It’s been said, probably to others, but somewhere to me as well, that you can’t write anything that anyone will care to read until you learn to write nakedly. To put yourself out there, and expose yourself in whatever it is you’re saying or sharing. I don’t agree one hundred percent, but I agree enough to believe it. Which isn’t to say that I can’t keep folks interested without taking off my pants, but only that people will only truly be interested when I show them my pant-less writing sessions. That’s right, I have those posts but I’m not inclined nor obligated to post them. So it goes.
In the old days of Internet writing, when it was reasonable to be anonymous, I maintained pages of posts where I wrote more freely, but still kept the more honest words to myself. Only to admit, my dearest compadres know where to read me. Perhaps someday I’ll be willing to share the same with all of you. In the mean time, we’ll have to agree and settle on these words I place here. No hard feelings, no lost emotions. Just one opinion to another.
Assuming, though, that you’re not hear to read about things of which I’ve never written, but rather to figure out how to write better than you do now — know that exposing yourself is the path to faithful readers. People want to relate to writers/others that are not perfect. Share your stories, share your faults. In the not so famous words of writer/rapper Ice Cube, "do your thang, man, fuck what they lookin’ at."
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None Naked Writing was first posted to justinll.com on April 6, 2009.
With the Internet, whatever you do will be recorded somewhere, but I really don’t care. I am who I am online and off. It comes through in all mediums, it is something I could not control if I wanted to.
I think it would be too hard to keep the two lives separate. There are just more people online to like or dislike you or the things you say, but again that doesn’t matter to me.
Say what you want and fuck everyone else 🙂
It just seems like it’s becoming increasingly important to watch what you say as more and more folks learn how to read on the web. It’s one thing to be controversial, but probably less okay to be outright offensive. At least from the point of view of an employer.
but yea, for the most part I agree, be yourself and say what you want
I get the metaphor.
Do you think it would be beneficial to write naked? I heard Toni Tony Tone would perform naked before a concert to ease the fear. Maybe write sans underworn and get the good thoughts out before the bad ones know they’re gone.
Just a thought, but I would like to read what you “Really” think about certain issues.
@Hans,
Supposedly the problem is that those certain issues you’re referring to are not the issues I’ll take interest in writing about. Which isn’t to say I can’t express my opinion freely, just that I take less pleasure in writing about those topics. And this is all on the assumption that we’re somehow not talking about the same thing which we’re agreeing not to “Really” write about.