Darling Hill

Over the years, I've met so many lawyers who have talked about how much they really want to write "on the side"--everything from law review articles to course curriculum. But, for the most part, few do (or maybe they simply "haven't gotten there yet"). Considering how much lawyers write during the workweek and how much free time is leftover at the end of each day, it's easy to see how freelance writing can lose its appeal or priority.

Attorney and Freelance Writer, Ari Kaplan, who by the way offers courses on why lawyers should write (and who also provided me with tremendous motivation for turning my writing into something more than a hobby), cites time as the key obstacle impeding lawyers' writing. For example, in one of his law.com columns he claims that less than one percent of lawyers are blogging. If lawyers aren't blogging because of time, it's hard to imagine how lawyers are possibly finding time to sit down and write anything, particularly given the relative ease of blogging (and convenience, too--after all, most of us are at our computers for hours each day).

The time has arrived to come out, come out wherever you are...make it your goal this week to jot down why you want to write--why it's important enough for you to make time to write (even if it's just 15 minutes a week). Write something down, anything. Even if it's on the cardboard back of a legal pad. You'll feel like you've made a huge leap--and probably feel relieved and delighted at the same time just knowing that you took a step toward living your writing dream.

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