After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1976, Sachar moved to Norwalk, Connecticut, where he worked at a sweater warehouse during the day and began writing his first book at night. He was fired from the job almost a year later and decided to go to law school.
Sachar attended Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, California, and during his first week of law school, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, a book of short stories about kids who attended a thirty-story elementary school with one classroom on each floor, was accepted for publication. Sachar was unsure what he should do — be a lawyer or a writer. He did what most people would think the "sensible" thing and continued with his law degree, but Sachar continued to write children's books throughout law school. He graduated in 1980 with a law degree and passed the California Bar Exam, which allowed him to practice law in the state of California. He was not as excited about this accomplishment as his friends were; now he had no excuse for not getting a "real" job. Because Sachar's love was writing, he decided to continue writing children's books and to support himself by working part-time as a lawyer.
Soon after passing the California Bar Exam, Sachar met Carla Askew, an elementary school counselor (and Sachar's inspiration for the counselor in There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom). They lived together in a small one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco. Because they lived in such close quarters, and because Sachar needed to be alone when he was writing, Carla, who was very supportive of Sachar, would wake up early and leave the apartment, even when she was on vacation from school. Between 1981 and 1987, Sachar wrote Johnny's in the Basement, Someday Angeline, Sixth Grade Secrets, and There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. He married Carla in 1985, and their daughter, Sherre, was born in 1987. Sachar's books were selling well; finally, in 1989, he was able to stop practicing law and become a full-time writer.
