The Friends & Members of 750 Words

750 Words exists because of mutual good will between the people that run this site (Buster & Kellianne) and the people who use it (you). The site wouldn't exist without the generosity, patience, and humor of everyone involved. For the first 3+ years that the site was running (Dec 2009 to May 2013), the site was free to use but with some encouragement to donate. That served us well (and most importantly, generated enough income to keep the site up), but as the site grew the need for support also grew.

On June 12th 2013, all existing users of the site were given lifetime free accounts (we hope you'll continue to donate when you can). New accounts created after June 12th, 2013 are now required to become members within 30 days after signing up in order to keep writing. Everyone will always have access to previous writings, stats, etc, even if they choose not to become members.

We're listening to your feedback and want to make sure that first and foremost, we offer a friendly and safe place for people to dump their private thoughts. I expect that we'll continue to adjust the way this all works for the near term. Thanks for being an awesome community!

Who runs this site?

Our names are Buster and Kellianne, we live in Berkeley, California with our two sons (Niko and Louie) and this is something we've built and run in our spare time.

Badge.latte<a href="https://750words.com/auth">Sign up or log in</a> to buy Cups of Patronage

Notes of inspiration from members

1 cup

I am nearing the end of the March challenge. the rabbit festival is looming. I ache with tiredness. Thank you for the nudges, notes and badges. they matter when its a real slog to keep writing.

Testimonial Note from Penelope Anne Jeffries on Sat, Mar 30
1 cup

First I exercise early in the morning to get my body going and then I write 750 Words to clear my mind. Those two workouts allow me to focus and prioritize on the challenges of the day ahead. I’m so glad that I discovered 750words. Thank you!

Testimonial Note from JAY SHAFFER on Fri, Mar 29
2 cups

I’m an old NaNoWriMo veteran, but I’ve been struggling for months to work on my individual projects. 750 words has completely turned that around, and I’m excited to try the One Month Challenge in April! We can do it!

One Month Challenge Bounty from Scout on Fri, Mar 29
2 cups

I was so close to the end of a 100 days streak and then I totally forgot writing on one day and only realized it when I was in bed (and it was after midnight). It sucks, but I guess I just have to start all over again. May the challenge bounty be an incentive for all of you to not miss a day in April :)

One Month Challenge Bounty from Susanne on Fri, Mar 29
1 cup

Using 750 words is like having your own cheerleading squad encouraging you to write, write, write everyday.

Testimonial Note from Tab Hart on Fri, Mar 29
1 cup

A couple of years ago, I discovered this wonderful site, and started writing. In less than a year I had the ‘Double Flock’ badge, 250,000 words! That’s a cool quarter million words which would have remained unwritten and who knows how many ideas which would have remained unexpressed and only part processed.
I love the fact that I have this space for daily reflection, it helps in so many ways to enrich my life and writing.

Testimonial Note from Janet O on Thu, Mar 28
1 cup

750 words is awesome it is basically a journal for you online and it helps you push harder to write because you earn badges that keep you pumped up!

Testimonial Note from Daxton Starkey on Thu, Mar 28
1 cup

This site has helped me to vent my frustrations at the end of the day. I use the rating system to check how angry i am, and the day after i try to lower it. it helps me to become a more positive person.

Testimonial Note from Tyler on Thu, Mar 28
1 cup

I am a self-doubting grad student in the last stages of a Ph.D. (the dissertation). I’ve tried a number of tricks to get myself to write every day, the key to success on a big writing project. Writing is a habit I need to cultivate in the career I’ve chosen. And it’s not as if I haven’t written successfully in the past. All the same, the dissertation seems to summon up all the doubts I have ever felt about my ability to succeed, as well as memories of my assigned role, earlier in life, as the family screw-up. To my surprise, 750words has been the most effective method yet at getting me out of this recurring death spiral, in time to avoid the death part. Now, what’s funny about this is what my unfiltered writing about history does to the analytics (which I gather are never that accurate in the best of cases). The algorithm thinks I’m fixated on death and religion. — Anyway, thanks for the site, and I have already, in my second month, signed up to sponsor a monthly cup of patronage.

Testimonial Note from Robert Collins on Wed, Mar 27
1 cup

I love this site, thanks so very much. It’s clean, simple and just a joy to log on each day and write. I clear my mind and set myself up for the day. Thank you so much for letting me have twenty minutes or so a day to myself to just focus.

Testimonial Note from Tor on Wed, Mar 27
1 cup
A better mobile site

Other than it would be fun to have more badges, I don’t see where any of these other issues are really issues. Keep It Simple, please.

New Feature Vote from Sara Marie DeJesus on Wed, Mar 27
1 cup
More badges

I don’t have any great ideas, but the badges are really fun. Any chance of adding more for different things just for fun?

