More lawyers should self-publish. Also, fewer lawyers should self-publish. Let me explain. We lawyers become experts in our areas of practice and learn a mountain of useful information over our careers. It's natural to share that information with a wider audience by writing a book. It's natural, but it isn't easy. Especially for busy professionals. … Continue reading More Lawyers Should Self-Publish—Mostly
Category: Legal Writing
Writers get jazzed up about punctuation, with good reason. Those dots and squiggles have a lot to do with the character and clarity of writing. And there's no mark that exemplifies the many uses of punctuation better than the em-dash. I was reminded of the em-dash by Jeremiah Shoaf of Typewolf, whose newsletter included a … Continue reading Fear Not the Em-Dash
I've been taking a break from posting here since I ended my one-week experiment with daily posting. I wanted to write more. I'm happiest when I write—even more so when I publish. It was a good experiment, but daily posting took too much time. I'd like to think I could fire off some pithy remarks … Continue reading Experiments with Daily Posting and Deep Work
I've been reading, for the first time, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, that puzzlingly popular little book on punctuation. I found it for two dollars at a local used book sale. It's very British, and I mean that in a good way. But I've found it a little disappointing so far. Lynne Truss' rants on apostrophes … Continue reading Semicolons
This morning I read a blog post on Thurott about his Windows 10 book, which is published on Leanpub. Since I used to be an attorney-editor in my state bar's publishing division (where I spent perhaps too much time thinking about publishing problems instead of editing) I went to the Leanpub site and started digging. … Continue reading Lawyers Should Adopt Lean Publishing
https://youtu.be/gNRibogFG00 Bryan Garner just shared this video of five writing tips. It's a great start to writing better in your job, whatever it is. I, for one, will try to use we, our, you, and your more. As Garner states, good business writing "is a skill you must cultivate to succeed." William Zinsser made much the same point in On Writing Well: … Continue reading Garner’s Business Writing Basics
Writing is not an easy task. Even though all lawyers write a fair amount (and some do a lot of it), many avoid writing and dislike sitting down to the task. This is, perhaps, why so many briefs are written last-minute, or why motions eek in on the deadline. When I worked as an attorney-editor, … Continue reading How to Make Legal Writing Better, Faster, and More Fun
I recently reread Brian Garner's oft-repeated advice on improving legal writing in an ABA article. The point: to be a good legal writer, you need to read good legal writing. Thankfully, Garner points to a few sources of such writing. New to me was The Green Bag. Garner: Here you’ll find some of the best, most interesting legal scholarship … Continue reading Models of Great Legal Writing