Found Voices™ Episode 5: Start With A Bug On A Leaf

What do you do when you don't know where to start writing? You have an idea. A story you want to tell. Or, you don't, but you know you want to, you have to, you need to write. So what do you do? Where do you start? You start with a bug on a leaf. In this episode, I explain what it means to start with a bug on a leaf & offer tips to get you unstuck, so you can write yourself out of the trap of 'writer's block.' Thanks for listening. And Write On, Carolyn. Best to listen with headphones. Enjoy!

Transcript

Oh boy,

Do I dig this music.

Welcome to Found Voices.

I'm Carolyn Ziehl.

Episode five,

Start with a bug on a leaf.

So about a week or so ago,

I was in my writing class.

I've been taking the same writing class with my teacher.

I've been studying with him since 2008.

Anyway,

We used to meet in a classroom in West LA,

And now we meet via Zoom.

And so the early birds come in early,

Like we used to in the classroom.

And we schmooze.

We talk about writing.

We talk about our weeks.

And on this particular day,

The early birds are schmoozing,

As per usual.

Jack has his camera on,

But he's not really participating yet.

He's not on screen.

So one of the early birds poses a question to those of us who are in the Zoom room already.

She climbed Mount Kilimanjaro,

And she's been really wanting to write about it.

It was a significant experience,

As you could guess,

In her life.

And she doesn't know how to start.

She says,

Every time I start,

I get stuck.

I mean,

I have a few journal entries about it,

But I don't know where to go or where it's going.

Before I continue,

I want to define what I mean by journal entry.

So in my classes,

We discuss a boatload of different techniques,

Tools,

Foundational tools to make you a better writer,

To help you find your voice,

To help you create scenes.

I teach how to build character through voice,

How character moves your story along.

And these are all taught through your assignments to write a journal entry,

Not the kind of journal entry that Julia Cameron speaks about when she talks about morning pages,

Which morning pages are amazing.

You dump your thoughts,

Your feelings.

You go from thought to thought,

And you just release and create space and learn about yourself.

And sure,

You can learn about yourself in the journal entries that I assign.

But in those journal entries,

We are focusing on a specific tool,

A specific technique,

A specific writer.

And you are practicing not just dumping your thoughts and feelings,

But instead,

You're practicing your craft.

You're practicing a tool.

And the goal is to make you a better writer.

So when you write a journal entry,

And then another journal entry,

And then another journal entry,

This is how you create and build out and write your novel,

Your memoir,

Your book of short stories,

Your book of flash fiction,

A screenplay.

Basically,

These journal entries are about 500 words,

And they build on each other.

And eventually,

With enough journal entries,

You have your novel,

Your memoir,

Your whatever it is that has come from these journal entries.

But the focus of these journal entries is not the product,

But it's the process.

And that's something to really remember as I continue sharing a little bit about this story.

So back to my fellow student and friend,

The climber of Mount Kilimanjaro.

So she's talking about how she just has a few journal entries,

But she doesn't know where this story about Kilimanjaro is going.

And she doesn't know how to start.

And this is when Jack comes into the room.

But before he settles in,

My husband,

Who happens to be right behind me in the kitchen,

Remember it's very early in the morning,

He is making his coffee,

And he turns and tosses over to the camera these words.

Start with a bug on a leaf.

So another little side note I must add here.

My husband,

I would say,

Has been,

Through me,

Learning all the levels and tools of method writing since 2008.

Because the poor guy,

He hears me in class.

Now,

Since we've been on Zoom,

He hears me teach.

But I also follow him through the house and chase him into the backyard,

Reading my assignments to him so he knows what's what.

So let's take a moment and think about,

You're writing about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro,

But you're going to start with a bug on a leaf.

How do you do that?

And what does that even mean,

Really?

So now Jack comes in,

He's settled,

And he turns on his microphone and says,

Bill is exactly right.

Here's why,

Here's what it means,

And here's how to do it.

You just start writing.

Neil Gaiman says,

This is how you do it.

You sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it's done.

It's that easy and that hard.

Starting with a bug on a leaf means you turn toward your journal and you just write.