New Feature Request Note from Sara Marie DeJesus on Wed, Mar 27
1 cup

I have complex PTSD with all the ‘glorious’ symptoms. 750words has helped me do the journaling I need to do even on my ‘bad’ days. Through journaling I’ve gained clarity, worked through anxiety, and generally become more functional. 750words.com is an indispensable tool for my mental health

Testimonial Note from Sara Marie DeJesus on Wed, Mar 27
1 cup

750 Words helps me clear my mind of all the clutter it accumulates every day. My writing and blog posts are more focused now that the cobwebs are regularly removed, and I love having a place I can come & just let ‘er rip without having to worry about anyone seeing things I’d rather keep to myself, but need to get off my chest.
This has quickly become one of my favorite places online, and I find myself looking forward each day to coming here to write.

Testimonial Note from Annalee on Wed, Mar 27
1 cup

I haven’t been very faithful to myself on this site because I haven’t used it enough, but I dropped coin in the cup just because 750words.com is there and I know it (Plus I get a daily reminder to write!)… It’s as if 750words.com has helped me eliminate any lame excuse I might offer for not writing because i know that i can ALWAYS go there and pound out whatever brilliant nonsense comes out of my head. It’s a brilliantly executed site and I’ll continue to follow it into whatever is next. Thanks, Buster!

Testimonial Note from Jason Barmer on Tue, Mar 26
1 cup
More badges for accomplishments
New Feature Vote from Mikkel Snyder on Mon, Mar 25
2 cups
Sponsoring/Gifting

I know this is probably already been mentioned, but I would love for people to be able to sponsor other writers.

I’m not sure if anonymity would work very well, but I know I would gladly take on the responsibility of giving my friends the same great experience I get from the site.

New Feature Request Note from Mikkel Snyder on Mon, Mar 25
1 cup

I wonder sometimes if writing for the sake of writing is really worth it. I think that it might be. You get better at writing the more you do it and you can’t help but get better if you write every day. So even if I’m not using these 750 words for a story or a novel, this is probably going to be the best thing for me. Right Here. Thanks so much 750words.com. This is the push that I needed.

Testimonial Note from Aidee Ladnier on Mon, Mar 25
1 cup

I had to withdraw from this month’s challenge due to some major unforeseeable events that took place recently. More than ever I need to get back into writing every day now that I am back home and have full internet again.

Testimonial Note from bron rauk-mitchell on Sun, Mar 24
5 cups

I just sent Buster and family $50 for the 2013-2014 year of being on 750words.com. This site is worth $1000 a year to me. Let me tell you why:

I have written over 100,000 words on the site in the last three years, almost never on sequential days, ironically. I have never done a one month challenge. But, every day I think, “Write 750 Words” and after a few days, I have to, like a calling. Because of this site, I have been able to keep writing in a creative place in my life vs. turning it into a “getting it right” kind of writing by putting what I write creatively on another file on my computer.

I like Buster’s positive and accepting energy and his stories about his life. Yeah, new baby and new job! I like the badges and the tracking of words – they cheer me on a little. I was so shocked when I hit 100,000 words last year, because there was no painful, “Biggest Loser” goal-setting about it. It just happened.

I got divorced during this time and I wrote out my panic about starting over at 38 years old. Then I wrote about what I wanted my next chapter of my life to be in great detail. Lists of dreams of a great, new life poured out of me. I printed out one day’s list which felt deeply true and then I made it happen. It took 2.5 years. This site helped me find my true north and to stay true to it. I am happy, at peace, and in love.

This February, I went to a writer’s workshop in Guatemala and everyone was talking about how hard it is to write consistently and I was like, “Really? No it’s not, actually.” I am currently planning to write a book that has been throbbing inside of me for a while. I will probably write it on this site.

Many thanks to the inspiring community members I don’t know who are doing this and to Buster, who made this possibility happen in the world. Amy

Testimonial Note from Amy Waterman on Sun, Mar 24
1 cup

750 words is transitioning to a pay-only site in April! It will be $5 a month or $50 a year, a price that I,as an unemployed college student, will unfortunately be unable to meet. Everyone, please help spread the word so that other people won’t be nastily surprised by this next week. Buster, please put an announcement on the writing page or send out an email! So many people rely on this site and so few of them have realized the changes that are coming – there needs to be much better communication about this change of policy. In fact, on the cups of patronage page and in the FAQ it still explicitly says that the site is free! I will be sad to leave this site as I have really enjoyed using it these past few months, but I cannot afford the price and the distinct lack of communication really sours the deal. Thank you for reading and please, let’s get the word out!

