Writing marital history for divorce Attorney

[lighter]

Currently writing marital history for attorney.  Any ideas on what to include and what to leave out?  My idea of a short outline is probably twice as much information as should be included. 

The attorney wants this to
a) bring him up to speed and
b) provide a cathartic experience for his client. 

I was thinking of just handing him copies of things I've already written, diary entries, posts etc and not re writing everything. 

[CB123]

Lighter,

I think you should rewrite it, for two reasons:

One, I think you will be able to write something more succinct and to the point if you have that as your purpose when you are writing.  You are a really good writer, Lighter.  I think you will be able to write something just for this purpose that will be very compelling.

Second, I think you should protect your journal writing.  In journal writing, you are expressing your own voice and you are being open and vulnerable and you don't protect yourself or have an agenda.  I'm afraid that if you turn your journals over to someone who has an agenda, it will change your ability to be yourself when you journal in the future.  I think that that price would be too high.

Just my opinion--hope it helps!

CB

[isittoolate]

I agree with CB...

....for her reasons....
.... and as well, that...

just handing him copies of things I've already written, diary entries, posts etc and not re writing everything.

..does seem a bit 'lazy'? 'not all that 'interested/involved'?

[Stormchild]

lighter, they charge by the hour, and they usually ain't cheap...

that alone is a really good reason for giving him a synopsis in a single document rather than asking him to read several different items.

also, sometimes it happens that when you go back and summarize things, all sorts of stuff jumps out at you - in terms of patterns, underlying possible motives, etc. - that didn't jump out at you before, because you were experiencing it one event at a time before, but when you summarize things you re-experience all events at once.

Just my 2¢...

[lighter]

CB, Izz and Storm:

I feel like I've written and written about it. 

Lazy? 

Eh, perhaps but it's draining and very difficult to write about it any better than I already have.  I suppose I'll use some of the existing stuff as an outline and put brain power into being succinct and on point, for brevities sake and my attorney's benefit. 

It's a bit daunting, actually.  All your points make very good sense CB.  You helped a lot. 

[JanetLG]

Lighter,

I don't think you're being 'lazy', but sometimes procrastination is a defence mechanism when things get too much (which it does sound like is the case just now).

Even though it must be draining, the suggestion of summarising things you've already written sounds like a good one. Is your journal writing hand-written, or on computer? Cutting and pasting, and then editing to be more succinct, is always so much easier than re-writing hand-written stuff 

Janet

[lighter]

Lighter,

I don't think you're being 'lazy', but sometimes procrastination is a defence mechanism when things get too much (which it does sound like is the case just now).

Even though it must be draining, the suggestion of summarising things you've already written sounds like a good one. Is your journal writing hand-written, or on computer? Cutting and pasting, and then editing to be more succinct, is always so much easier than re-writing hand-written stuff 

Janet

I can wrap my mind around that.  Some of the worst stuff is on the computer and I can copy and paste and edit.  Great idea.  Thanks, Janet.