You put yourself back where you want to be.

Put yourself back on that mountain.

Put yourself back on that boat in that life experience.

Or put yourself back in nothingness,

Because maybe you have no idea what to write about.

You put your pen to the page,

Look around you,

Pay attention to the details,

And start writing.

Because eventually you will write yourself to what you want to say.

So whether you're putting yourself back into that experience,

Closing your eyes,

Looking around and seeing what you see before you step foot onto the trail up the mountain,

Or you set foot onto the boat that you're going to sail across the Pacific,

Or whatever,

Or maybe you just start where you are in the moment and see what happens.

Focus on the details.

I never give my students a topic to write about.

I just give them a technique,

A tool,

A writer,

Some exercise to practice.

I teach my students not to write about something,

But just to write.

So let's pretend it's your story and you're writing about that bug on a leaf.

You don't try to write about your climb up the mountain,

Up Mount Kilimanjaro.

Instead,

You just write about anything at all that happens to catch your attention in the particular moment that you happen to be writing.

You put your pen to your page,

And maybe you start by diving into the flavor of your coffee and how you only buy beans from Tanzania now,

A nice pea berry,

Because the coffee there changed your life.

Or maybe it was the climb,

And then you're off.

That's the bug on the leaf.

You just write.

You don't worry about where it's going.

You don't worry about where you're going to get and when it's going to end and how it's going to end.

It's not about writing anything in order or even writing about a particular subject.

You're just writing,

And you have to trust,

As Julia Cameron puts it,

What wants to be written will be written.

So we start with the bug on the leaf or your Tanzania beans,

And you go from there.

So I think that gal in my class was overthinking it,

As we all tend to do.

As a lot of people who come to me for one-on-one writing,

Coaching,

Teaching for my classes,

They come in,

And they say things like,

I have this great idea.

I have all these ideas.

I want to write this particular story.

I'm stuck on my story because I don't know how to write it,

Because I don't know what order to put it in.

Do I just sit down and write at the beginning and move to the end?

I don't know if it's going to be short stories.

I don't know if it's going to be essays.

I don't know if it's going to be a memoir or fiction.

And what happens is we get stuck in our brains.

We get stuck in this loop of how we think we're supposed to do it,

Of how it's supposed to look.

And then there's the added pressure of wanting to make money as a writer,

Which,

Of course,

All writers want to make money as writers.

Maybe not all,

But most.

And then comes into question the topic and what you're writing about and your target audience and who you're writing for.

But if that's what we're focusing on,

If we're focusing on who's going to read our writing and if they're going to enjoy,

And if we're writing for them and not ourselves,

Something will be lost.

And that will be our heart and our voice.

So let me break in here for a minute because I know that there are many,

Many people who make a living as a writer.

And what that means is you have a deadline.

You have something you have to write about by a certain time because you're getting paid for it.

And so when that happens,

The way you write might shift a little bit.

Does that mean you can't start with a bug on a leaf?

No.

Let's say you write a newsletter every week to a target audience.

I do.

And my newsletter,

Every week,

I start with a bug on a leaf.

And when I get paid to write something,

I still start with a bug on a leaf.

But that's not to say that you don't start with a specific topic in mind.

There is somewhere we know we need to get when we're being paid.

So I just thought it was really important to mention that here,

That there are exceptions to every rule.

And you can still start with a bug on a leaf.

So I will continue.

In regard to voice,

In regard to finding your voice on the page,

When you focus on trying to write for someone else,

You won't be writing for yourself.

You might not be able to find your voice because you're focusing outside of yourself.

If you're writing only because you think you're writing something that will draw people in,

You think you're targeting a specific audience,

And you're skipping over what really,

Really interests you,

What you're curious about,

What your heart wants to write about,

And you can listen to episode four,

Write Your Heart Out,

Where I address that a little bit more deeply.

But if you start and you're trying to write for a specific audience,

Or you're trying to write a specific story in a specific order,

You're just going to get stuck.

You're going to hit that proverbial writer's block wall,

Thick cement cinder block wall,

And you'll stop.

And of course,

If you're being paid and you have a deadline,

You can't stop.

