

If you don't know, or need a reminder, GYWO is a community dedicated to helping you build a writing life. GYWO encourages writers to prioritize their writing year round (instead of just for NaNoWriMo or some other deadline). GYWO includes support for writers though challenges, prompts, and writing sprints, and through being a forum where writers can discuss problems and roadblocks or celebrate a success.

Writers choose between eight Word Count Pledges and four Habit Pledges.

• The Word Count Pledges track your word counts and range from tracking 75K words to 1M words.
• The Habit Pledges track the number of days you work on writing activities and range from tracking 120 days to 350 days.

You can read more about both pledge types at the Pledges & Requirements post or on the website.

If you want to strengthen your dedication to writing, you should sign up. Whether or not you meet your pledge goal is irrelevant as long as you are writing. GYWO kept me writing during life trauma and depression, when it would have been easy to give up or forget about writing entirely. I cannot emphasize enough how much GYWO has impacted and changed my writing life. I wouldn't be the writer or person I am today if I hadn't been organizing this community for the last thirteen years.

Pledging is open through January 17. Look over the membership requirements and then follow the link and complete the GYWO 2022 Pledge Form. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

Please let your writer friends know about the community!

For more information:
getyourwordsout.net
getyourwordsout
gywo
gywo
Also on Discord!

It's that time of year. When the weather gets theoretically cooler, peppermint fills the air, and getyourwordsout opens for its annual membership drive. Friends, I have been running this community over a decade and the joy I get from helping writers never abates.

Also, like, seriously, this community literally changed my life.


[img: notebook and pen on wooden desktop with "GYWO 2020"
printed in large white letters with a black shadow. under that,
"writing decathlon" in handwritten white letters with a black shadow.]
GetYourWordsOut: Year Twelve!
Pledges & Requirements | getyourwordsout.net

If you don't know, or need a reminder, GYWO is a community dedicated to helping you build a writing life. GYWO encourages writers to prioritize their writing year round (instead of just for NaNoWriMo or some other deadline). GYWO includes support for writers though challenges, prompts, and word wars, and through being a forum where writers can discuss problems and roadblocks or celebrate a success.

Writers choose between seven Word Count Pledges and three Habit Pledges.

• The Word Count Pledges track your word counts and range from tracking 75K words to 500K words.
• The Habit Pledges track the number of days you work on writing activities and range from tracking 120 days to 350 days.

You can read more about both pledge types at the Pledges & Requirements post or on the website.

If you want to strengthen your dedication to writing, you should sign up. Whether or not you meet your pledge goal is irrelevant as long as you are writing. GYWO kept me writing during life trauma and depression, when it would have been easy to give up or forget about writing entirely. I cannot emphasize enough how much GYWO has impacted and changed my writing life. (And it's not just me, over the years so many writers have told me how GYWO helped them change their writing lives, and I am so grateful to every person who has shared their story with me.)

Pledging is open through January 15. Look over the membership requirements and then follow the link and complete the GYWO 2020 Pledge Form. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

Please let your writer friends know about the community!

For more information:
getyourwordsout.net
getyourwordsout
gywo
gywo

It's time for my annual post about getyourwordsout. I'm super excited about this year because I think we're likely to break a major milestone in membership and I am stoked. Also, THIS IS YEAR 11? I'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR A DECADE????


[img: notebook and pen on wooden desktop with "GYWO 2019"
printed in large white letters with a black shadow. under that,
"writing decathlon" in handwritten white letters with a black shadow.]
GetYourWordsOut: Year Eleven!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

If you don't know, or need a reminder, GYWO is a community dedicated to helping you build a writing life. The idea was to encourage writers to prioritize their writing year round (instead of just for NaNoWriMo or some other deadline). GYWO includes support for writers though challenges, prompts, and word wars, and through being a forum where writers can discuss problems and roadblocks or celebrate a success.

This year there are seven Word Count Pledges and three Habit Pledges.

• The Word Count Pledges track your word counts and range from tracking 75K words to 500K words.
• The Habit Pledges track the number of days you work on writing activities and range from tracking 120 days to 350 days.

You can read more about both pledge types at the Pledges & Requirements post or on the website.

If you want to strengthen your dedication to writing, you should sign up. Whether or not you meet your pledge goal is irrelevant as long as you are writing. GYWO kept me writing during life trauma and depression, when it would have been easy to give up or forget about writing entirely. I cannot emphasize enough how much GYWO has impacted and changed my writing life. (And it's not just me, over the years so many writers have told me how GYWO helped them change their writing lives.)

Sign-ups are open through January 15. Look over the membership requirements and then follow the directions to leave a pledge comment and request membership. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

Please let your writer friends know about the community!

For more information:
getyourwordsout.net
getyourwordsout
gywo
gywo

It's time for my annual post about getyourwordsout. And this year it's a very special post because we're starting our TENTH year and we're going 10 for 10, which means this year we have 10 pledge levels, three of which don't involve counting words.


[img: notebook and pen on wooden desktop with "GYWO 2018"
printed in large white letters with a black shadow. under that,
"writing decathlon" in handwritten white letters with a black shadow.]
GetYourWordsOut: Year Ten!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

If you don't know, or need a reminder, GYWO is a community dedicated to helping you build a writing life. The idea was to encourage writers to prioritize their writing year round (instead of just for NaNoWriMo or some other deadline). GYWO includes support for writers though challenges, prompts, and word wars, and through being a forum where writers can discuss problems and roadblocks or celebrate a success.

This year there are seven Word Count Pledges and three Habit Pledges.

• The Word Count Pledges track your word counts and range from tracking 75K words to 500K words.
• The Habit Pledges track the number of days you work on writing activities and range from tracking 120 days to 350 days.

You can read more about both pledge types at the Pledges & Requirements post or on the website.

If you want to strengthen your dedication to writing, you should sign up. Whether or not you meet your pledge goal is irrelevant as long as you are writing. GYWO kept me writing during life trauma and depression, when it would have been easy to give up or forget about writing entirely. I cannot emphasize enough how much GYWO has impacted and changed my writing life. (And it's not just me, over the years so many writers have told me how GYWO helped them change their writing lives.)

Sign-ups are open through January 15. Look over the membership requirements and then follow the directions to leave your pledge and request membership. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

Please let your writer friends know about the community!

For more information:
getyourwordsout.net
getyourwordsout
gywo
gywo

Since I'm actually using DW now, and since I've picked up and reconnected with many people, and since we're coming up on the sign-up deadline (and since I'd love to have more SG-writers in my writing comm), I figured I'd give one final mention of getyourwordsout.

GYWO is a community dedicated to encouraging you to write. It's open for pro writers, fan writers, hobbyists, novelists, poets—basically anyone who wants to write. In addition to the main word count challenge, there is additional support though monthly challenges, prompts, word wars, pep talks, craft discussions, and more.

This will be my NINTH YEAR running GYWO, and aside from SG-1 fandom, it's my favorite thing based on LJ/DW. While there is an emphasis on word count, I'm more interested in writers making the effort, and well, since I run it, it all trickles down as support.

Sign-ups are open through January 15. Look over the membership requirements and then follow the directions to leave your pledge and request membership. If you have general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.


[img: notebook paper with "GYWO 2017" printed in large black letters with a blue
shadow. under that, "writing decathlon" in handwritten black letters with an
orange shadow. printed at the bottom in black is "sign up dec. 14 - jan. 15"]
GetYourWordsOut: Year Nine!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

GYWO is also on Livejournal, Twitter, and Tumblr.

It's time for my annual plug for one of my all-time favorite communities, getyourwordsout.


[img: notebook paper with "GYWO 2017" printed in large black letters with a blue
shadow. under that, "writing decathlon" in handwritten black letters with an
orange shadow. printed at the bottom in black is "sign up dec. 14 - jan. 15"]
GetYourWordsOut: Year Nine!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

GYWO is a community dedicated to helping you build a writing life. The idea was based around encouraging writers to write every month instead of just in a push for NaNo, a Big Bang, or some other event/story call. GYWO has grown to include more support for writers though challenges, prompts, and word wars, and through being a forum where writers can discuss problems and roadblocks or celebrate a success.

If you want to strengthen your dedication to writing, you should sign up. Whether or not you meet the writing goal is irrelevant as long as you are writing. I missed my goal 4 years running, but I was writing! Even during life trauma and depression, GYWO kept me writing something and it's made it easier to get back on track.

GYWO has a presence on Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Twitter, and Tumblr, so we're pretty much everywhere you want to be on the internet.

Sign-ups are open now through January 15. Look over the membership requirements and then follow the directions to leave your pledge and request membership. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

Please let your writer friends know about the community!

It's time for my annual public post in which I plug one of my favorite communities, getyourwordsout. (And by "time," I mean that literally since I posted a similar post on Dec 18 last year.)


