I recently read this post on The Oatmeal about writing for the web. It really resounded with me, because writing is something I’ve always loved doing, but ever since I started trying to write in a more professional way, I’ve been stuck.

I used to write pages and pages of stories and scripts a few years ago. I’d constantly be thinking up ideas for scenes, characters and running through dialogue in my head on the walk to college or work.

However in the past few years, most of my writing has been confined to short reviews or blurbs for websites and festival programmes, something I enjoy but constantly feel out of my depth doing.

This year, I set myself a target; to start writing in my diary more frequently, and to start a blog. I achieved both of these (the blog slightly more belatedly) and now I’m in the process of setting up my goal for next year: to write a novel or a script within 12 months. I know how bad I am at sitting down and actually being productive, so I asked my friend Alistair if he wanted to buddy up, as I know other writers that this system has worked for.

The idea is that each month we email eachother what we have written in the past month and then meet up to discuss what we thought of eachother’s work. Hopefully not only will this motivate me to write to a deadline each month, but I’ll also be getting constructive criticism and a chance to read a friend’s work and hopefully be spurred on to write more.

If any of my stuff ends up being up to standard, maybe I’ll chuck an extract up here. Fingers crossed, aye?