Help: How do I undo the damage inflicted upon me by law school?

[Recovering_Cynic]

So, I am still attempting to decide what to title this post.  If you are reading this, then perhaps I was successful enough in my nomenclature to lure a few of you in here.  The long and short of this post is: I need help.

I'm a (semi) successful writer.  I've managed to get a few things published, fiction and non-fiction.  I've won contests, gotten a (very) little bit of money from writing, and managed to land a job involving very heavy writing, albeit the wrong kind. 

And now we get to my problem.  I am a lawyer.  Yes, that's a problem, but not the one I'm looking for help with.  That one requires special psychological attention.  What I need help with is this: my legal training and writing has managed to kill my ability to write creatively.  I'm not sure whether it was the years of law school training, or this past year writing boring legal documents at a government job, but something died, and I want to see if I can resurrect it.  I realized the other day that I really don't want to write boring crap documents for the rest of my life, and to get out of that, I want to start writing sci-fi and fantasy again.  Hopefully (crosses fingers) I'll find enough success that I can ditch the legal docs.

I just need to find a way to jump start the part of my brain with the creative juices.  Law teaches you to make creative strategies, but not creative writing ideas.  Creativity in writing is frowned upon because generally that means you don't have a leg to stand on in the case.

So there it is.  They taught me how to think like a lawyer, and I want to make it stop.  Please.  Please make the bad man stop...

[WriterDan]

Get to the library and read, read, read.

Better yet, find books with lots of good reviews (see Bookstore Guy's recently posted book review website), and buy, buy, buy.  If you're a lawyer, ya probably got some dough to do it, and nothing's better than supporting good authors so they can write more.  (Besides, what comes around, goes around, right?  And if you want to be an author someday...)

Then:  read,  read, read.

But don't forget to:  write, write, write.

Even if your stuff sucks.  The juices won't return unless you exercise those "writer's muscles".  Once you do, it'll just get easier. 

Luck.

[Silk]

I second what WriterDan said. I know it's kept the Ivory Tower out of my fiction.

[Recovering_Cynic]

If you're a lawyer, ya probably got some dough to do it, and nothing's better than supporting good authors so they can write more.  (Besides, what comes around, goes around, right?  And if you want to be an author someday...)

Thanks for the advice, although you missed one important detail in my original post: I'm a government lawyer, and therefore, by definition, I am broke.

I suppose I do need to start reading again, but I have to find time first.  I'll just have to sacrifice video games I suppose.    Has anyone noticed that video games tend to sap creative juices too?

[stridera]

That totally depends on the games you play.   I think games sap the time better spent doing other things, but they can give some inspiration as well.  I just finished Assassins Creed and it's given me a few ideas that seem interesting.  Wow will give you ideas (if you look for them) but by the time you get around to doing anything other than playing wow, the world might be about to end...

I do agree with WriterDan though... read!  If nothing else it'll put you in a world, albeit someone elses, where you can look around and think of what you want to do.  Or you can follow in Dan Wells footsteps and become a serial killer.  Your work should give you lots of research for that, no?  Your call.

[Chaos]

I rarely play video games any more for exactly that reason--I just never seem to have time! Reading often has made all the difference in my writing. When reading, it activates the creative part of my brain, especially when finishing a great book. Sure, you finish a book at 1am and you think it's time to go to bed, but me? It's excellent writing time

If I may do a quick plug:

A good way to motivate yourself to write more (because practice is so key) is to join a writing group. If you don't know many speculative fiction writers, well, then you should join Reading Excuses here on TWG. I find that having somewhere to actually submit to motivates writing a lot more. You should check it out

[Silk]

Thanks for the advice, although you missed one important detail in my original post: I'm a government lawyer, and therefore, by definition, I am broke.

Oh good! You'll fit right into the writing world then.

....

I mean. Uh. Did I say that?

*koff*

I can't say I notice video gamse do that (not that I play many) unless it's FFXII... mind you, I don't know if FFXII saps "creative juices" so much as it just saps energy. The grind... so exhausting...

That reminds me! I really should finish that game. Or possibly my WOTF entry.

[Recovering_Cynic]

That totally depends on the games you play.   I think games sap the time better spent doing other things, but they can give some inspiration as well.  I just finished Assassins Creed and it's given me a few ideas that seem interesting.  Wow will give you ideas (if you look for them) but by the time you get around to doing anything other than playing wow, the world might be about to end...

I agree with you about Assassin's Creed.  That was a game with some very original ideas , very "Armour" esc (if you haven't read the book Armour--sometimes published as Armor--by Steakly, then I highly recommend it).  However, games like wow don't do anything for creativity for me.  I get so obsessed with leveling that the story just blows by without my even noticing it.  I suppose that's the competitive lawyer-jerk part of me that wants to be the best possible.  Unfortunately, that part can get so focused that it excludes everything else.  Then I "win" (i.e. hit level 80) and wake up.  I don't play wow anymore.

Anyway, it looks like the consensus wins.  I will begin my book devouring once more.  I used to manage several books a week. Now with a job and responsibilities and a newly acquired wife who doesn't understand fanatical reading/video game playing... we'll just have to see.

[Recovering_Cynic]

A good way to motivate yourself to write more (because practice is so key) is to join a writing group. If you don't know many speculative fiction writers, well, then you should join Reading Excuses here on TWG. I find that having somewhere to actually submit to motivates writing a lot more. You should check it out

I glanced at that yesterday, and I plan on trying it out.  I was a little unclear about it, however.  How does it work?  If there are 100 people in the group, does that mean I have to review 100 stories?  Let me know.  I'm excited to start workshopping again.  I haven't done that since I was an undergrad.

[Recovering_Cynic]

Yeah... Ironically I went to law school to avoid being a broke writer only to end up as broke government attorney.  It had always been a pipe dream to write books on the side while I practiced law, but I think I secretly figured I'd make enough money as a lawyer that it wouldn't be necessary to write--nor would I have the time.

You see what trying to plan your life does to you?

[Chaos]

A good way to motivate yourself to write more (because practice is so key) is to join a writing group. If you don't know many speculative fiction writers, well, then you should join Reading Excuses here on TWG. I find that having somewhere to actually submit to motivates writing a lot more. You should check it out

I glanced at that yesterday, and I plan on trying it out.  I was a little unclear about it, however.  How does it work?  If there are 100 people in the group, does that mean I have to review 100 stories?  Let me know.  I'm excited to start workshopping again.  I haven't done that since I was an undergrad.

Many people aren't active any more, so there's usually less than five submissions a week. Still, it's entirely opt-in. At the very least, if you submit something one week, you should critique one thing, too. That's the official rules, a 1 for 1 sort of deal. But above that, you can do as much or as little as you'd like.

[Silk]

Chaos is completely shameless when it comes to plugging our group. But yes, he's covered it well here.

[Recovering_Cynic]

Chaos is completely shameless when it comes to plugging our group. But yes, he's covered it well here.

I already signed up 

[Chaos]

Chaos is completely shameless when it comes to plugging our group. But yes, he's covered it well here.

Why yes, yes I am.

[The Jade Knight]

Especially if you're part of a writing group, make sure you read good stuff, too.  For those people engaged in reading through slush piles, or teaching English, this is particularly important.