Being Naked Is an Ugly Truth for Writers

A writer’s journey in finding his writing ritual

The pandemic has given my writer self a new lease in life. I stopped writing except for a few tweets, I stopped posting on Facebook. I stopped journaling. I stopped writing anything on paper. I just stopped writing. I can’t remember how that came to be, maybe it was writer’s block.

Being at home now like everyone else, after finishing seasons after seasons of K-dramas and six months into the pandemic I am back at writing. It gives me personal satisfaction to be able to finish an article in one sitting and have another idea for the next one. Suddenly, I’m back as a writer and I’m loving it.

I realized a few things about my writing style, that is has become more honest. I used to write and edit in my head at the same time. Now, I write and if it’s done, that’s the only time I edit.

I also found that I need to write some funny stuff, random silliness I call them, either on Facebook or Twitter, it is enough that I get to laugh at myself and then the words will flow for the articles I write. I also have coffee, more cups than usual. I tried to cut down on coffee and even shared my failed experiment in an article here.

Most of the things I write now are personal experiences and it allows me to share to the world a glimpse of my true self, it is almost being naked for the very first time.

“Writing is a socially acceptable form of getting naked in public.”― Paulo Coelho

One day, I decided to experiment as part of my journey into finding my writing ritual. The other creative thing I stopped doing was taking photographs. I used to be a professional photographer, and I have always been a portrait photographer. I love taking pictures of people, capturing their emotions, and finding out their story.

With no one else around to take pictures of, I decided to do self-portraits, but I asked myself, what if I take self nudes? I never did nude photography the whole time I was very much deep into photography.

It became a challenge, a hard decision to make, as part of me doesn’t want to do it, the ego is telling me a thousand reasons why I shouldn’t, that it is foolish and that I may not like what I see.

But I took a deep breath and start conceptualizing the shoot, it has to be honest. It has to be me, it has to capture the real me, and it has to be me fully naked.

I prepared the camera, the smartphone app as my camera remote control, so I can see from the smartphone how the photograph will look like and also it will trigger the camera shutter when I am ready to shoot.

I only have my ring light, which also helped me a lot as I write on the laptop, a great tip I want to share with all of the writers around the world. I discovered having a lower light source helps my eyes.

The photoshoot

To be naked around the room, felt uncomfortable in the beginning. I focused on the photoshoot, the pose, the position of the light, and the aperture and shutter speed to use, being in a low light situation calls for the camera to be on a tripod. And I was doing all of these things, fully naked.

I am ready, I am satisfied with my framing. I took a test shot just to see if everything is what I imagined it to be, the technical details have to be perfect for my taste.

Everything looked fine so there was I naked, and ready for the first shot, and another, and a few more. I was directing myself, to move, to tilt the head, do the hand placement. I was the subject, the muse.

After a couple of shots, I checked the photos and it didn’t even enter my mind to get dressed. I’m also unaware that I was still completely naked.

The whole creative process was giving me a sense of euphoria, a different high. I start writing about the whole experience and shared a Facebook post to my friends, and I even posted my nude photo which I found to be a very brave act on my part.

After doing my nude self-portraits, it liberated me, part of my self-discovery not only has it opened up my mind and spirit, but the floodgates of creativity have now been wide open.

So writing in the nude has become part of my writing ritual. It is not unique to myself as other writers have been known to write their best works naked, Hemingway and Victor Hugo come to mind.

A writer friend told me once, to find my voice, to sometimes distance myself from the things I write as sometimes truth needed to be told harshly, but she also told me her best works are when she is burning with passion, when her voice comes out loud in her writing and when she is as naked as she can be in sharing her truth.

Tell your story with honesty and with no filter, and get out of your clothes as you write and be naked.