GetYourWordsOut: Year Eight!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

GYWO is a community dedicated to helping you build a writing life. The idea was based around encouraging writers to write every month instead of just in a push for NaNo, a Big Bang, or some other event/story call. GYWO has grown to include more support for writers though the challenges, prompts, and word wars, and through being a forum where writers can discuss problems and roadblocks or even celebrate a success.

If you want to strengthen your dedication to writing, you should sign up. Whether or not you meet the writing goal is irrelevant as long as you are writing. I haven't met my goal in the past 4 years, but I'm writing! Even during life trauma and depression, GYWO kept me writing something and it's made it easier to get back on track.

GYWO has a presence on Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Twitter, and Tumblr, so we're pretty much everywhere you want to be on the internet.

Sign-ups are open now through January 20. Look over the membership requirements and then follow the directions to leave your pledge and request membership. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

Please let your writer friends know about the community!

It's time for my annual public post in which I plug one of my favorite communities, getyourwordsout. (And by "time," I mean that literally since I posted a similar post on Dec 18 last year.)


GetYourWordsOut: Year Eight!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

GYWO is a community dedicated to helping you build a writing life. The idea was based around encouraging writers to write every month instead of just in a push for NaNo, a Big Bang, or some other event/story call. GYWO has grown to include more support for writers though the challenges, prompts, and word wars, and through being a forum where writers can discuss problems and roadblocks or even celebrate a success.

If you want to strengthen your dedication to writing, you should sign up. Whether or not you meet the writing goal is irrelevant as long as you are writing. I haven't met my goal in the past 4 years, but I'm writing! Even during life trauma and depression, GYWO kept me writing something and it's made it easier to get back on track.

GYWO has a presence on Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Twitter, and Tumblr, so we're pretty much everywhere you want to be on the internet.

Sign-ups are open now through January 20. Look over the membership requirements and then follow the directions to leave your pledge and request membership. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

Please let your writer friends know about the community!

It's time for my annual public post in which I plug one of my favorite communities, getyourwordsout. I'm not just a moderator, I'm also a client!


GetYourWordsOut: Year Seven!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

GYWO is a community dedicated to helping you build a writing life. Its mere presence on your flist can be a reminder to write, though the challenges, prompts, and word wars can certainly offer further incentive. GYWO is also a place where you can go to discuss problems and roadblocks you're having with your writing or to celebrate a success!

If you want to strengthen your dedication to writing, you should sign up. Whether or not you meet the writing goal is irrelevant as long as you are writing.

GYWO has a presence on Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Twitter, and Tumblr, so we're pretty much everywhere you want to be on the internet.

Sign-ups are open now through January 20. Look over the membership requirements and then follow the directions to leave your pledge and request membership. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

Please let your writer friends know about the community!

It's time for my annual public post in which I plug one of my favorite communities, getyourwordsout. I'm not just a moderator, I'm also a client!


GetYourWordsOut: Year Seven!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

GYWO is a community dedicated to helping you build a writing life. Its mere presence on your flist can be a reminder to write, though the challenges, prompts, and word wars can certainly offer further incentive. GYWO is also a place where you can go to discuss problems and roadblocks you're having with your writing or to celebrate a success!

If you want to strengthen your dedication to writing, you should sign up. Whether or not you meet the writing goal is irrelevant as long as you are writing.

GYWO has a presence on Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Twitter, and Tumblr, so we're pretty much everywhere you want to be on the internet.

Sign-ups are open now through January 20. Look over the membership requirements and then follow the directions to leave your pledge and request membership. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

Please let your writer friends know about the community!

I have done the crazy thing again and am ONCE MORE modding the massive and addictive getyourwordsout for 2014. I've done the even crazier thing and have expanded the community to allow members to sign-up and participate wholly on Dreamwidth, and we'll be posting/reblogging/retweeting prompts, challenges, and writing and publishing information on the GYWO Tumblr and GYWO Twitter.

Suffice to say, this is our biggest year ever.


GetYourWordsOut: Year Six!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

I know folks are often afraid of our pledge levels, or get discouraged early thinking about the possibility of not hitting the goal, but I would like to suggest that the only failure is never trying. GYWO is a lot more than just hitting a word count. It's about being part of a community of writers, making a commitment to writing, and aiming towards creating a writing life. If you can get in the mindset that trying is just as important as succeeding, I really think you'll get something important out of GYWO. I have a lot of writers among my friends, and I hope some of you who haven't tried GYWO before—or who have but haven't been back for awhile—will consider this, consider that this year is different from last, and that you'll sign up for 2014. (And if you already have a consistent writing life, consider signing up to help those of us who are still figuring it out! We need experienced writers, too!)

