MyShingle Celebrates Its 9th Blawg-i-versary

On December 9, 2002, I launched MyShingle into the blawgosphere with this Welcome Post. At the time, I had no idea where my site was headed but I was excited to join the first generation of legal blawgers, particularly as one of the few solos among them. Over time, the seeds that I planted took root and suddenly, I found myself part of a vibrant community that hadn’t previously existed.
There are a million things that I could write about the big picture of blogging and its place in the legal profession or tips on how to blog. I shared some of my thoughts on my first, fifth and eigth anniversaries. But today, for want of time (it would be bad luck if I didn’t post about my 9th anniversary on December 9th), I’ll leave a personal reflection.

After nine years, there are days when the words won’t come, when my brain simply runs dry of ideas. Where I struggle over a post for an hour or more or get aggravated when something that to me was a masterpiece registers one or two tweets while someone else’s garbage re-circulates 87 times. But there are those days when the words just fly from my mind to my fingers, where I pound out a post or put the right twist on a headline, or where someone else picks up my post and discusses it or where someone tells me that they mustered up the courage to start a law firm after reading my blog. Days like that are still a thrill.

In that respect, blogging is a microcosm of solo practice as well. Every day, we solos toil, battling with nasty opposing counsel or even cheap, obnoxious clients. But every so often, we save someone from jail, keep a person in their home, move a business forward or just make someone’s life a little easier or less scary. Those are the days where practicing law doesn’t even seem like work, but a joy.  The days we live for.

Thank you readers and my fellow bloggers for nine terrific years; thank you solo and small firm lawyers every where for just simply showing up and for helping to make justice a reality.  Always, this blog is for you.