Do I have to have a blog?
Short answer: No BUT still preferred
Here’s why: You have to have a place to write up how you’re doing on your goals that you can link to each week on the Check-in post in our Facebook Group so that your fellow ROWers can come visit and leave you encouragement. Tweets, Facebook updates, and the like don’t work well for this purpose. If all you’re reporting is a word count then posting a comment directly in the thread is fine, but the group is NOT the place for a blog post length report. So keep your blog.
That being said, nobody said you have to have a popular blog or even one that’s going to show up in search engines. A lot of people resist the notion of having one at all because they don’t want to keep it up. I’ll leave it to Kristen Lamb and her We Are Not Alone: A Writer’s Guide To Social Media to convince you of why it’s never too early to start your platform and why you, as a writer today need a blog (it’s an awesome instructive book and you should read it). I’ll just say that for the purposes of ROW80, there is nothing in the world wrong with starting a free blog at WordPress or Blogger for the express purpose of providing your updates.
I missed the sign up.
Not a problem. We’re a friendly bunch. Just write up your goals and link to them on the most recent check-in post in our Facebook Group. Jump in any time.
When is ROW80?
ROW80 runs 4 times a year, beginning the first Monday in January, April, July, and October.
A Round of Words in 80 Days: The Writing Challenge That Knows You Have A Life 
Um…I’m a little unclear (which might have something to do with the sugar overload from the really scrumptious stuffed French Toast I just consumed, bad, Kathi!) do I need to do the linky thing every time I post an update on my blog? Or did I take care of it when I signed up and don’t need to linky again?
Every update is a different link. There is a new linky for every update day, so you put the new link on the new linky for each check in.
How do I get the badge?
Copy image location and then chuck it into your blog’s image widget or use some handy dandy html image code in a text widget.
Hate to be dense, but I SOO need this kind of nudge. However, when I follow the link to sign up, it says, “This linky is now closed.” I thought we could jump in whenever? Am I just doing something wrong?
Thanks!
You jump in on whatever the current check in linky is.
So, I’m still trying to figure out this linky thing. 🙂 I should start now and then something happens on the Wednesday check -in…right? Ummm…what happens on the Wednesday check in?
(I’ve already apologized for being dense, right?)
You write up a post on your blog about your progress (and including your goals if you haven’t linked that somewhere), and link to it in the linky.
Thanks for being so patient! I did go ahead and write up my intent on my blog. My problem was that the first Linky thing I found, said it was closed. So I found the one just before the comments section in the Sunday Check in page (https://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com/tag/check-in/ ) But it’s not up, so I’m not sure I’m right.
I know I’m probably being ridiculously anal about this, so I will wait and see if it’s all clear when tomorrow’s check in rolls around.
Or if there’s an open Linky URL that I should upload my Intent blogpost to, please just paste it here?
Instead of a blog, can we use Google+ instead and link to a post in a circle created specifically for #ROW80?
No. The entire point of blogs is that anyone can visit and comment. We are not tying the challenge to any particular social media platform because some people are on none of them and few are on all of them.
Fair enough. I’ll set up a blog.
Thank you.
Is a Tumblr solely dedicated to ROW80 with Disqus comments enabled acceptable?
Totally up to you. It’s still a sort of blogging platform that anyone can see, so go for it.
Ok, I’ve been doing ROW80 for a year and a half now. I have a dumb question for you. Each Round starts on a Monday, and 80 days later ends on a Thursday. Right? So why are we asked to post out blog and link it on Sundays and Wednesdays? I always miss the the opening and closing of each Round because I just always post on Sundays and Wednesdays. Anybody else have trouble with that?
It’s not, like, a scheduled kind of thing. The check in linkys post on Sunday and Wednesday. You can link to them at any point while they’re open. I picked Sunday because it’s the end of the week when people might think about it and Wednesday because it was the middle.
I’ve submitted a blog post with my goals in the recent Linky. 🙂 But question, do blogs have to be wordpress or blogger because anyone can comment? My blog accepts anonymous comments, but generally need an account or an openID if you want to be identified.
That’s entirely up to you.
I’m confused… How does the linky thing work? It says the linky list is now closed, but the round hasn’t started yet… And even were it not closed, how does linky even work? I’ve never done this before…
There are no active linkys as we are between rounds. When we are in an active round, you just click on the linky and add your blog post link. Simple as that.
No, wait… Wrong linky… OKay… Um… Still confused though. When does the sign up start for the next round, and again, how does linky work?
The schedule for the next round is listed in the sidebar under schedule. A Linky is merely a collection of links. You click on the link to it and enter the direct link to your blog post into the available box and click enter. The linkies are only live during the relevant check-in to preclude people from posting their current links on old check in links.
Okay… I see the start date. When does sign-up begin? Just on day 1?
Yes.
Thank you. Sorry.
Is this suitable for middle schoolers?
It’s all about setting your own goals, so certainly it’s something that could be adapted to their needs. We require a blog of some kind just so that participants post about their progress in a place where others can stop by and cheerlead. If you’re thinking of having a class participate, we’d be happy to have you, and I can certainly post an announcement to make sure people keep their posts PG (I think they mostly are anyway, but I don’t check everybody).