{"id":9121,"date":"2014-05-19T08:25:57","date_gmt":"2014-05-18T22:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/?p=9121"},"modified":"2014-04-29T19:19:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-29T09:19:27","slug":"being-naked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/being-naked\/","title":{"rendered":"Being Naked"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Our<\/a>

Our old balcony.<\/p><\/div>\n

A few years ago, my husband and I were living in a tiny unit with our two young kids, and it was bathtime. Our bathroom had so little ventilation that unless we left both the window and door open, mould would grow on the ceiling from trapped steam. While Hubbie bathed the kids, I was going to have a shower, so I explained the open door requirement to my mum and brother, visiting at the time from England, and they agreed to remain on the small balcony off our kitchen.<\/p>\n

Or so I thought.<\/p>\n

My brother clearly figured he\u2019d do some work while we were in the bathroom, so took his laptop onto the balcony… not realising its battery was low in power. Of course his power cord was in the lounge and to reach it he\u2019d have to pass the open \u2013 bathroom \u00ad\u2013 door.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>

Our old bathroom.<\/p><\/div>\n

I was already in the shower at this point, immersed under a stream of yummy hot water, and I\u2019m renowned in our family for being very quick to get ready, including having a shower. So do you think my brother waited five minutes until the coast was clear? Do you suppose he considered how embarrassed I\u2019d feel if he saw me naked in the shower? Of course not! He\u2019s a workaholic! So he dashed into the lounge hoping I wouldn\u2019t notice.<\/p>\n

But I did.<\/p>\n

And I screamed.<\/p>\n

I was horrified. I felt exposed. The steam probably cloaked me, and from memory he scuttled eyes-to-the-floor so he wouldn\u2019t see anything (not that I’ve got anything to hide of course!), but I was still upset. Being naked is probably one of the most vulnerable states a person can be in (unless they\u2019ve a loaded gun), second only to\u2026 writing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Every time I send my writing out into the world I feel just as naked \u2013 which is strange… It\u2019s strange because my characters are their own selves. Their adventures are not mine. And yet I feel as if I\u2019m exposing myself, just as I did that day in the shower.<\/p>\n

People say that writing is a business, and I agree with that on a certain level. Publishing is most definitely a business \u2013 buy, buy, sell, sell, what works, what doesn\u2019t. Writing, however, is performed by artists and we are sensitive creatures offering our art up for others\u2019 judgment and in doing so making ourselves vulnerable.<\/p>\n

I took a risk that day when my brother and mum were visiting, a risk that they might not listen to my request to stay away from the bathroom for ten minutes. It didn\u2019t pay off. Sending stories out into the world presents a similar risk \u2013 will readers hear the story I have to tell, or will their view of my world be blinkered? Writers never know unless they keep taking risks, so I suppose that makes us risk-takers. But why do we do it?<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t remember why I chose to have a shower that day when my brother was visiting, though in the end I know I definitely got what I wanted \u2013 I got clean! So what it worth the risk? Yes, because the end result made it so.<\/p>\n

Is it the same with writing? Does the end result of sharing our stories with readers make the risk of being vulnerable and exposed worthwhile?<\/p>\n

Of course it does.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we writers keep doing it \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago, my husband and I were living in a tiny unit with our two young kids, and it was bathtime. Our bathroom had so little ventilation that unless we left both the window and door open, mould would grow on the ceiling from trapped steam. While Hubbie\u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[866,869,870,867,868,709,712],"class_list":["post-9121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writer-advice","tag-naked","tag-publishing-business","tag-sensitive-artists","tag-shower","tag-vulnerable","tag-writers","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9121"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9133,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9121\/revisions\/9133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenashapter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}