Wordwar Z! (Word/Time Goal Tracking, with zombies!)

[UnquietBones]

"Welcome to the WORDWARS! (Z, because yes, there will be zombies)

 

This thread is an open challenge to anyone who is working on word-related things—songs, stories, poetry, dissertations... it’s all fair game!

 

Since folks are motivated by different things and have different goals, I’ve gone back through all the writing challenges I’ve ever done and cobbled together a smorgasbord of options. There is no minimum number of people required for any of the challenges, but you will be eaten by zombies if you don’t keep up. You have been warned. (Mwahahaha!)

 

The overview of each of the challenges is below with more information on the individual tabs. Name & Shame for missing goals will only be done for those who opt in (please put a Y in the “N&S?” column). Opting in means that if you fail to meet your goals on any day I will tag you in the Monday summary post to help motivate you. ...But zombies are not optional. (I kid, you can get attacked by pirates or ninjas if you rather! )

 

Zombies are invoked during Monday's Weekly Review when you miss five days of the week for a daily goal or two consecutive weeks for a weekly or monthly goal. To fight off the infection and return to the land of the living you must log wordcount/time for at least three consecutive days or meet a weekly/monthly goal (whichever comes first).

 

Pirates/Ninjas/Vampires follow the same rules, but have different Badges Of Shame!  Other badges will be given out as I think them up, suggestions welcome.

 

• You can join (and leave) at any time!
• Weeks run from Monday through Sunday.
• Yes you can join more than one challenge as long as they don't duplicate work.
• Leaderboards (overall/per challenge) could be a thing-- do you want them to be a thing?
• If you no longer want to be active in a challenge, just change the background of your row to gray and I won't include you in the Zombies and the Name&Shames. You can pick up the challenge again at any time! 
• You can add wordcounts retroactively, but please gray yourself out if you know you won't get a chance to update things before the Monday-night sum-ups. I'd hate to miss calling out kudos on folks!
• [Other FAQs will be added here as people ask questions.]

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tIlwZZRAzjHTANht9Qzkkhm0Ssfa9y1V0tE8Mwd1bHM/edit?usp=sharing

 

If you have an idea for a challenge that doesn't fit in one of the existing formats, let me know and I can add it!

 

UPDATE: In order to keep this spreadsheet small, I'm going to hide challenges that aren't being used. Please let me know if you want me to open one up!

Challenge Name	Challenge Type	Details
Drop and Give Me 100!	Daily Wordcount	User chosen goal
Couch to 1.667k	Daily Wordcount	30 days of steadily increasing goals (from 52 to 1,667) (has a non-Zombie version)
Novel_in_90 / 750words	Daily Wordcount (750 words)	750 words
Death by Percentages	Daily % of goal	User chosen goal
Writing For The Weekend	Weekly wordcount	User chosen goal
Monthly Mountains	Monthly wordcount	User chosen goal
The Comfy Chair!	Daily Time	User chosen goal
The Comfy(er) Sofa!	Weekly Time	User chosen goal
Prompt Prompt, Baby!	Daily Prompt (timed)	24-ish hours to write to the prompt!
2Legit 2Quit	Weekly Prompt (open)	7 days to write to the prompt!
Random Encounter Tables	Daily 'Did I Write Today?' Goal	The D100 Rules All!
Old Dogs, New Tricks	Daily 'Did I Write Today?' Goal	D6 for Life!
Alphabet Prompts	26 Daily Prompts	What it says on the tin (has a non-Zombie version)

 

[UnquietBones]

BEHOLD! BADGES! (updated as I get them done because Lo, I Am Impatient)

 

Badges for when you fall to the Zombie/Pirate/Ninja/Vampires

 

ZOMBIES ATE MY WORDCOUNT! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

 Oh no! Your wordcount has been waylaid by pirates!!

Ninja VANISH! (Your wordcount has been kidnapped by Ninjas, you bring dishonor on your novel!)

Zoinks! Vampires have drained your wordcount dry!

 

Badges for when you escape!

You have vanquished the Zombies and lived to write another day!

You have rescued your wordcount from pirates! In technicolor even!

You have vanquished the ninjas and restored your honor wordcount! (Ninja Scrolls are powerful things.)

 

 

Badges for Completing Events
Winner's badge for Couch to 1.667k!

Winner's badge for A to Z

 

Badges for Being Awesome!

 For writing every day for a week (homage to http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html)

For writing every day for a MONTH

 

 

[UnquietBones]

I'm picking the Drop and Give Me 100! challenge for myself because right now I just want to get back in the habit of writing again. I'm starting small at 100, but I figure once I get back in rhythm I can raise it up. I need to swap it over to the Couch to 1.667k once June hits so I'll be in form come Camp NaNoWriMo in July!

 

Onwards!

