One day I woke up with an insatiable desire to strip. Not clothing, but layers of emotional protection that were crushing me like a lead weight.

I’d had that dream the night before.  You know the one.  That one where you’re standing there naked, in public, with all eyes on you.  Time stands still as you desperately search for the nearest exit.  And then you wake up.

I suspect that everyone has experienced this dream and that is what The Naked Notebook is about:  shared emotion, shared struggles, shared connections.  Authenticity.  It is not sugar-coated creative expression.  It is the raw struggle to let go of perfection.  To stand in front of everyone in that dream and say, “Here I am!  Join me! There is nothing that needs to be covered up!”

All my life I have overworked and over-edited in the pursuit of artistic perfection, wanting to share only the best of the best.  Nothing ever seemed good enough so instead I shared nothing at all.  Now, I am letting the need for perfection fall to the floor.  I will share whatever appears.  No filter.  No cover-up.  Just naked art.

The Naked Notebook is an experiment in vulnerability. It is for anyone afraid to bare their soul; for anyone whose voice has been stifled; for anyone who’s opted for safety over risk; for anyone who’s covered up their authenticity.  For anyone interested in stripping away life’s layers one day at a time, down to the naked truth, The Naked Notebook is for you.

CPA by day.  Artist, writer, photographer by night. 

I am an accounting and finance professional with a passion for creative expression.  This blog was created to foster my personal mission statement:  To facilitate change and inspire possibility.

I’m a recent graduate of Saint Leo University’s low-residency Master of Arts in Creative Writing cohort, which gives aspiring fiction writers, essayists, memoirists, and poets the tools to begin a new phase of their creative life as a professional writer.