The Skinny on Monthly Check-Ins

The day before the last day of each month (Jan 30, Feb 28, March 30, etc.) we will open the check-in for all members by making a post with the !monthly check-in tag (track it so you don't miss it!) and instructions on how to complete your check-in for the month. To give you an idea for what's in store, we'll run down what this involves.

Checking In The check-in happens on this website, and it's simply a form that asks for your username, your pledge level, and your current total for the year. When you submit the form, it's emailed to the mods, and we record your numbers in our fantastic spreadsheet. We use the numbers collected to help you stay on track to reach your goal and to spot trends in how people are producing words—this information helps us see what may be needed in the next year.

We will give you until the 5th of the month to submit your word count, and on the 6th we will PM anyone who has not checked in with a reminder.

Checking In Late After receiving a PM, members have until the 8th to submit their check in. We take note of everyone who gets a PM reminder sent. You will only have 4 PM reminders for the entire year. After we've sent you 4, we will not send you any other reminders to check-in. We try to make it easy by doing the check-in at the same time each month, using a tag you can track, and giving a full week to do it, so chasing after the same people every month starts to fluff up our dander a bit. If you do not have your PMs enabled, you will never receive a reminder.

Missing a Check-In If you miss the check-in completely, we will note that as well. If a member misses 3 check-ins in a row (e.g. Jan/Feb/Mar), we will remove that member from the community without further warning. This is a year-long challenge, and the check-ins are an important part for both the mods and for yourselves to stay on track.

After the check-in has ended, we will update a spreadsheet that is available to all members in our password-protected Members Only section. This will be useful if you lose your numbers, or are curious to see how others in your pledge or another pledge are doing. Only Katie and Em can update this file, so if you see something is wrong, please contact us to change it.

If you know in advance that you will be unable to complete a check-in, request to be excused for that month. We certainly don't expect you to plan your entire life around check-ins!