Sign-ups are open now through January 20. Please look over the membership requirements and then follow the directions to leave your pledge and request membership. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

I have done the crazy thing again and am ONCE MORE modding the massive and addictive getyourwordsout for 2014. I've done the even crazier thing and have expanded the community to allow members to sign-up and participate wholly on Dreamwidth, and we'll be posting/reblogging/retweeting prompts, challenges, and writing and publishing information on the GYWO Tumblr and GYWO Twitter.

Suffice to say, this is our biggest year ever.


GetYourWordsOut: Year Six!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

I know folks are often afraid of our pledge levels, or get discouraged early thinking about the possibility of not hitting the goal, but I would like to suggest that the only failure is never trying. GYWO is a lot more than just hitting a word count. It's about being part of a community of writers, making a commitment to writing, and aiming towards creating a writing life. If you can get in the mindset that trying is just as important as succeeding, I really think you'll get something important out of GYWO. I have a lot of writers among my friends, and I hope some of you who haven't tried GYWO before—or who have but haven't been back for awhile—will consider this, consider that this year is different from last, and that you'll sign up for 2014. (And if you already have a consistent writing life, consider signing up to help those of us who are still figuring it out! We need experienced writers, too!)

Sign-ups are open now through January 20. Please look over the membership requirements and then follow the directions to leave your pledge and request membership. If you have any general questions, you can ask them at the linked post, but I'm also happy to discuss personal concerns here.

I'm drastically changing up the check-ins at getyourwordsout for 2014 and would like to do some testing before January to hopefully work some of the kinks out. You don't need to be a member of the community, I just need responses! If you have a moment, please click the link below and complete the check-in (you can use whatever word count you like!). To ensure that I can work the kinks out, also reply here with a comment that includes the following information:

I checked in!
Device: Computer/tablet/mobile
Browser & Version: (old/newest is okay if you don't know the version)
Comments: Please leave any comments you have about the form; if something isn't clear or if you had a problem.

Getting a reply here with a comment will let me know if any responses get eaten, so please make sure that you fill out the Test Check-in AND leave a comment here.

2014 Test Check-in

Thank you for your help!

PLEDGING IS NOW OPEN!
Pledging for getyourwordsout 2013 is open until January 20. This will very likely be the last year. GYWO has been a boost to my productivity and motivation for the last four years, but as a moderator it's also been considerably time-consuming and exhausting. If you've ever been tempted by the challenge, now is the year to sign up!

Click on the banner or go straight to the link below for Pledges & Requirements and check out what GYWO is all about. I hope you'll be writing with me in 2013!


GetYourWordsOut: One Last Time (Probably)!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

PLEDGING IS NOW OPEN!
Pledging for getyourwordsout 2012 is open until the end of the year, so make a decision soon. GYWO has been a boost to my productivity for three years and I can vouch for it as a motivational tool to actually write.

Click on the banner or go straight to the link below for Pledges & Requirements and check out what GYWO is all about. I hope you'll be writing with me in 2012!


GetYourWordsOut: Back for a 4th Year!
Pledges & Requirements | GYWO.net

getyourwordsout 2011 sign-ups are officially open!

Whether you've been eying the community all year, or have never heard of getyourwordsout, allow me to briefly explain what it entails for 2011.

getyourwordsout is a year long writing challenge designed to encourage writers to write more consistently, on a day by day basis rather than just when the muse feels like showing up. There are 5 pledge levels this year—150K, 200K, 250K, 300K, and 350K. Words can count for any writing projects you're writing in 2011, so long as those words were written within the calendar year. There are few exceptions to this and our word count guidelines are fairly straight-forward and available on our website

There are 3 participation requirements if you join (aside from trying to make your goal):

• All members must participate in the monthly check-ins. Each month members provide their current year-to-date (YTD) totals to the moderators. You will only ever be required to provide numbers; sharing what is written is completely optional.


• At the March check-in, members must have written some number of words for their goal.


• At the June check-in, members must have written at least 10% of their goal.

If a member misses 3 check-ins, you'll get the ol' boot because after three, it usually means someone has quit writing, so there's no point in us tracking a lack of progress.

We do make it kind of easy to check-in, though—by doing it at the same time every month and having a trackable tag—and we'll send up to 4PM reminders over the course of the year! We really do want people to hang around!

If all of this is sounds good, head over to read the Pledges & Requirements in full, and then make a pledge (how to make a pledge is at the linked post). Make sure you pledge before you request to join the community; we won't accept members who haven't pledged first.

getyourwordsout getyourwordsout getyourwordsout

Please do not advertise for this at communities. Thanks!