My Draftsgiving goal is showing zero and not going back up
If your Draftsgiving goal shows 0 words and doesn't change when you write, your project's word count has most likely dropped below your goal's baseline (set at midnight of November 1st, or on your join date, whichever came first).
Why this happens
Draftsgiving only counts forward progress based on your project's word count. Your progress is your project's current word count minus the baseline Novlr set on 1 November, when your goal began.
When your word count is above your baseline, you will see progress toward your goal. When it falls below your baseline, your progress is effectively negative. The goal can't display a negative number, so it shows 0. It stays at 0 until your word count climbs back past your baseline, and only then does your progress start rising again.
Here's an example:
Project word count | Draftsgiving progress | |
|---|---|---|
Baseline on 1 November | 38,000 | 0 |
After writing 3,000 words | 41,000 | 3,000 |
After archiving a 7,500-word section | 33,500 | 0 (shown), 4,500 below baseline |
After writing 2,000 more words | 35,500 | 0 (shown), 2,500 below baseline |
After restoring the archived section | 43,000 | 5,000 |
What takes your count below the baseline
Anything that lowers your project's word count can put your goal below its baseline:
- Archiving a section (archived sections don't count towards word count).
- Deleting words or sections.
- Cutting and pasting text out of the project.
How to fix it
If you've archived a section, restore it. This is the quickest fix, because it puts the words back in your project and brings your word count back up.
- Open the archive for your project (it's the file box icon in the three-dot menu at the top of your section navigation panel).
- Hover over the section and click the three-dot menu that appears.
- Choose Restore.
If you deleted words instead, use Version history to recover them.
Or keep writing. If you'd rather leave the section archived, every word you add moves your count towards your baseline again. Once your project passes it, your progress shows again and goes up from there.
Keep it from happening again
Draftsgiving is about words on the page, and it follows your project's word count, so it goes up and down as you add, delete, and archive. For the month of November, try not to archive or delete large sections.
Updated on: 02/11/2026
Thank you!