315. Taking Your First Step as a Writer with Paula Whyman

Editor, author, and new plant enthusiast Paula Whyman discusses the first few steps of how to begin writing your story, including the highs, lows, and all her tips for in between.

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https://paulawhyman.com/

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Transcript

Jennia: Hello, I'm Jennia D'Lima. Welcome to Writing and Editing, the author-focused podcast that takes a whole-person approach to everything related to both writing and editing. Sometimes when we're faced with a monumental task like research for our book, editing that book, or even just writing that opening chapter, we might not know where to begin. But Paula Whyman is here to share what she's learned about the importance of taking that first small step, even if you might not know at first what that first small step is.

Jennia: Well, first, I'm thrilled to have you here, Paula!

Paula Whyman: Oh, I'm thrilled to be here! Thank you.

Jennia: So you just wrote a book, or rather it just came out, and I'd love to have you start by telling us a little bit about that.

Paula Whyman: Well, the book is called Bad Naturalist: One Woman's Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop. It's sort of a mouthful. It's a memoir about my attempts to restore native meadows on a mountain in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, and the obstacles I encountered, the many, many mistakes I made, the failures and luckily, a few successes, and the discoveries I made along the way.

Jennia: Yeah, I think after reading your book that that ties in really well with this episode about first steps, because you wrote something in there that said, what if in six months or six years or 16, that you realized you'd gone about it all wrong? So (both laugh) were there any false first steps that you then had to backpedal and think, maybe I should go about this a different way?

Paula Whyman: Oh, absolutely! The first big one: When I first came to the mountain and I first saw the place, it was the middle of August, it was very hot, and I should set it up by saying, this is a place that—no one had ever lived here.

Jennia: Mhm.

Paula Whyman: It was unoccupied. It had been a cattle farm for a long time, and it had just kind of gone to seed, as one would say. So a path had been mowed just so people could get up there, but we had to hike up the road, because the road wasn't really a road, and—about a mile—and then at the top—I got to the top and I looked out over these meadows and it was full of these yellow flowers that were over my head. Like, six feet plus tall. And I asked the person who took us there, "What are all these flowers?" And he said, "Oh, they're weeds" (both laugh). I was like, "What?! Oh, no!" So this is what I do. The first thing, I latch on to something. And I immediately went home and tried to figure out, like, well, what do we do about these weeds? This is terrible. They've taken over this whole 75 acres of meadow—

Jennia: Right (laughs).

Paula Whyman: —It looked like it was all of these yellow flowers. And at first, all of the information I looked at said, well, these are weeds, they're perennial, they're going to keep growing back. You can spray them, but whatever you do, it's just bad. And they're going to ruin your pasture and cattle can't eat them and all this stuff. And, I don't know, something at some point just made me stop and wonder. They weren't invasive plants. They weren't plants from somewhere else, at least not that I could determine at that point. So I thought, well, maybe—they must be serving some purpose.

Jennia: Mhm.

Paula Whyman: So I started asking a different question and I started asking different people.

Jennia: Ohh.

Paula Whyman: And as soon as I looked at a native plant website, just sort of on a whim, I found out that this is a native flower called yellow crown beard. It feeds native bumblebees, birds, beetles. Yes, there was a lot of it (both laugh), but it wasn't a bad thing to have compared with a lot of other things. So I was going down this rabbit hole in totally the wrong direction until, you know, something sort of triggered the idea that maybe I needed to ask the question a little differently.

Jennia: I like how you phrase that, because I think, too, if we don't phrase the question differently, we are just going to keep going that same way. And then that's what leads to frustration or maybe even quitting. So are there any tips for recognizing when that might happen? And not—I mean, even if we look at it from a writing perspective? Because I think you talked a little bit about that with writing, too, in your book.

