The Word Counters Union
About the union
The Word Counters’ Union, which many of the members call Word Count Buddies, is an informal group of bloggers who all have agreed to write a certain amount of words on our creative writing projects every day and prominently post an account of what we’ve done each day on our blogs. We also gather together at the Word Count Buddies home page, which serves as Union Headquarters — a central site where we submit our daily word counts and keep tabs on each other.
The whole thing is partly inspired by the concept behind National Novel Writing Month, where the point is not how good or bad the writing is, but just to keep writing…and eventually to get the book (or books) we have in our heads out into our hands. And to keep everyone honest and motivated, we also check up on one another frequently — daily, if possible.
The members
For more on members and their word-counting progress, you can also see the Word Count Buddies website. There’s also a forum where we talk about various things, mostly writing-related; anyone is welcome to join the forums, whether you’re interested in being a daily word-counter or not.
Most of the members keep writing journals on their blogs (or MySpace pages, or what-have-you). To look in on what (and how much) I’ve been writing, see my daily writing log.
The ground rules
(Invented by Liz, adapted and expanded by Ing)
-
Write at least 100 words every day on a creative project. Doesn’t matter what genre. Most of us –if not all, at the moment – write fiction, but the Union also covers nonfiction, as long as it’s creative writing. And no “banking.” If you write 1000 words today, you don’t get to take ten days off. It’s a hundred words MINIMUM per day.
-
The day’s word count to be posted by midnight. Some of us are in the eastern U.S., some in the West…at some point (even if temporarily) some of us might be right smack in the middle…and some of us are not in the U.S. at all, but in other countries and other continents. You’re welcome to establish your own schedule on your local time. But since the official home page of the Union lives on the East Coast of the U.S., for the purposes of tracking word counts midnight Eastern Time is the end of the day. (For instance, since I’m the U.S. Pacific Time Zone, the Word Count website always records my posting time as being in the wee hours of the day after I actually wrote it.) Regardless of time zone, though, the idea is to write your words and post your count every day.
-
No fudging — and new words only. The words don’t have to be polished, but they do have to exist in some form other than our minds (a rough draft is all you need). Just planning a great piece of dialog or a cool scene in your head doesn’t count. We’re all probably great at that already. Words written on blogs don’t count (we’re writing books here). Crits given to other people don’t count. Simply editing doesn’t count. New content added during revision does count, however.
-
Doesn’t matter if it sucks. That’s why first attempts are called rough drafts. Editing can come later. It’s getting it from the head and onto the page that’s the real test. Flogging yourself doesn’t count. The idea is to write books, not to gaze lovingly at our navels.
-
No excuses! Well, okay. Dying is a reasonable excuse. But being too busy isn’t. Sickness? Only if you wish you were dying.
-
If you can’t update daily, say so. Whether you’re going on vacation or just someplace without Internet access (say, prison? The Gobi Desert? A Ukrainian hospital? Southern Utah?) say so before you go…and have the right number of words completed by the time you come home. This is vital, as it will keep you on track and prevent floggings from fellow union members.
-
Keep each other honest — be honest — and flog (support) your fellow writers. As Word Counters’ Union members, we post our daily progress in a prominent place on our blogs, link to other union members’ blogs, and visit them to keep up on their progress. If you miss your daily goal, your fellow bloggers will know it, and will verbally flog you (either on their blogs or on yours); if someone in your WCU circle misses the writing goal, you can — indeed, are obligated to — flog that person. One last thing. The most important thing. Probably goes without saying because everyone who has joined so far is great, but I can’t resist saying it anyway: be supportive and kind to your fellow writers. Deliver floggings when needed; give honest criticism when asked…but always give encouragement too (speaking for myself, I really need it…I’m probably not the only person out there who needs it).
Who can join?
Anyone. That’s the simple answer…and the only one, really.
If you’re interested in joining up, the Word Count Buddies website might be a good place to start. Or just contact one of us on our blogs. Or just start doing the writing and link up to as many of us as you want. Or contact a few people you know and start linking to each other. Whatever you want. Just abide by the spirit of the ground rules, that’s all.
Oh yeah, wait…one more thing you need to do: write!
How it started
Liz of Real Joined-Up Writing came up with the idea when she got tired of all the whining I did on my blog about how I wished I had the time and motivation to start actually writing the novel that I’d been contemplating for years. :) She suggested that we should all write at least 100 words a day, and use our blogs to keep tabs on each other and encourage each other. To provide a bit of extra motivation, anyone who didn’t accomplish the daily writing would get publicly flogged on the other members’ blogs (or berated in comments left randomly on his/her most current post).
Ben of Noesis volunteered to join up — I suspect mostly just to help Liz kick my ass (figuratively, of course) — so then there were three of us. The idea was intriguing; I responded with interest, but (as is my habit) avoided a firm commitment. Then Liz had the genius to just start going without waiting for me or anybody else.
So, not wanting to fall behind before I even had a chance to properly procrastinate, I started writing too. And Ben did too, that very same day. And now here we are.
Now if only I could get those union dues coming in…