Vulnerable

The naked soul of a writer

Like any artist, a writer puts their soul on display for the world to see. Not just the pretty parts, where everyone oohs and ahhs over the lilting beauty of their prose, but the ugly, uncomfortable parts. The parts where you question everything, especially the things you can't seem to wrap your mind around how or why someone would/could do something. So you write a story around it, trying to understand, to see through another person's eyes. Then you fall in love with your characters and you want to share these beautiful people with others. But what will people say when they see what these characters go through, what they survive? Will people see it for what it is? An attempt to understand the world around you. To deal with issues that are too big and overwhelming to comprehend. So you roll it around in your mind, chew on it per se, until you can digest it. Or will people see you as a "sicko" a "madman"? Will they judge you and reject you because of it? Stephen King talks about the rejection and even abuse he received due to his writing, even though he is one of the most popular authors of our time. Being naked and vulnerable is scary, especially when you hear things like that. Am I strong enough to be real, and vulnerable? Or will I retreat back into the safety of anonymity and wrap the blanket of PC and socially acceptable back around myself? But what if my musings, my trying to wrap my head around it, is what someone else needs in order to wrap their head around it, to push through to the other side, to see they're not alone in the darkness? Will I rob them of that, just because I'm scared of being vulnerable? Rejected?

And this is why I write. Even when It's uncomfortable, ugly, vulnerable. We all need to wrap our heads around what we can not understand or handle, and know that we are not alone in trying to come to terms with the parts of life, and death, that we wish didn't exist.