Thanks for all the suggestions! I definitely have an idea of what to do if I get to that point!

But here's another annoying question - if I sign up with the Gordons, but come end of August I think there's no way I'll be able to stretch it out, can I switch to a different challenge of mine (before Sept 1st)?

my question is can i get chapters prepared in advance and post throughout september? i'm on holiday from the 2nd to the 12th so i'll have time when i get back but i just don't want to fall too short.

@DSLady:

If you change your mind and challenge before Sept. 1st that's fine I'll change the link when you decide. That is a reason why I've released the threads so early so there's time to change before it starts.

@Nicola:

You can schedule posts to go up in September even if they've been prepared beforehand there's no rule against pre-prepping updates, as long as they all have a September post date they count. I know some blogs can be set up to do that, just don't ask me how...I have no clue *shrug*

Yes scheduled posts are a life saver [emoji6]

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Wordpress does it somehow (Blamsart would be a good person to do that, she always schedules her updates), but with Blogger I know how:

Wordpress has one that is similar. If you change the date and time, it will schedule the post to publish at the date and time you specify.

I have a question about the updates requirement. (Meaning 7-10 for gold) My updates tend to be a maximum low thirties in picture count, average size is mid to late twenties. To count as 1 update, am I going to increase that? And word count, for Pursuit of Happiness, I don't really get text heavy.

I do want to aim for gold. Do I have to increase the updates sizes for them to count as one update?

The answer is probably totally obvious, I'm just a little confused on the requirements to count. Or maybe I'm reading too much into the rules. (Not the first time that's happened.)

@Nevermore:

If you have 10 updates with 30 pictures that counts for Gold level, as for word counts someone who can math better than me could probably give you a more accurate break down of how many words each of those ten updates has to have, assuming you use 30 pictures per update.

...so trying to math this out - my updates tend to be about 1,000-1,500 words + 40-50 pictures.

If I am mathing correctly, that is equivalent to 3 "chapter updates" = 1 update for the 1,000 words + 2 updates for the 40 pictures.

Which means to get Gold, I would need to post 3 times one of my average updates (to get the equivalent of 9 chapter updates) = the total of which would be approximately 3000-4500 words and 120-150 pictures.

Your chapters would be about 1 to 1.5 updates, Nev.

You only need 20 pictures to count as a chapter, ignoring your word count. Someone could post 10 updates with 20 pictures only and it would count as 1 update. Since your updates are above 20 on average, you'll be fine.

If you have a lighter chapter and fall under 20 pictures, you would need 50 words per picture to make up the difference. So if you have about 500 words in your updates, you would only need 10 pictures.

Do we count with each update we post, or add it all up at the end?

For example, let's say I posted three times.

Post 1 had 33 pics, Post 2 had 27 pics, Post 3 had 40 pics.

Now, if I went per post, post 1 would be 1 update, post 2 would be 1 update, post 3 would be 2 updates... a total of 4 updates. (With me so far?) But if you total all the pictures at the end, it's 100 pictures... which should give credit for 5 updates. Does that make sense? (Similar things could be said about word count, I'm just choosing one criteria for sake of ease in question-asking.)

That is a good question, because I have been counting mine total (across 4 planned posts, not each post individually) so I will be waiting for the answer also.

I'm not Ani-Mei so I could be wrong, but my thoughts was that you decide how/which way you want to count. If you want to do "by update" or "by picture" or "by word." By picture and by word would probably be easier in your scenario, but someone looking to challenge themselves might aim for by update, if that makes any sense?

Last year when I did it, I just counted up all of them across the board and then at the end of the month, I had managed to get enough of at least one of them (updates, words, or pictures) for it to count and I got a gold medal. I didn't really worry about which one was my actual goal, I just posted like I normally would but kept track of numbers.