I finished up 2012 with a vague intention to write more in 2013. I
asked folk on G+ what I could do to turn this vague intention into a
more solid reality, and they
did
did not
disappoint.
Mary Gardiner made some great suggestions, starting with:
The usual: make a public commitment, make a shared commitment, make it a
competition, somehow organise it so that your writing is a commitment to
another person rather than to yourself.
I think these are excellent ideas, so I got in touch with my friend Bice Dibley and asked him if we wanted to be my writing frenemesis for 2013.
He agreed, with his usual aplomb, came back with an idea on how to make it a public and shared commitment, and also a bit of a competition.
Here's how it's going to work:
- Week 1, jml picks a word starting with 'A', we both write something
- Week 2, Bice picks an 'A', we both write something
- Repeat 24 more times, skipping 'X' because no one likes xylophones and because we want Christmas off
- Words aren't restricted to a particular field – anything goes. It must, however, be a single word
- Deadline for posting is 00:00 Monday UTC, the post must also specify the word for next week if it's your turn for it
- Aiming for around 600 words per post
- Each week we put £5 into a pot, if either doesn't publish a post or pick a new word by the deadline, he forfeits the pot to the other
- Whether a post is on topic is judged by general acclamation, and is largely left up to our own consciences
I was secretly hoping that this thing with Bice would resolve all of the conflicting awfulness I feel about my current blogging setup, but it was not to be. For the time being, the blog posts will appear on our respective blogs.
The first post is due in less than thirty-six hours. I'm pretty excited about it.
Also, Mary has written up her excellent suggestions on how do to more writing, and I would urge you to read them if you have a similar resolution.