Im a law student, but somehow, I secretly wish I were a writer. How do I compromise?

leysarob

The luck of this is that you can write while studying something else. Write, write, write in your spare time -- even if no one sees it. Journal your thoughts, your observations, your life daily. Read other's writings. But continue to practice your own.

Next you can try to submit your writings to magazines, local newspapers, etc. Keep trying. What's it going to hurt. After all your career, at this point, is the law. So, you've got nothing to lose.

There are surely law review journals you can submit to as well.

I once asked a gentleman who had great success in writing what I should do. He gave me the same advice. Live your life and write, write, write.

If nothing else ever comes of it, you will at least expressed yourself and discovered yourself. Right?

kissmymiddlefinger

john grishim

the stories that you get from the 'street' will make for great novels

lizzybit64

Finish law school, get established, then pursue your writing career. You could keep a journal with your ideas for books.
Then when you are set career wise as a lawyer start writing.

This will also benefit you as a stress reliever.

MarshaMarsha

I don't know the hours lawyers work in the Maldives, but if you are one in the US its long hours. No time to write, well creatively. You could write and produce law TV shows.

musicalone8123

I'm with you, Nubla. I want to be a writer, too--actually, I don't really want to be a lawyer at all, and my dream is to make a writing career work somehow. One of my friends, who was actually one of my bosses at my last summer job during law school, quit and is working on her writing now. A lot of lawyers maintain careers as practicing lawyers and writers.

Personally, I've been published in anthologies and am planning to work on a book for self-publication after I take the bar exam in July. I submitted my work to both of the anthologies in which my work appears/will appear during law school. One of those opportunities came through a friend of mine who owns her own publishing company and writes her own books (she is also a lawyer). Another opportunity came from an e-mail I got passed along to me through a listserv at my law school from an editor seeking submissions.

I currently also write for an online sports site and get paid to write reviews for a new site that is similar to Amazon (I would tell you the site, but we're not allowed to tell people we get paid to write there because a lot of other people write reviews for free on the site), so I am also getting some journalism experience. I found the sports site through surfing ESPN.com, and the cool part is everything I write for that site gets linked to by ESPN.com. I found the site like Amazon.com through Craigslist, just sent an e-mail response and they put me on a trial period and will keep me as a staff writer if they like my work. There is also this site called Litmocracy that allows people to submit manuscripts for the chance to win $1000 and possibly a publishing deal, as well as just lets users submit stories for others to read, comment on, critique, etc--I'm thinking about doing that, as well.

What I'm saying is you can totally do this, and you can even start now! Hopefully, my story lets you know that's it's fairly easy with the internet to find opportunities where you can write and make your way into journalism if that's what you want to do. When I tell people I'm published or employers interviewing me see that I am, they think that's a big deal when, to me, it's not--it was easy (still, my goal of writing my OWN books has not happened yet, and that's the level I want to find success on). So, just look around the internet for opportunities.

Good luck!

Amy

After you finish your law degree and get some "crazy" cases you could begin to write some great stories. Being a lawyer will probably enhance your writing because I am sure there will be many cases that will spark your writing interests.

Good Luck! And I hope to read you work

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