Testimonial Note from Emma Schaefer on Sun, Mar 24
1 cup

I was writing about my partner who passed away three years ago (a period of time disguising itself evilly as a “seems like only yesterday”) each word a heavy weight off my heart. Healing through creativity I made a double entendre out of the phrase “other half” (quite cleverly if I say so myself) timely so at the eager end of this emotional entry whilst simultaneously reaching the 750 goal AND acquiring my turkey badge. With a proud and pronounced tap of the victorious apropos period (you can’t plan a better period than that) my laptop on tragically clichéd cue faded to black, itself passing away to the great unknown. Having bravely and selflessly holding on to dear life (after a brief but ultimately lethal viral infection) so that I, this lazy unmotivated measly ol’ scribbler of sentences could finally and probably prematurely proclaim that I am now a dedicated and disciplined writer. Thank you my sweet Windows OS burdened laptop. Or should I be thanking my partner. Perhaps it was really David’s spirit watching over me? Well thank you too honey I miss you every day. May you both rest in peace.
Seriously the true thanks is due to my best bud and fellow widower who so enthusiastically it was practically spasmodical, turned me on to this site raving about the analytics and what it revealed in his writing that he did not see himself. Ultimately the greater gratitude goes to Buster Benson who created 750 words dot com. I have not previously trusted or felt comfortable about sharing my life on any other copy right confounding journal site until 750 came along with its simplicity, badge encouragement and community of people instead of remote and unreachable tech staff who delight in laying thick their incomprehensible and fake accents . Benson’s personal approach allowed me to release the untamed words from my overcrowded mind and not fear them being herded in hard drive hell, caged forever in an MS Word document due to threat of hacking. I’m upset (though not as much as my wallet will be) over the demise of my superman-stickered coffee -stained and slightly scratched laptop but relieved it did not take my journal to the grave with it. Like my gigantic old 586 desktop did with – I brag not – the greatest novel I have and will ever write in my life . Sadly there can only be one of those. So ashes to ashes microchips to microchips. So long Windows hello apple chips. (well it had to rhyme)

River James
Author of the Greatest Unread American Novel

Testimonial Note from River James on Sun, Mar 24
11 cups

I blew my challenge, so I’m donating the cups of coffee I said I would buy if I missed a day to those who aren’t missing any days this month. Good luck to you all!

One Month Challenge Bounty from Dawn McWilliams on Sat, Mar 23
1 cup

I promised that if I missed a day during the Monthly Challenge, then I would donate $20 to the site. After 696 days of writing, somehow I missed one day. I couldn’t even tell you why I missed. I got too busy and forgot, I guess. So here I am, almost two years into using the site daily, and I’m starting over. I’ve now got five days in, and I look forward to beating my previous streak of 696 days. This site has changed the way my mornings start. It’s changed the way my brain works. I love being able to just dump my thoughts from my brain onto paper. Thank you, Buster!

Testimonial Note from Dawn McWilliams on Sat, Mar 23
1 cup
More badges for accomplishments

I know it sounds kookie and I really don’t understand it but the badges really work for me. They actually get me to work for them and I think there’s too long a gap between the 30 day streak badge and the 100 day streak badge. How about a 50 day streak badge. I don’t know. There’s almost nothing to improve in this sight you seem to have thought of everything. Thanks and love sigal

New Feature Vote from Sigal Kerem Goldstein on Sat, Mar 23
4 cups

This is my fourth month of writing here and I feel like a new person! I am writing every day and it’s so refreshing to have a secure, private place to write no matter where I am. I am making great progress in clearing out my cluttered thoughts by writing each day. Bless you Buster!

Testimonial Note from Anonymous on Sat, Mar 23
1 cup
One Month Challenge Bounty from Amy Lynn on Fri, Mar 22
1 cup

I’m a good writer, but my biggest problem has always been laziness. I have fun ideas, but the hardest part is parking my butt in my chair long enough to get ‘em written. Then, 750 Words. And now I’m writing daily, and if I don’t always work on stories, my habit of sitting down and writing something has never been stronger. I’m going to combine my efforts for next month’s Camp NaNoWriMo with this site and really finish some projects I have!

Testimonial Note from Amy Lynn on Fri, Mar 22
1 cup

its done a lot, its helped me write the book i keep putting off even though i enjoy writing it, now that its kind of required for class, its kinda fun to see how my story is analyzed as well.

Testimonial Note from collin martinez on Fri, Mar 22
1 cup

After taking quite the extended hiatus I find myself back again at the lovely 750 words. Just when the world begins to become unbearable, I wind up back here to write out everything in my head. 15 quick minutes and 900 words later, I am reminded why I used to write daily on 750 words. You have offered me a safe, secure, private place to put my thoughts while also challenging myself to take more time out to reflect on my life. Thank you for this gift that I can never repay you for Buster.

Testimonial Note from Becca Hill on Fri, Mar 22