writing/pulling teeth

i am currently working on a brief for my lawyering class. this is a class in which we essentially are pretending to be lawyers who are much more responsible to their clients than we probably will be for years, unless we get involved in some non-profit direct service work (i do want to do public interest, but not so much direct services). in this exercise, we are writing a brief about the indian child welfare act, specifically its implementation in california, and then arguing it in front of a "judge." the judges are either actual judges or established lawyers, and i am lucky/unlucky enough to be arguing in front of an actual judge. i think it should be really interesting, and the topic is really quite compelling, but i have been trying to write this brief over spring break and it is incredibly slow going. i don't even remember the last time i've found it this hard to get words down on paper. i think it's a result of there being so much material to research that i am struggling to synthesize it into actual arguments. i wish i could just argue what i think about a case instead of actually have to provide information to back up what i'm saying--that would be much better for me.

at least there's plenty of basketball to keep me distracted.