Paula Whyman: Oh, yes. Well, I have a tendency when I'm writing. At some point when I don't know what to do next, I stop and I flail (both laugh). I just, like, I write really bad stuff, often for a few days, sometimes longer. And I get more and more and more frustrated and think, "This is terrible. I'm never going to get out of this. I'm never going to see the light. I'm just gonna have to scrap this project. It's not working." And then suddenly (laughs), I'll walk away from it, stop concentrating on it so hard, think about something else, you know, vacuum, I don't know, take a walk—

Jennia: Yes!

Paula Whyman: —And then something will occur to me and I'll come at it from a different angle and I'll be through that stage. The crazy thing is, I go through that stage almost every time with every project. And you would think that I would know that I would be able to sort of calm myself down and say, "This is happening. You know, you're going to get through this. And yes, this project might need to be scrapped, but still, you're going to get through this."

Jennia: Yeah. Is that something that you have learned to tell yourself, or is there anything you do say to motivate yourself to get past that hurdle, into the finish line?

Paula Whyman: It doesn't always work (both laugh). Sometimes I just have to ride with it until it's done. But one thing that works, sometimes, actually, is to work on something completely different.

Jennia: Ah, yeah.

Paula Whyman: And at any given time, I have a few different projects in mind. So it's not always, like, another period of flailing for me to switch to something else (both laugh). I can pick up something else. Because a lot of times when I'm failing, there might be something in my mind that's nagging at me, that's trying to get me to go in another direction, and I'm maybe not paying attention to it. So then I need to pay attention to—I don't know if it's the unconscious, but what I'm hearing from myself.

Jennia: I do like the recommendation for productive flailing (both laugh) because it's a movement. You know, it's that same idea of switching gears, going to something different. So even if someone wasn't metaphorically flailing, but they were literally flailing, (Paula laughs) it still might have that same positive outcome at the end. Fingers crossed. Well, so why do you think, though, if we look at this from a broader perspective, why that first step can be so hard no matter what it is we're undertaking?

Paula Whyman: Well, each project is new. It's as if each project is like a new birth. And I, at least, have no idea what to expect from it. The process, every time is going to be different. I mean, my first book was fiction. My first book was a linked short story collection.

Jennia: So did your first step look different from one project to another there?

Paula Whyman: Yes, very different. I had been working on a novel for a very long time, and I was frustrated with the novel. And I don't know if it was a flailing kind of thing, but I was at a residency and I just decided, "I'm going to write a couple of stories." And I had some ideas for stories that were connected with a story that I had written a long time before. That, I thought, "Oh, maybe these stories are about that same character at a different time in her life." And the stories ended up taking over and I never went back to that novel—

Jennia: Mhm.

Paula Whyman: —And the funny thing is that something kind of related to that happened this time. I was working on the meadow restoration project. That was really my focus. I was deep into talking with experts and learning about plants—because I didn't know anything about plants—and asking all kinds of questions. And I had been working on a novel, and a few months into this conservation project, I was so absorbed in it, I was so focused on it, I couldn't think about anything else. I couldn't pay attention to anything else. I couldn't focus on another project—

Jennia: Mhm.

Paula Whyman: —And I thought, "Well, that—obviously this is what I need to write about now." And so I set that novel aside. So for me, the key seems to be try to write a novel, and you'll end up writing something else that you'll actually finish (laughs) and maybe it'll be published. So—But I do want to say that even though each project is new and that's good.

Jennia: Mhm.

Paula Whyman: Like, I maybe made it sound like that was a downside before. It's a downside and an upside. A downside in that I'm learning new skills every time.

Jennia: Right!

Paula Whyman: But that's also great and exciting and the excitement of the new and all of that. And the important part, I guess, is to keep pushing through it when you get to the flailing stage or when it feels stale (laughs).

Jennia: Yeah, something else I think you talked a little bit about, and it's all those new ideas and the excitement of the new ideas, and even just that first step of figuring out which idea should you be focusing on?

Paula Whyman: Yeah, that's a tough one. And often what I'll do is just start with one idea and see where it goes, if it takes off or if it fizzles out. And I might get even 100 pages in before I realize it's not going anywhere. I hope to not, you know, take 100 pages to figure it out (laughs), but sometimes that does happen, so—

Jennia: Is there anything else that—oh.

