• There’s an old proverb that says, “Man plans and God laughs.” That’s been Rob and my experience with this bar prep.

    Reminder: Rob-tastic and I teamed up with Barbri to document and share our stories from studying for the July 2017 California Bar Exam.

    My friend, Jeff Moriarty dressed as Jesus to encourage marathon runners. The message works for the bar exam too.
    Used with Permission

    Conversations with God
    If I believed in a traditional all-powerful deity, based on this proverb, I suspect these would be our conversations in recent weeks:

    Me: I want to make my life simple so I can put my energy into bar prep.
    God: You’re going to get hit by a car, live with daily pain, and have multiple appointments every week with the chiropractor for most of bar prep.

    Me: I’m going to work on flash cards during my flights to and from BlogHer in Orlando.
    God: You’re going to spend half a flight helping a dad flying with three small boys and one of them will be having ear issues from swimming.
    (I have no regrets about this one. Helping a child doubled over in pain trumps studying any day.)

    Me: I’m going to get a full-night sleep every night.
    God: Your basset hound is going to get colitis so you’ll spend three nights taking her out every few hours plus about six hours taking her to vet and switching her to a cottage cheese, chicken, and white rice diet.
    Me: I warned you what would happen if you do anything to Rosie.
    God: By the way, your gymnastics coach/maternal figure passed away.
    Me: Go fuck yourself.

    Yeah . . . bar prep has been more challenging than expected, mostly due to events outside my control. It’s been exhausting couple of days. I spent yesterday working at home so I could work, study, and rest as I needed while sticking close to Rosie.

    We got this.

    Reminding Friends We’re Not Available
    Rob-tastic doesn’t spend much time on Facebook, but he uses it to coordinate activities with friends. After getting several invites to spend time with friends, he felt compelled to send another reminder that while he enjoys spending time with them, he’s not available for fun and shenanigans until August. It’s not personal, he’s just studying.

    I’m on Facebook nearly every day, so my friends know what I’m doing on a day-to-day basis. They still invite me to events and parties, but I automatically hit “Can’t Go” if it’s scheduled before the bar exam. I don’t have the time or energy for anything extra right now.

    Pulling Back from Lawyer Work
    July starts the weekend, and Rob and I are both pulling back from client work. Of course, all of our obligations to current clients will get done, but we’ll be spending more time out of the office to focus on studying. Rob said he wanted to spend whole days out of the office to focus on studying, and I can easily work on a client’s contract from home for a few hours in the morning and then study 7-8 hours during the rest of the day.

    My goal is to be out of the office completely after July 7th until after the bar exam. The only thing that I can think of that would compel me to go into the office is if I’m working on a filing for the court. Senior litigator, John Mascari, is co-counsel on all of my cases. When I write a draft for the court, he and I sit down, each with our own copy of the document, and review it line-by-line. It’s easier to do this in person than by phone or email.

    Barbri instructor Doug Moll said July starts the “heroin scratch” time of bar prep – meaning, all of us taking a bar exam may be extra agitated. Hopefully Rob-tastic and I can stay the course, focus on locking in the material, without getting to distracted by nerves. If you want to send us good vibes via snail mail, that’s always welcome. Send us postcards at Ruth and Rob, c/o Venjuris P.C., 1938 E. Osborn Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85016.

    If you have a friend taking the bar exam, cut them some slack, even when they are an irascible prick. (They’ll bounce back after the bar’s over.) Send them a note to make them smile. It makes a difference. If you want to be a super-friend, and offer to help clean their home or do their laundry. Anything that makes their life a little easier will be deeply appreciated.

  • Lunch with Jeff = Change in Writing Plans

    In my last post, I told you about my plans to write two new books next year.

    Then I had lunch with Jeff, and now my plans have changed significantly.

    Partners in Crime (Photo by Jeff Moriarty, used with permission)
    Partners in Crime (Photo by Jeff Moriarty, used with permission)

    Jeff Moriarty is one of the most creative people I know. He has a gift for developing and executing ideas. He is the founder of Ignite Phoenix and a co-founder of Improv AZ. I often refer to him as my partner in crime. (Note: We are partners in crime, not partners in life. I have no idea how his wife puts up with all of his puns.) Jeff is also a talented writer and has substantial knowledge about indie publishing. He and Evo Terra ran a company called ePublish Unum that helped indie authors (including me) write and release their books.

    I told Jeff about my ideas to write two books next year, and he made the brilliant suggestion that instead of writing two comprehensive books, I could write several shorter ebooks where each one tackles a smaller subtopic within social media law. This would allow me to create and release more book-quality content throughout the year and delve into specialized topics for niche audiences. After releasing several of these short books, I could create a compilation of material from several books and release that as an ebook or in print (most likely print-on-demand).

    This idea makes perfect sense for my ideas. I have been struggling with how I was going to fit so many different topics into two books – especially social media law for small businesses because there are so many different groups within that audience I want to help.

    In listening to Jeff, my brain was already cranking out ideas – like using a similar cover design for each book, but in a different color, much like what ePublish Unum did with their books about indie publishing.

    Originally, I thought I wanted a traditional publisher for my next books, but now I’m thinking of going back to my indie publishing roots. I will still have an editor and a graphic designer; and I may hire a company to format my books. But beyond that I can release my work myself, on a schedule that I set, with total autonomy regarding the topics I cover. And if I don’t have a traditional publisher, there will be no question or debate about who owns the copyright (me) and I can set my own prices. (Translation: I can charge less than what a traditional publisher would charge because I won’t have to share the profit with them.)

    So now my next step is to decide what topics I want to cover in my next batch of work, and start figuring out how many e-books I will be writing next year as a result. I have a feeling this means I’m going to have a wall covered in sticky notes in the near future.

  • Day 75/90 – Touring Fox 10 Phoenix

    Day 75 of the 90 Days of Awesome is in the bank! What made today awesome? I got take a tour of the Fox 10 Phoenix station with Jeff Moriarty.

    Some things never change.
    Some things never change.

    Jeff is my partner in crime, and he is also the Director of Social Media for Fox 10 Phoenix. He’s been a bugging me for months to come down to the station for a tour, and I’ve been putting it off, mainly because you never know when breaking news is going to happen and I didn’t want to be in the way. He finally got me down there this week.

    I'm flying!
    I’m flying!

    I got to visit Fox 10 a few weeks ago when I was on Fox News Now, but I didn’t get the full tour of the facility. Jeff showed me all the ins and outs of the station including the back hallways, editing rooms, and the sets where they do the morning and evening news programs. I was really nervous walking through the building, because I didn’t want to touch anything or speak too loudly in case it would disrupt someone’s work.

    The sets for the news were really awesome – they are all in one room. I was intimidated by all the equipment – especially the boom camera and the robotic camera. Yes, they have a robotic camera that can be controlled remotely. Even though they weren’t shooting a show at the time, I was afraid it was going to wake up and move around. Jeff, of course, was comfortable in our surroundings and encouraged me to take pictures on the sets and with the green screen.

    Again, I felt like I was invading someone else’s world, but I’m glad I got a behind-the-scenes look at the station. It seemed like a place where I could become comfortable if I worked there and the things that intimidated me as a visitor could become commonplace equipment and activities.

    In case you missed it: Day 74 of the 90 Days of Awesome – I got to be a guest on the Russ on the Radio show!