Expose yourself

No, I don’t mean get naked.

I mean, put your inner most feelings and thoughts into your writing.

For a long time, I didn’t talk about myself, at least not directly. For a long time, even my closest friends didn’t know much about my life, especially the ugly parts.

We all have a degree of unease about being exposed for some of our fears, some of our thoughts, some of our ideas. We just don’t want others to see the weaker side. We put our best foot forward.

Now is a good time to leave that baggage behind. 

Toss it in the landfill if you have to but before you do, open it up, study its contents, pull out what you need (the best and the worst) and put it in your writing then toss the rest aside.

Your inner self belongs, in your writing.

Once you put those memories on the page, you can cut, embellish and edit, but get them out there so they can make your characters and your plot come alive. Identify your protagonist or villain with these feelings and don’t hold back.

You’ll be amazed at how much better you and your writing become.