Paula Whyman: Oh, no, go ahead! Go ahead.

Jennia: Yeah, I was going to ask if there's anything else you've ever tried, maybe before then, that didn't really work out? And so just looking at it, too, that sometimes figuring out what that first step is might be a bit of guess work or eliminating possibilities as we go along?

Paula Whyman: Yes, it is definitely about eliminating possibilities. And it really has to be about where my passion lies.

Jennia: Mhm.

Paula Whyman: And with this project, that's basically what happened. As soon as I started learning about all of these—the things that grow here, the things that live here—all I wanted to do was know more about them and how they were connected with each other. And when I was writing the book, I would go off on lots of little tangents, writing about various creatures or plants or relationships—the interconnections on the mountain. And sometimes I really had to rein that in, as well as—there are a lot of family stories in the book, because I talk about what in my family of origin, I guess, led me to this place. And things about my parents and funny things, especially about my dad (laughs). And—

Jennia: Yeah, I do remember a lot stories about your dad (both laugh).

Paula Whyman: I wrote way more of that than what I ended up using because I tend to write really, really long and then cut drastically. Maybe not drastically enough all the time (both laugh). I don't know, I think I forgot your question (laughs).

Jennia: No, no, that's fine! Because what you just said leads into something else I was wondering about and would love to hear your answer to. And that is, the first step that you take at various stages of writing. So getting started writing, editing, revising, getting ready to send it off. Do your first steps differ depending on which point in the process you're at?

Paula Whyman: Yes. With this book, I had set deadlines for myself. I had 18 months to write it under my contract. And I had the option of just kind of turning the whole thing in at the end of that 18 months. But I didn't want to do that, I wanted to get some incremental feedback. So I was writing in, like, 75- to 100-page chunks. What really helped me with nonfiction—because I was new to book-length nonfiction—was having chapter summaries.

Jennia: Ohh.

Paula Whyman: And I had to write those chapter summaries for the book proposal. And it was kind of—It felt like pulling teeth at the time (both laugh)  because as a fiction writer, I never wrote an outline, I never planned anything.

Jennia: Right.

Paula Whyman: So for this book, it was a combination of planning and serendipity. Those two things together, the chapter summaries and knowing what the direction of the project was sort of helped me understand the direction of the book. But at the same time, when I started writing, there was still room for surprise. When it got to the editing stage, with fiction, it was often a struggle for me to keep myself from editing—The other thing about it is the structure of this book is sort of a meandering kind of structure. So it could be organized in a number of different ways.

Jennia: It does feel like it has a very linear flow. And just going back to when you had to make the book summaries, I was thinking about the subheadings that you have on each chapter. So then I started wondering, "Wait, did those come before or after the summaries?"

Paula Whyman: Oh, that's a good question! They did come after. Those subheads I wrote after I wrote the chapter.

Jennia: Ohh, okay!

Paula Whyman: Yeah, yeah. The chapter titles—I had working titles for each chapter before I started. I guess that's another starting thing for me. I have to have a book title or a story title or a chapter title for some reason—

Jennia: Mhm.

Paula Whyman: —before I can start working on it. Or somehow I don't know what I'm doing. And it changes later. It often changes. The book title was totally different before. And, I don't know, it gets me in the mindset, I think.

Jennia: Yeah, I've heard that from other authors too. And some of them will say that they have to have even a cover idea first. Or they'll go to Pinterest and they'll make like a mood board or an aesthetic board for each of the main characters. And then it helps them kind of—Well, if we're looking at fiction, it helps them really get into the mindset of each of these different people and what they're like and what their daily life is like, and even just that whole mood and atmosphere around them.

Paula Whyman: Oh, that makes so much sense. One thing that I did—because I take a lot of photographs when I'm in the field—when I was at a residency, I sort of made black and white printouts of a lot of these photographs and just, you know, stuck them up on the bulletin board—

Jennia: Oh nice!

