Welcome to Write Every Day!

[zwei_hexen]

Hi and welcome to the Write Every Day Challenge!

This is a joint account used by sylvanwitch and ysilme to join resources when it's our turn to host the challenge.

(If you're wondering who's talking to you here: we'll try to remember to sign every entry or comment we make, but we're also using icons with our names to differentiate who's posting an entry or comment. For commenting we'll also be using our own journals.) 

What is the Write Every Day challenge?
Write Every Day is just what its name says: We challenge each other to write, every single day. Our goal is to encourage one another and provide the accountability and/or motivation that some of us find very useful in keeping the words flowing. However, there's no obligation and no pressure, and if writing didn't happen for you on any given day, there won't be any judgement, just support and sympathy!

Who can participate?
Everyone is welcome! We’re an open-minded, nonjudgmental group of people who enjoy writing.

What do I have to do?
We’ll post each day with a little bit about our writing and a running tally of participants. All you need to do is drop by the comments on the most recent tally entry to let us know how you’re doing. Please know that you are never obligated to check in. Also, if you'd like to comment on someone else's comment but aren't checking in for yourself, that's perfectly fine too. We're really easygoing 'round here, and conversation is absolutely encouraged.

Is there a word limit or quota?
Nope. Write as little as an “alibi” sentence (just what it sounds like—a sentence you write to say you’ve written, an alibi for the day, as it were) or as much as you’d like. All word counts are welcome!

Is there any restriction on the kind of writing I can do?
Absolutely not! Fanfiction, original fiction, screenplays, blog posts, meta, academic writing, morning pages, reviews, editing, letter-writing, nonsense poems, bucket list: if it feels like writing to you, it counts!

Do I have to participate all the time?
No way! You can come and go at your pleasure.

New to WED? Got any questions?
Please don’t hesitate to contact ysilme or sylvanwitch in the comments or via PM at our individual journals, or comment here. We’re here to help!

Starting 2020, we're also posting two reccing posts during the month, one to rec the fanworks you created or updated during the month, and one to rec your favourites (fannish places, groups, communities, media, stories - you name it) online. The entries are tagged with the fandoms etc., and we like to invite you to also check the older entries for recs and interesting places. As of 2022 we've also added WED Resources which consists at the moment of a great list for naming resources. You'll find easy links to all these in the link list of the journal on the top right.

Comments

[kate]

Hello hello! I'm making up an end of year post and one of the things I always try to mention are the various writing support communities out there, whether or not i've been terribly good at them or not. I really like the folks involved in WED! I was wondering, though, if there was a reason it's not a DW community? It seems like it'd be a lot easier to keep track of etc. if we didn't have to migrate to individuals' journals every month. Not trying to be pushy, esp if it's something you've discussed or decided before I joined, just trying to save everyone some work. <3

[ysilme]

We (as in, the WED participants at the time) did indeed talk about this before, and decided not do to a community for various reasons. Among those are the desire for a slow, natural growth of the community, consisting at any given time of active members (as in, those participating at that period), and also the experience that a DW community would, by nature, very likely change the overall atmosphere of the community, and lose the informatily and personal atmosphere we're having in the fashion we're doing it now.

As it is, the responsiblity is shared among those who host, which isn’t a fixed group but whoever has spoons and time and volunteers, and this has kept the organisation simple and doable so far. Having a different hoster every month also makes for an interesting change, and the sligthly different style of everybody also keeps things interesting. Since this is working well since January 2015 without interruption I suppose the general idea isn’t a bad one!

A “proper” community, on the other hand, needs mods, needs rules, needs a lot more work done than the wandering circus WED is currently - and this responsibility and work inevitably will end up with the same two or three people, as this always happens. You doubtlessly know this, as you’ve modded communities yourself! I’m also not saying communities are bad or anything of the kind, on the contrary; but one doesn’t always need one for a community to work well. I’ve actdually asked the same question myself after I joined, and got a similar answer. ^^

That being said, a few of us have talked about a few possible practical additions to the comm earlier this year, but haven't gotten around to bring this up with the whole group due to RL interfering. But the consensus so far has actually been that doing it this way is less work than having a community and the necessary organisation and communication to keep it running smoothly. ^^

[kate]

Thanks very much! I figured it was something like that, so I'm not surprised. Especially about wanting to grow organically and not too fast.

I have differing opinions on a number of things (esp the time it takes to host for a month vs how much I'd spend even if I was an active mod) but I absolutely understand. I have the same questions for people who run exchanges but not on the AO3. I'm a big believer in using tools to make things easier, but that's my day job so I get it if everyone doesn't agree. (ETA: not that tools make things easier but that THIS tool might not make THIS thing easier - that wasn't as snarky as it sounds there!)

I was mostly asking since I was touting the writing communities I'm part of on my journal and was thinking "hm, why isn't this a comm?"