Exercise for Writing Gains, Not Just for Weight Loss

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Exercise isn’t just for weight loss. We all know that there are many benefits to regular exercise such as stress reduction, weight loss, increased energy, and many other health benefits.

Exercise can also immediately and positively effect your thinking and writing. Ben Opipari of Persuasive Matters wrote an article for Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing about the history and research of exercise benefits on writing.  Opipari describes a rich history of famous writers who used exercise to either compose and draft or revise and edit. He also reviews the neuroscience behind the connection between exercise and good writing.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), called “Miracle-Gro for the Brain” by researchers, is a protein that acts on neurons in the brain to facilitate the growth of new neurons and survival of existing neurons. Scientists have discovered that this protein has a direct effect on learning and thinking. BDNF is released when you exercise. When the oxygen level increases in your brain during and after you exercise, you become sharper mentally. As a result, the more you exercise, the more you will think and write clearly.

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To Practicing Attorneys: Stop Writing Law Review Articles, Steer Clear of Pedantry and Mystification

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Is the Law Review dead? Many think it is. Or, that it is dying. According to Walter Olson of The Atlantic on the subject of law reviews: “They’re outdated, impractical, and slowly dying. It’s time to put them to rest.”

Let’s just be honest – we just don’t have the attention span for law review articles anymore. The trend for legal scholarship is shorter, timelier discussions that people actually read like blogs and other short-form online publications. According to Olson, “[a]s online law writing has taken off, readers are rewarding qualities like clarity, concision, relevance, and wit, and steering clear of pedantry and mystification.” Here, here, Mr. Olson.

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Brief or Comic Book? Which Would You Prefer To Read

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When a judge told Bob Kohn that he had to whittle his 55-page amicus brief down to 5 pages, Bob Kohn did not despair. He complied in comic book form.

With the help of his daughter’s friends, Kohn was able to not only reduce his 55-page amicus brief down to the required 5 pages, but also to comply with the court’s formatting rules (mostly). I have previously posted about the increasing usage and utility of images in briefs. Maybe comic book or graphic art briefs are the next logical step. Pictures are worth a thousand words, right?

 

 

#1 Secret of Great Writers: Rewriting

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Good writing means rewriting and lots of it. Good writing requires many “writing” steps: outlining, drafting, revising, rewriting, editing, proofreading. Unfortunately, many harried legal practitioners simply do not have time for multiple steps in the writing process beyond drafting and proofing. For some, “writing” is simply drafting and submitting.

Great writers aren’t great because they write the right words the first time. Good writers don’t rewrite or revise because they made mistakes in the first version. These writers rewrite because it is the rewriting process itself that transforms good (or less than good) writing into excellent writing. Rewriting is not a punishment or a reprimand, it is an essential part of the entire writing process.

Great writers are great because they rewrite, sometimes again and again until the words are right.

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Hate Editing? WordRake May Be For You

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A new editing application called WordRake was released recently as an add-in for Microsoft Word. WordRake is an editing software for lawyers, designed to find and remove unnecessary words so that the written product is as concise and clear as it can be. WordRake promises to help busy lawyers to edit quickly, communicate clearly, write concisely, and eliminate useless words. The application was designed by Gary Kinder, lawyer, New York Times bestselling author, and ABA writing expert.

I have not tried WordRake, but as many of the posts on this blog prove, I am always on the lookout for smart ways to edit and revise. For all of my fellow lawyers (i.e., professional writers) out there who love or tolerate writing but hate editing. WordRake may be just what you have been waiting for.

Will WordRake write the brief for you? No. Will it make your mediocre brief much better? Probably.