The buddy system

The buddy system is a helpful tool in writing. Find a good friend whom you'd trust with your precious, infantile writing and allow them to tell you what they think. Take the bad criticisms along with the good, because the bad ones are what will help you see the flaws in your story. Take the good criticisms and let them motivate you to keep writing. This is week 3 of my BFF and I holding each other accountable by having a deadline every Friday by which we have to swap chapters. And guess what? Just knowing I'd let my best friend down by not having a new chapter ready for her every Friday is enough to make me want to write and I've written more than I had during the last three months of 2009. So I highly recommend using the buddy system in writing.