A different kind of post today….
I often read other writers work and wonder how they were able to express their inner pain and struggles, their passions and regrets, their fears and anxieties in a way that bears their soul. Bears it so humbly… so raw… I feel it’s writing naked.
Not literally of course… well maybe some do, but I mean it in a proverbial sense. I mean it because I dream of writing in this capacity.
It’s scary. Laying oneself out bare and open. Do we ever really write what we think? Do we bare our inner soul’s minds deepest, darkest thoughts?
Our hates.
Our loves.
Our fears.
Our demons.
Our tempest soul?
I think I worry too much what people will think of me. Although for the most part I don’t really care what people think of me. Oxymoron???
The dirt is clean.
The dirt of the mind… is it clean?
Writing naked.
We are self-protecting creatures by nature. Whether it be our ego that steps up and screams, “NO YOU DON’T!”
Writing naked.
We are self-preserving creatures by nature. Our mind won’t allow the door of our heart to swing wide open.
Writing naked.
We are self-fulfilling creatures by nature. We can make what we believe happen if we believe it hard enough.
The tempest of the mind is screaming. The mistakes. The anguish. The tears that have soiled the bed.
What is writing naked really?
What does it matter when the chances of someone reading it is slim to none?
Until next time,
Jean
Wren In The Willows 
Jean, whether or not you put your ‘naked writing’ out there for anyone else to read is your decision, in the end. However, writers need to write, perhaps even have to write. It is your therapy, your outlet for what roils inside of you, bad or good. If you think your words will hurt another then you may want to keep them unpublished but you need to write them down so that you get it said. It is said that writers exorcise their own demons and I know it is true for me. After my husband recently died I wrote for hours a day for two years. It helped me through grief. However, my children finally had to ask me to not write in the evening, or to write and not blog it, because it was too difficult for them to read. I continued to write at night but I kept them in a separate folder. There is a lot of pain in that folder, but it isn’t inside of me anymore and it is excruciatingly honest work, and necessary.
Keep writing. Writers are artists and art opens us up and makes us vulnerable to everything but it also shows others the door so they may open themselves up as well to seeing and knowing deep truths.
Thanks so much for sharing your heart with me here… I so appreciate the encouragement and kind words…
I’ve had to take this hiatus from writing with the events that recently transpired in my life… but I’m feeling my soul come alive again…
Many blessings to you…
Jean
Well put Jean. It’s this self preservation that stops me cold. Something I wrote as a teen caused my step mom to get really angry. It terrified me & still does. I’m trying to get the courage to write again. It’s really shocking to know that something so long ago has echoed this far into my adulthood. I think your writing is quite inspired and inspiring. Thanks!
OH Eileen… that is so touching… thanks so much for sharing that with me.
I believe that you can… just do it… put pen in hand or fingers on keys… it will pour out of your soul…
Jean
Lovely post, Jean. Your writing is poignant and personal, as all good writing should be. At some point in all writers’ lives, I think we come to a place where we are not our writing. Then we can write without feeling naked anymore.
Peace~
Thanks a lot Caroline… that means a lot to me coming from you.
Peace to you as well… and love,
Jean
I would think it would show both vulnerability and strength. It’s a way of releasing things that are bound up inside. It connects us to others who aren’t able to put similar thoughts into words, whether public or private. “If you write it, they will read …”
Thanks so much Marie… that is so very kind of you.
I try to write from my heart… and share real life…
thanks for sharing,
Jean