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!

As I was looking through my most recent posts, I found I last completed this fanfic review meme in 2019 and decided, why not? I might as well recap the last 3 years of fanfic.

( The Stats )

Stories written in:
Stories listed by the month in which they were posted.
💙 author's recommendation

( 2020 )

( 2021 )

( 2022 )

( Thank You Betas, Looking Back, and Favorites )

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!

I pulled this meme from 2008 because I ACTUALLY POSTED MULTIPLE FANFICS LAST YEAR??? It's crazy, honestly.

( The Stats )

( Stories By Month )

( Thank You Betas, Looking Back, and Favorites )

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.

Sign-ups for getyourwordsout 2010 are now open! For those unaware, getyourwordsout is a year-long writing challenge. You sign up with a pledge to write a certain number of words and then write to that goal all year.

This year we have 6 pledge levels—single-project pledges at 100K and 150K, and multi-project pledges at 200K, 250K, 300K, and 350K. We've had 139 members travel all the way through 2009 with varying success and are hoping to make 2010 even better with more discussions, more prompts, more short-term challenges, and more writerly community building!

The only participation requirement of the community is that you check-in to report your word count each month, so if you're looking for a writer community or motivation to finally work on your novel or motivation just to keep yourself writing consistently all year, head over to getyourwordsout and check out this post with all the information about joining for 2010.

After working through our inaugural year, I think 2010 is going to be even better.

Sign-ups are open until Dec 31, so make sure you
get over there to make a pledge before 2010 starts!

Also, a suggestion to the fandom people around here who are curious but not "sold"—if you're planning to write a Big Bang this year, you might consider signing up for the 100K single-project pledge. Most Big Bangs have a minimum of a 20K completed story so if you plan a longer novel, 60K or 70K, then you should be able to complete the 100K SPP easily after counting all the words of false stats, rewrites, and the final draft.

Just something for you all to consider! :D

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY I SHOULD NOT BUY MYSELF A TACTICAL DEFENSE PEN.

I mean.
It's TACTICAL.
And DEFENSIVE.
AND A PEN.

. . .

It is totally time for the weekend to start.

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY I SHOULD NOT BUY MYSELF A TACTICAL DEFENSE PEN.

I mean.
It's TACTICAL.
And DEFENSIVE.
AND A PEN.

. . .

It is totally time for the weekend to start.

For all the many writers on my flist, there's a new comm designed to help you getyourwordsout. Based around the idea that the only way to write is to, you know, write, getyourwordsout is designed to help writers stay motivated throughout the year by offering a goal and a community.

There are 4 levels of pledges (200K, 250K, 300K, and 350K) that you can pledge to write in 2009. We're counting words from any non-bloggy writing including original fiction, fanfic, nonfiction essays, scripts, poetry, songs, um greeting cards? Basically anything that can be considered a literary work (oh yes, I just called fanfic "literary").

sopdetly and I are spearheading this thing so you can expect group word wars, prompts, and other little motes of advice and encouragement. (Dudes, I have ideas.)

The introduction and guidelines are here, and once you join the community you can make your pledge. I hope some of you will join us or at least spread the word. We're planning to close the comm on January 1, so you have to join before then!

Get Your Words Out!

(Yes, I totally stole the comm name from the Wonderfalls episode "Karma Chameleon." FTW! \o/ )

For all the many writers on my flist, there's a new comm designed to help you getyourwordsout. Based around the idea that the only way to write is to, you know, write, getyourwordsout is designed to help writers stay motivated throughout the year by offering a goal and a community.

There are 4 levels of pledges (200K, 250K, 300K, and 350K) that you can pledge to write in 2009. We're counting words from any non-bloggy writing including original fiction, fanfic, nonfiction essays, scripts, poetry, songs, um greeting cards? Basically anything that can be considered a literary work (oh yes, I just called fanfic "literary").

sopdetly and I are spearheading this thing so you can expect group word wars, prompts, and other little motes of advice and encouragement. (Dudes, I have ideas.)

The introduction and guidelines are here, and once you join the community you can make your pledge. I hope some of you will join us or at least spread the word. We're planning to close the comm on January 1, so you have to join before then!

Get Your Words Out!

(Yes, I totally stole the comm name from the Wonderfalls episode "Karma Chameleon." FTW! \o/ )

It was muggy this morning as I walked down the ramp to the parking garage. So muggy and overcast that it almost combined to form a mist. The light flickered overhead like a power outage threatening in a storm. An alarm, constant from a truck, trill-beeped like an eerie omen. "The zombies are loose," it seemed to say, but that would be ridiculous of course.

The zombie-mist faded as I stepped from underneath the cover of the garage and suddenly there were other people, co-workers I didn't recognize because I didn't arrive quite on time. The security guard was familiar, a casual acquaintance even, and we smiled when we said hello—more than polite.

The trill-beep of the truck's warning completely lost in my memory, I entered the cafeteria, saying hello to another acquaintance, thinking belatedly that in response to his friendly "How are you?" I should have said, "Better once caffeinated." I strolled past more-familiar co-workers, smiling and nodding hello once they saw me, dodging the woman who was paying more attention to her coffee than the collision in the making. I turned the corner sharply, part of my normal routine, and pulled on the refrigerator that holds the soda.

It took me a moment to realize it was still padlocked shut.

The coke was safely nestled in its cold cell, red labels bright against the brown-liquid. Like taking a trip to the zoo, I could only tap at the glass. I then realized what the trill-beep zombie alarm was warning. . . .






And now that I have proper change, I'm taking my ass to the vending machine. COOOOOOOOOKE!!!!!