Write Naked

There’s an acclaimed writer named Denis Johnson who had three rules for writing and for life, and his first rule was that writers should “Write Naked.”

Though it’s fun to imagine yourself sitting at the desk au naturel for all the world to see, that wasn’t quite what Johnson had in mind. What he meant, he explained, was that writers should let themselves feel vulnerable and exposed—because that will make our writing more honest, vivid and powerful.

It’s great advice! But what if it might also help our writing to … actually … write naked?

It’s easy for us writers to get stuck in our heads. We stumble out of bed, stare at our computer all day, and lose ourselves inside our own imaginations. We wander around talking to ourselves, sometimes out loud, and we can go whole days without talking to other people. Heck, we can go whole days without changing out of our pyjamas.

This makes it dangerously easy for us to think of ourselves as just a brain, and to forget that our brain is attached to a body. “I’m in my head,” we say, to explain that certain writerly trance-state we fall into. And our success or failure as a writer often depends on that brain—on being cerebral, on being “smart.”

But our success as a writer also depends on the body!

Writing, after all, is about expressing feeling, and about evoking emotions from a reader. Feelings and emotions come from the body—from our nerves and our hormones and the rush of blood in our veins and the thrumming of our heart and the sinking in our belly and electrical tingle on our skin. Feelings are literally a result of being sensual: of the senses. And that means the best writing—the most vibrant, powerful, resonant writing—is sensual, too.

Sensual writing isn’t the same as “sexy” writing (though sexy writing is almost always sensual!). Sensual writing is writing that allows the reader to feel those words and images in their own bodies, so they have an experience that is more than just intellectual.

If you’re a writer, you want to be able to write sensually! And to do this, you have to stay in touch with your own feelings of sensuality. You can’t let yourself become just a brain. You have to remember that you’re also a body.

We as humans are mind, body, and heart. Our mind is our intellect. Our body is our sensuality. And our heart is our passion. When we engage all three, when we keep them in balance, it’s so powerful: a spark of life and vibrancy shines through everything we do.

Mind, body, and heart.

When we engage all three in sex, it becomes magical. When we engage all three in writing, it becomes genius.

And it works the other way, too: when you’re not feeling your best self—when your mind or your body or your heart aren’t fully engaged—it shows. If you’re not feeling your best self, then you won’t write your best stuff, either. If you’re not feeling vibrant and strong and sensual, your writing is likely to be equally  weak, lifeless and bland. If you write with only half of your heart engaged, the feelings communicated through your writing will be half hearted as well.

This is why you can’t ever forget that you’re a body, pulsing with appetites and desires. Don’t shut these down! Turn them up! Your appetites and desires are like nuclear fuel that radiate into everything else you do. Let yourself feel—and enjoy!—every little sensation: the smells and tastes of your morning coffee, the feel of your feet as they hit the cool floor, the weight of the pen in your hand, the tingle as you brush your hair off your face and let your finger run down your neck. Don’t be afraid to set aside time just to feel—to feel the rain, to feel the hot bath water, to feel the sensations whenever you touch yourself.

To write sensually, you have to stay in touch with your own feelings of sensuality.  The more you can wake these feelings, the more you can channel them—transform them- into words, your writing, and every other aspect of your life.

Don’t settle for being passionate just in the bedroom. Be passionate in all the rooms, in all the work you do, in all the art you create- and share that passion with others.  After all, that’s what writing is about. It’s our way of feeling alive and connected instead of floundering in the universe alone with our words. Writing is a way to emotionally,  intimately connect with our fellow human beings. It’s how we share our deepest experiences and passions, so we feel less alone.

The best way to be a brilliant writer? Write naked.

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Beth Liebling is many things—a former board-certified family lawyer, host of the radio show/podcast “Love and Laughter with Beth” (ESPN Houston 97.5Fm and Itunes), author of the new book “Love and Laughter: Sexy (Meaningful) Fun for Everyone.” A mother of five, and a grandmother of one, Beth is the family-forward founder of Darling Way, an elegantly romantic, playfully sexy, luxury boutique in the historic Houston Heights. Visit her at darlingway.com.

Beth has extensive experience speaking publicly, most obviously on her own radio show and on her additional weekly appearance on “The Blitz”, both on ESPN Houston Radio 97.5fm. She also leads workshops and discussions regularly in Houston at Darling Way and other venues, has been a speaker at B2B conferences and is a regular guest on other radio/tv shows and podcasts. She broke down unspoken barriers in Dallas when she was invited by BC/BS to speak at their Active Living Expo for Senior Citizens about “Passion at any Age”.

Love and Laughter: Sexy (Meaningful) Fun for Everyone

This is a book about sex—but it’s also about joy, intimacy, romance, and how a healthier, more playful attitude about sex can revitalize your relationships and enrich your entire life.

This book will answer your questions about love and companionship, but also about learning to love your body, experience more sensual pleasure, and how to make your marriage last another fifty years. Whether you’ve just started a relationship or you’ve been together for decades, whether you haven’t had sex in months or you just had sex this morning, this book will help make your relationships more affectionate, silly, exciting, sexy and, most of all, fun.

Beth Liebling spent years working as a board-certified divorce attorney before her own divorce—after twenty-two years of marriage—led her to start thinking about relationships differently.

“How can couples revive their marriage instead of end it? How can they keep laughing with each other instead of growing apart? And how much of it has to do with sex?”

Her answers to these questions led her to open Darling Way, a sexy luxury boutique in the historic Houston Heights where she’s been helping people discover sensuality and its central role in love and relationships, and she’s also been sharing what she’s learned on radio, as host of “Love & Laughter with Beth” on ESPN Houston.

Now you too can share in Beth’s secrets about relationships and happiness, and learn how to have more sexy, meaningful fun in your relationships and in your life.

Beth is a mother of five, a grandmother of one, and, most of all, a romantic who believes in passionate love forever—and wants to help everyone to create it.

Tags: featured

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips