An Investment in Uncertainty

Yesterday as we were lawyering up, our lawyer said something to me that hit just the right note.

We were in setting up our Wills and I asked about digital rights and whether I should be mentioning them in my will. Of course, she became curious about what sort of digital rights I had. So I explained that I was doing some writing that was not yet published, but that at some point it might be and the copyrights may be something that should be passed on. (Her recommendation was that I incorporate at some future point and all my business things would be mentioned in my will and become part of my estate, etc, etc. Basically, she wasn’t too worried about digital rights.) Anyway, as we were leaving her office, she asked me what I had been writing. At this point, I was a touch worried. Did lawyer-client confidentiality apply when we were standing outside her office? See, the thing is that very few people know I am writing (I don’t want the pressure and can’t handle the snoopiness from people I know–silly, eh?) and we live in a small town. For example, my husband used to work with the lawyer’s mother and he obtains services from the lawyer’s father and our daughter used to go to the same babysitter as the lawyer’s kids from time to time. In fact, our daughter had a bit of a crush on her son. Small world. Gossip travels faster than light, etc, etc. So I explained simply, “novels.”

But lawyers are curious critters. She prompted me for what kinds of novels. Really, lawyers know all sorts of ways to ask  questions and have no worries about doing so in order to get the answers they want. They can get really specific and direct so all you can do is answer truthfully. Dang, my diversion techniques and generalities were not satisfying her! I could feel myself blushing–especially when my husband stepped in and informed the lawyer that I was selling myself short. He’s so sweet. I brushed it all off with a comment along the lines of it being a bit of a long shot and that it takes a lot of time and work. She looked at me and kindly said, “It’s an investment in uncertainty, isn’t it?” And it totally is.

And it sure is a wonderful one.