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THE LEGAL WRITER Ten Years with The Legal Writer Reflections By Suzanne E. Rowe iStock Some articles have been “inspired” by bad writing. A rash of particularly egre- gious email messages produced enough angst to generate an entire article on bad punctuation (“Run-on Sentence Outbreak! Examine Emails for Infec- tion”). On more than one occasion, I have blithely picked up a formerly well- written-publication and found that the author, or a new copy editor, has ignored all previously known rules of punctuation. My head explodes. I start writing. I n October 2006, the Oregon State Bar Bulletin published the first article in The Legal Writer. It was entitled “Unblocking Writer’s Block: Moving Ideas from Head to Page.” One hundred articles later, The Legal Writer is still “moving ideas from head to page.” In this article, I take a look back at some of those ideas and recognize the authors who are moving them. Sources of Inspiration I have suffered writer’s block often, typically late at night, with a deadline approaching. Those dreadful occasions make me eternally grateful for every visit from the muse, who has come in multiple guises. Sometimes inspiration has come from beautiful pieces of writing, whether a clas- sic novel like East of Eden (“Pure Sen- tences: Punctuation Free”) or a famous presidential address (“Language at Get- tysburg: A Study of Style”). The “Sue Grafton Series” of articles, in which I forage for fascinating words in my favorite dictionary, began with an evening game of Scrabble. I ran for the dictionary, certain that the word I’d kind of, sort of made up would be there (it wasn’t). The catalyst for a recent article in that series (“‘C’ Change: Compelling Compliments and Confrontations”) was a short chat after a yoga class. Sue Grafton has published books from A to X without skipping. The Legal Writer has seen ar- ticles on words beginning with C, F, G, completely wrong about a particular point of grammar or style. I’ve learned, though, to stay out of specific disputes. The first time I casually answered a reader’s email question with my best guess was also my last. (I cost that reader a lunch bet by unknowingly siding with a colleague.) I don’t touch litigation, no matter how en- ticing the sentence in dispute, although the general idea might appear in an article a few months later. To be honest, I have almost certainly inspired some of my fellow Legal Writer authors, often by provoking a pet peeve. When I see my own foibles reflected in The Legal Writer, I ever so quietly make amends and hope the annoyed author no- tices my improvement. All of the authors for The Legal Writ- er teach legal writing. Our students have occasionally, and inadvertently, provoked some articles, proving that we need to in- vest more in K-12 education and that col- leges might possibly need to cover writing fundamentals somewhere in the curricu- To be honest, I have almost certainly inspired some of my fellow Legal Writer authors, often by provoking a pet peeve. When I see my own foibles reflected in The Legal Writer, I ever so quietly make amends and hope the annoyed author notices my improvement. H, I, R, T and V. Grafton’s still ahead, but we’re closing in. Readers have suggested many ideas for articles, sometimes to address their pet peeves and sometimes to prove in the nicest possible way that a supervisor is lum (if you don’t do it in college, we get to do it in professional school). Happily, students respond well to these articles. Messages from various judges and attor- neys indicate that the articles resonate long after graduation. OCTOBER 2016 • OREGON STATE BAR BULLETIN 13