So what do you do?

You focus on the bug on a leaf.

And just write.

And let go of the order.

Let go of your story.

Let go of trying to write like a writer.

Let go of anything other than putting that pen to the page and exploring and getting curious and trusting.

That's when the magic happens.

Anne Rice said,

On writing,

My advice is the same to all.

If you want to be a writer,

Write.

Write and write and write.

If you stop,

Start again.

Save everything that you write.

If you feel blocked,

Write through it until you feel your creative juices flowing again.

Write.

Writing is what makes you a writer.

Nothing more,

Nothing less.

When we sit with our pen hovering over our page,

Worrying about what to write about,

We're not writing.

We're worrying.

You write that you saw a bug on a leaf.

In the sun,

The bug gleamed silver and green.

It had no wings.

You wondered,

How did it get here?

You've never seen such a bug.

And the leaf held the bug,

Cradled it even.

And the sun was warm.

And the air was cool.

And you wondered.

You hoped you were prepared,

Ready for the climb ahead.

And as you started,

You thought about the bug and wondered if maybe you needed a little bit more support,

Like that leaf cradling that bug.

You wondered how long it took that bug to make the trek to that leaf,

And how long you'd be trekking to the top.

And you wondered,

Who might cradle you and who's been carrying you thus far?

So you start with a bug on a leaf,

And you write.

And when you write and you're stuck,

You write about how you were stuck maybe on the mountain.

You incorporate that stuckness,

That stickiness into your character.

Okay,

I know what you're going to say,

But what if I'm writing a memoir?

What do you mean character?

I'm the character.

Yes,

You're the character.

But you still need to be compelling on the page.

When you're a character,

Or you're creating a fictional character,

It doesn't matter,

It's still writing.

And you want it to be good writing.

You want your character,

Whether it's you or someone else,

To be compelling.

And you do this through voice.

Voice creates character.

Character derives the story or the plot.

Whether you're stuck in your life,

Whether you're stuck in the trail,

Whether you're stuck in the body,

You can incorporate this.

I've done this.

My narrator has been stuck.

She didn't know what to do next,

Until she did.

You write yourself out of it.

You can edit anything later.

Just write.

I've said this before,

And I'm sure I'll say it again.

Hemingway wrote 500 words a day,

Approximately two pages.

When he knew where his characters were going,

Or what was going to happen next,

That's when he stepped away.

Because then he had a starting point for the next day.

If you were to write 500 words,

Starting with a bug on a leaf,

Every day,

By the end of the year,

You'd have quite a few pages,

And over 182,

000 words.

A lot of words.

And sure,

All those words won't wind up in your finished product,

But you'll have the words.

You'll have your block of marble,

And then you'll carve out from there.

I'll leave you with these final thoughts.

Leonardo da Vinci said,

"'Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

' Sometimes we try too hard.

We're trying to tell our story.

We're trying to write like a writer.

Instead,

I invite you to turn toward your blank page,

Focus on your bug on a leaf,

Whether it's your beans from Tanzania,

Or truly a bug on a leaf in your garden,

And see where it takes you.

Focus on the details of your life,

And allow them to take you on a magical writer's journey,

Into your own heart,

Into your curiosity.

" Thanks for listening to episode five of Found Voices.

I'd love to hear what you think about these episodes.

Leave a comment,

Be kind.

And of course,

If you have a specific topic that interests you,

That you'd love for me to address,

In a future Found Voices podcast,

Please let me know.

You can message me anytime.

And in the meantime,

Thank you so much,

And write on.

I'll see you next time.

Reviews

Very helpful. I am a teacher and I think this could really help my students.

Just what I needed to hear tonight

Loved it. I was a attracted it by the title. I’m not a writer and it was still helpful to me. Thank you.

Haha.. “write on” 😛 . That was great, thanks, Carolyn.

🙏🏾🌸🙏🏾🤗❤️🤗 fantastic. Thank you for all the prompts and guidance. Love your work.

Thank you 💜 unique methods and tips that resonated 🙏🏻 will certainly listening to further episodes.

I LOVED this talk!!! Thank you, Carolyn✨✨✨✨✨