ROBUST discussion

Hi everybody,

I was recently invited by Andre, and I was pointed into the direction of the Introduce Yourself section after I posted my first post.

I am half Dutch, half Israeli. I love to read in English, don't know where that came from. Picked my first English copy of an Alistair MacLean novel at the age of 11.

Now I'm attempting to write a fantasy series in English, which brings along some hilarious mistakes, along with bouts of frustration, doubt and self-pity.

I'm married to a wonderful wife (although she claims I'm married to my Blackberry), have a beautiful son aged six who is somewhere on the moderate side of the autism spectrum, a nice house in the Amsterdam suburbs and a garden that I don't tend to enough.

I have been in the Israeli army, and I'm most likely one of the few paratroopers who is afraid of heights. I have had some funny jobs as a student but now I've settled into a career as a lawyer. As a consequence, I cannot use my real name on these kind of sites or if I'll ever get published.

It's nice to meet you all.

Dave

Welcome, Dave. Sounds like you live an interesting life. But why can't a lawyer use his real name?

Hi Paticia,

it's for fear of situations that may harm the lawyer-client relationship, the reputation of the firm, can create a conflict of interest etc.

Some time ago, IIRC a lawyer in the UK was fired because she wrote erotica. There have been some young lawyers who put some embarrassing pictures on facebook etc.

Laywers just aren't allowed to behave like ordinary human beings: we should be beyond reproach and bill 12 hours a day. ;-)

And feel free to make lawyer jokes. One should not take oneself or one's profession too seriously, I think.)

Welcome Dave. The older I get the more I think the rules society forces us to live by border on insane. What one days in one's private time is one's own business (the lawyer writer who was fired).

Thank you Claudine.

I agree, she should be able to write in her free time what she wants. But the appropriate lawyer's response would be: "Private time? What is that?"

My wife calls my Blackberry my electronic tag, and claims it's main purpose is for to monitor me at all times. That is pretty close to the truth.

I'm not complaining, though. It comes with the territory.

You are clearly not a productive lawyer if all you're billing is 12 hours per day. One where I live was billing two of his clients a total of 28 hours per day seven days per week. That made him rich for a while, but then the bar association caught up with him and so did the prosecutor.

Hello, Dave. I'm sure you'll enjoy Robust. Just don't spend too long here. I want to read the end of your book!

I'm glad you joined us, Dave. I wouldn't be surprised if you make us the most cosmopolitan group in Goodreads.

Welcome.

Thanks, all!

Patricia wrote: "You are clearly not a productive lawyer if all you're billing is 12 hours per day." No, I'm a lousy lawyer but an okay human being, I think.

Hi Katie, that's the rub. All these writing-related sites keep me from writing.