Word Count Widgets for NaNoWriMo and Beyond
Progress Meters and Writer Challenges That Last All Year
Oct 23, 2009
Writers have always liked being able to track their accumulating word-count, and these days there are plenty of progress meters that help them to do it. There is a selection on the NaNoWriMo website, and these widgets are useful for November – but what happens in the other eleven months of the year? Are there any other challenges? Yes, indeed!
But first, the word-count widgets that help writers to prepare for NaNoWriMo:
Word Count Widgets for NaNoWriMo
The NaNoWriMo word count widgets come in the form of code that writers can embed on any web page (for example, a blog or a website). To use the NaNo widgets, participants need to embed their user ID. Some of the widgets on offer in NaNoWriMo 2009 include:
- The Participant Widget (which rotates to different images every five minutes: for example, a coffee cup and a computer).
- The "My Month" widget (this shows the progress on any nominated day; colours show whether the writer was above or below the target for the day).
- The Word War Widget (needs 2-5 user IDs to compare totals by different participants).
The NaNo widgets help to create a sense of community and make the whole month more enjoyable (as well as helping writers to achieve their daily word count!)
For writers who want to set themselves goals and monitor progress during the other months of the year, there are plenty of other word count widgets around, as well as other writer challenges.
The Inkygirl 500 Words a Day Challenge
"Inkygirl" (aka Debbie Ridpath Ohi) decided that authors needed a different challenge, so created the 500 Words a Day Challenge. Debbie says: "Too often, I find that writers start motivational challenges like NaNoWrimo with enthusiasm and good intentions, but give up when they start missing their daily targets for more than a few days in a row... I also wanted a challenge that lasted a whole year rather than just a month." The rules, such as they are, are simple: the writer should endeavour to write 500 words a day at least six days out of seven.
For writers up for the challenge, Debbie has provided a badge that can be put on their website or blog (and for over-achievers, she also has a 1000 Word Challenge!) Debbie also uses a word-count widget on her blog: she chose Jason Penney's ProgPress Meter, because it allows her to track more than one project with one widget.
The Writertopia Graphical Progress Meters
Writertopia lets writers choose from two graphical progress meters for a web page or blog. These meters are easy to use: each calls on a web address that sends out the appropriate image.
For those who like a simple word counter (which also sends a small image) Writertopia provides the Picometer. The other word count widget displays a cartoon, and allows users to track their mood swings. (What? Writers with mood swings? Impossible!) The cartoon changes to reflect this: for example, the writer in the picture starts snoozing. The image also shows a growing stack of pages to reflect the increasing word count.
Right now, thousands of writers are preparing for NaNoWriMo, and NaNo word count widgets will be showing up on blogs and websites all over the world. But come December 1st... there will still be thousands of writers churning out words, who will be just as keen to track their progress. It's fortunate, then, that there are plenty of writer challenges, word count widgets and progress meters that can be accessed on the other eleven months of the year!
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