October 3, 2005

• I've heard it said that most attorneys are just frustrated novelists.
  That hasn't been my experience, actually, but I think the perception
  comes from the fact that there are quite a few authors out there who
  are or have been attorneys.

  So, this begs the question...am I
  a frustrated novelist? I don't THINK so...but then you have to
  understand that when I was just a little hippie chick in So Cal I DID
  spend a lot of time writing bad fiction and some even worse poetry. And
  I did take a few creative writing classes in college. I've still got
  some of those stories hanging around somewhere, I think.

  Maybe I
  am a frustrated novelist, but I don't think that has anything to do
  with my career. I came to the law much later than I came to a love of
  fiction. I do believe that my creative writing skills, combined with my
  extensive vocabulary, allow me to write some quite excellent briefs,
  complaints, and letters.

  (I had one of my colleagues ask if I
  had insulted someone in a letter. Of course I had, but I did it in such
  nice language that he had to read it twice before he caught the
  underlying meaning.)

  This month is outlining/planning month for
  NaNoWriMo. (National Novel Writing Month for the uninitiated.) The
  actual novel writing takes place through the month of November. I've
  never participated, but have considered it seriously the last two
  years. So, do I go for it this year? Will I lose motiviation halfway
  through as I usually do? Will work get in the way? And do I dare risk
  becoming that cliche'd creature - the frustrated novelist-attorney.

  And
  I wonder just how many actually published novels have come out of
  NaNoWriMo efforts? Because, isn't that part of the reason for the
  exercise? To get published? Maybe I am missing the point.

  Hmmm...things to ponder.

  • 7:29 pm
  • 6 Comments