Licensed to Write

Licensed to Write

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Welcome!

Welcome to the first post of my new blog.

This blog is about trying to maintain my sanity while pursuing my day job as an appellate lawyer at the Nevada law firm of Kummer Kaempfer Bonner Renshaw & Ferrario, while also pursuing a career as a writer.

The blog is called Writing in Nevada because I do a lot of that - write in Nevada, that it. I live in Henderson, Nevada (essentially a suburb of Las Vegas). I work in Vegas, at the Howard Hughes Center, which is not far from the Strip.

And I write.

In my job, that is pretty much all I do - write briefs. That is by choice, by the way, so don't feel sorry for me. I actually bargained for the option to not go to court; it's part of my deal with my boss. I actually don't mind appellate court, but I hate district court. Too much time spent waiting. In appellate court, things are scheduled and there are time limits. Patience is not one of my virtues.

Other writing I do at work consists of a blog about appellate law and legal writing (and whatever else strikes my fancy) and the occasional law related article.

When I am at work, I might be writing articles for Living Las Vegas, a website that reveals what life is really like here in Vegas. Or I might be working on my fiction. I am a published romance writer. My first novel came out in 2005.

I also like mystery, and am currently working on what I hope will be a series. It features a divorce lawyer who ends up owning a wedding chapel. She also ends up with a basset hound named Columbo. I like bassets. Expect to hear about my two bassets. A lot.

Here's the thing. I have a fairly good success rate at selling my work. I sold my first short story to the first magazine I sent it to (for $500!). My coauthors and I sold our first nonfiction book for writers to the 2d publisher we sent it to. I sold my first novel to the second publisher I sent it to.

So why haven't I sold more books? Simple - I spend more time writing briefs than I do writing books.

So my solution to this dilemma - create something else to write instead of books.

Okay, sounds stupid. But what I am creating is accountability. With this blog, I am promising the world that I will keep writing the fiction. Help keep me honest!

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