The practice of "morning pages" has been hovering in the periphery of my Internet reading lately. It's the exercise of handwriting three pages stream-of-consciousness, first thing in the morning. My initial thoughts were similar to those expressed in this Guardian column. Morning pages—sounds like something my high school English teacher would do, who also made up … Continue reading Try Morning Pages (or Freewriting)
Category: Legal Writing
After publicly wondering why there aren't any podcasts devoted to legal writing, I've decided to take steps toward starting one. Here's what I'm thinking. First, I can't get mired in setup and equipment. Partly because of the expense (every dollar counts right now); but mostly because I've been down that road before and I know … Continue reading A Podcast About Attorney Authors and Publishers
It seems there's a bevy of law-related podcasts available now. Bob Ambrogi recently rounded up a bunch, and others I've discovered serendipitously through Twitter. Curiously, though, I have yet to see a podcast devoted just to legal writing or publishing. I made this observation on Twitter to see if perhaps I missed something, and that … Continue reading Recent Podcasts and Resources on Legal Writing
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
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