 

EDIT: Did a rough draft of a drabble for the Baron'verse to make wordcount and printed out a copy of the short story I'm supposed to be working on for tomorrow!

[Thrillho]

That's.... a lot! I will check this out more thoroughly at lunch.

[Fearkiller]

This. Is. Friggen' Badass!

 

What should I choose?

 

*Pondering*

 

Let me get back to you..

 

Yeah, yeah.. That, maybe. But how much?

 

And then again, that one is nice too..

 

Hmm..

[Dagger]

I agree with the others, Badass is the word for it!

 

Now I have to decided which one to do, and I might not join until next week.

[UnquietBones]

3 hours ago, Thrillho said:

That's.... a lot! I will check this out more thoroughly at lunch.

 

I might have gotten a little carried away... ^_~;

 

2 hours ago, Fearkiller said:

This. Is. Friggen' Badass!

 

What should I choose?

 

*Pondering*

 

Let me get back to you..

 

Yeah, yeah.. That, maybe. But how much?

 

And then again, that one is nice too..

 

Hmm..

 

Thanks!

 

And... Pick ALL of them! Mwahaha...  Well, no, that would probably be a horrible horrible idea... but feel free to pick more than one!  Just don't pick two of the same types of goal (time+time) or (wordcount+wordcount). But you could pick 'time in chair' + 'prompt/topic' + 'weekly wordcount' or somesuch.

 

You can also swap around anytime you like, just change the background of your row to gray on that tab and I'll stop counting you in that challenge (for zombie & N&S).

 

1 hour ago, Dagger said:

I agree with the others, Badass is the word for it!

 

Now I have to decided which one to do, and I might not join until next week.

 

I'm so glad folks like it!

 

And this will be open and running pretty much as long as I'm trying to motivate myself, so.... forever!  The challenges are all designed for folks to join at any time, and if you need to take a break for holidays/etc. just change the background of your row to gray on that tab and I'll stop counting you in that challenge (for zombie & N&S).

[Fearkiller]

Okay..  Count me in!

 

Starting with 1000 word Drop-and-give.

 

And maybe I'll do Random Encounters as well, from time to time.

 

Were there any time limit for the RE prompts after rolling one,

do we need to start doing them immediately?

Also, do we post the completed prompts here?

(I wouldn't mind doing so.)

 

I want to set a decent chunk of time to write, before 9 pm.

I don't want something as important as writing be the last thing in my day.

 

And I do often enjoy it, it's just the initial resistance.

[Dagger]

1 hour ago, Fearkiller said:

And I do often enjoy it, it's just the initial resistance.

This. So much this.

 

Which is the reason I'll join the challenge on Monday, May 30. (Committing. Go me!) I will either do "Drop and give me 100" (I have not decided word count yet), or "Couch to 1.667k" to give myself a nice ramp up.

[UnquietBones]

4 hours ago, Fearkiller said:

Were there any time limit for the RE prompts after rolling one,

do we need to start doing them immediately?

Also, do we post the completed prompts here?

(I wouldn't mind doing so.)

 

The RE prompts have no time or word limits and you can work on a prompt for more than one day if it catches your fancy. Additionally if you hit a prompt you get really stumped by, calling a mulligan and rerolling is also allowed.

 

And you are more than welcome to post stuff here, or links to stuff elsewhere-- just please put it behind a Spoiler cut so posts don't get too giant. This is all about encouraging folks to write and reading is often a great encouragement!

 

3 hours ago, Dagger said:

This. So much this.

 

Which is the reason I'll join the challenge on Monday, May 30. (Committing. Go me!) I will either do "Drop and give me 100" (I have not decided word count yet), or "Couch to 1.667k" to give myself a nice ramp up.

 

The Couch to 1.667k is a lot of fun, but those 56 words add up quick, so be forewarned!

[Fearkiller]

I won't probably have internet over the weekend, grayed out my rows just in case.

 

Or can we add the wordcounts retroactively?

[UnquietBones]

6 hours ago, Fearkiller said:

I won't probably have internet over the weekend, grayed out my rows just in case.

 

Or can we add the wordcounts retroactively?

You are more than welcome to add them retroactively!  Since I'm doing the round-ups on Mondays (posted Monday nights) if they won't be updated by then than graying things out would be easiest. I'll keep on a note on who is gray so I can give you kudos on the next Monday if you hit goals while offline!

 

On that note, I've been doing a bit horrible myself, so time to get words on paper... *scurries off to get to work and stop fiddling with doodling the badges*

[Dagger]

I've decided. Tomorrow I start the Couch to 1.667k. I didn't choose the best day to start on, but who cares, right?

 

I will be working on multiple projects. First I'll clear off some projects just waiting to get the last 10%, then it is off to new stories or new drafts of old stories.

[Dagger]

Poor time management today and a suspected low productivity day tomorrow, means I start on June 1 instead. Lol. Should probably have picked this date from the start since I knew it would be hard to start today. I live and learn.

[UnquietBones]

2 hours ago, Dagger said:

Poor time management today and a suspected low productivity day tomorrow, means I start on June 1 instead. Lol. Should probably have picked this date from the start since I knew it would be hard to start today. I live and learn.

 

It never hurts to try, even if things don't turn out!

 

And on that note, I need to stop procrastinating myself and get to work!

[UnquietBones]

Weekly Zombie/Pirate/Ninja-pocalypse!

....no one fell to the Zombies/Pirates/Ninjas this week! (And there was much rejoicing!)

 

The challenge results for the week were as follows:

 

Drop and give me 100!

@UnquietBones came in safe with a score of 4/7 for a 100 word a day goal

@Fearkiller is currently in the Safe Zone (grayed out) with a 1000 word a day goal

 

Couch to 1.667k (30 Days)

@Dagger will be starting on June 1, so is in the Safe Zone

[Fearkiller]

Ehh. I edited and wrote on-and-off several hours, and got about 400-500 words in.

And they still need a rereading and editing at some point.

 

Overshot a little with the original 1000 words

Maybe half would do. On top of the 10 page essay needed by 8.6,

that's quite enough.

 

Getting to write some fiction on top the dry stuff keeps me sane, I hope.

 

 

[UnquietBones]

3 hours ago, Fearkiller said:

Ehh. I edited and wrote on-and-off several hours, and got about 400-500 words in.

And they still need a rereading and editing at some point.

 

Overshot a little with the original 1000 words

Maybe half would do. On top of the 10 page essay needed by 8.6,

that's quite enough.

 

Getting to write some fiction on top the dry stuff keeps me sane, I hope.

 

A lot of the wins come from just getting the words to start flowing again... it's like running, don't start out with a marathon, just go for a walk around the block. You'll still get to Mordor eventually!

 

I just need to put my shoes on...

 

Good luck with the essay and the sanity!  

[Dagger]

12 minutes ago, UnquietBones said:

I just need to put my shoes on...

I think I've forgotten where my shoes are.

 

I recently read a blog post from Dean Wesley Smith about restarting into writing and how it is best to just write what is fun, no matter if you have projects that needs to get finished. So, focus on the fun. I'm just having trouble focusing on the writing at all since I'm using so much of my will power to start up my fitness... ^_____^

[UnquietBones]

13 minutes ago, Dagger said:

I think I've forgotten where my shoes are.

 

I recently read a blog post from Dean Wesley Smith about restarting into writing and how it is best to just write what is fun, no matter if you have projects that needs to get finished. So, focus on the fun. I'm just having trouble focusing on the writing at all since I'm using so much of my will power to start up my fitness... ^_____^

 

Oof, I can resonate with that for sure! I'm looking over all my old projects and there are so many that would be really fun but aren't in one of the 'main' universes that I'm trying to work on. But what the heck, I need wordcount and Camp doesn't start until July... what better time to goof off a little and just get the Muses going!

 

So I choose YOU, silly random story idea! *opens a new Google Document*

[Dagger]

1 minute ago, UnquietBones said:

So I choose YOU, silly random story idea! *opens a new Google Document*

Go, go, go! Ganbatte!

 

I'm btw planing to do a hybrid zombie and not version of the Couch. Aka, I can be eaten by a Zombie, but I'll only record days I actually write on, so there won't be gaps. I'll just report here how many days I wrote in the week, so you can use it in your Monday round-up.

[Dagger]

First day with words. Score!

 

On 2 Jun 2016 at 11:21 PM, UnquietBones said:

So I choose YOU, silly random story idea! *opens a new Google Document*

How did it go?

[UnquietBones]

7 minutes ago, Dagger said:

First day with words. Score!

 

How did it go?

Congrats!

 

I ended up pulling out an old short story that was mostly outlines (with a little bit of prose) and uploading it into Scrivener. It was almost all formatting work and rereading my old notes-- I think I wrote all of twelve new words.

 

Now I'm amped and ready to rumble, so I'm hoping for some good wordcount this weekend (and tonight)!  

[Dagger]

Cool. I actually restarted a short story I began late last year. So I had to make some notes of the characters and such so I would have one place to look, instead of the old scenes I'd written that I threw out.

[UnquietBones]

Whoops, realized I hadn't been updating all of the prompt pages correctly-- those are now fixed and I have a few weeks prewritten!   (I'll probably go back and start recycling the ones no one used after six months or so.)

 

I'm getting wordcount done today outside of that (woot!) but it's all MuseFic and not actual story prose.  But it counts as word-building and story-building, so it's still a win.