Paula Whyman: —so that I could, like, stare at the picture of the oak tree or the picture of the field of invasive stilt grass (both laugh) to sort of get me thinking.

Jennia: And just for anyone listening who thinks of this book might be dry based on (Paula laughs) what it's covering, it is not at all. And it's—

Paula Whyman: Oh, am I making it sound dry?

Jennia: No, no! I was just—You know, we think—we have, like, those preconceived ideas of what a certain type of book will look like. And so people probably think, "Oh, land restoration. It's going to get down to the nitty gritty of the science and we're going be looking at, like, PH values of different soils and things." (Paula laughs) But this was surprisingly funny. And I did enjoy that you brought up, originally, that you didn't know anything about plants. I think it was some of your early descriptions of plants where it was, like, you know, "pointy purple thing" or something like that (Paula laughs). And I thought, "Now, that I can relate to," but it also gives me hope that eventually I'll identify was actually in my yard instead of just, "That green thing over there." But, yeah, I think that just really helped make it relatable to people who might feel that they don't have the appropriate background knowledge for going into a story like this.

Paula Whyman: Oh, well, thank you for saying that! Yeah, you definitely don't need any background knowledge for this. I certainly didn't have any background knowledge, really, when I started. And it's very much about me, like, figuring stuff out, making mistakes where I think I'm making things worse and totally failing, and not being an expert at all. I wanted the plants to be understandable to people like me. So I think I compared one flower to my grandmother's swim cap—

Jennia: Yes! (laughs)

Paula Whyman: —who had all these, like, tendrils hanging out of it (laughs). And—

Jennia: Right, which is such a fantastic visual, too, because that you can instantly picture. Even if you've never seen this flower in your life, you know, what that looks like (both laugh).

Paula Whyman: So that's kind of—you know, I guess I wrote a book that I thought I would want to read, you know, when knowing really very little about plants and this mountain environment.

Jennia: But do you think it helped—because you just acknowledged that you weren't an expert, and I think at one point in the book, too, you also acknowledge that you realize you might screw up. But do you think that having that in mind helps you then take those, not just the first step, but continuing to take the next step, knowing that you can make a mistake and that you can then go back?

Paula Whyman: Absolutely, yeah, I did make mistakes. I made a really bad mistake in a whole meadow filled with bad weeds (both laugh). And then I had to figure out what to do about that. So, yes. And I think in writing we have the ability to come back from mistakes. And, I don't know, I would encourage people to sort of be true to their voice, and their style, and not set a lot of parameters for themselves in the beginning. If you're trying a new project, sort of try to free write, allow yourself to be flexible. For instance, I was trying to, maybe, control my voice in a way that—

Jennia: Ahh.

Paula Whyman: —Or maybe I was trying to control the structure differently so that it would be more linear. And it is—I mean, it does feel linear now, as you said. But, really, it could be organized in so many different ways. Like, there are passages that could be rearranged. Anyway. So the organization was something that I was trying to be strict with myself about in the beginning, and I realized I was hemming myself in too much and I needed to just kind of let go. It was also hard because I hadn't written a, you know, full-length memoir before, so I was a little uncomfortable writing about myself. And the only way I would do it is if I was allowed to include, like, all the foibles (both laugh). I wasn't going to make myself sound like some hero who was, like, Ms. Super Plant Genius. That wouldn't have worked at all.

Jennia: No (both laugh). I mean, you really set the tone, really, just from the very beginning when I think you start off with all the wild animals you tried to domesticate or bring into your home and their unfortunate outcomes (both laugh). So—

Paula Whyman: Yes, yes, I—

Jennia: —we kind of know from there that (laughs) this is not going to just be success after success.

Paula Whyman: Yeah. And it wasn't. But my goal is for it to be a hopeful story even though, you know, these bad things happen at various times. And to encourage people, either in your writing or when you're looking at nature, to, I guess, be attentive and focus on your surroundings and notice things maybe in a way you haven't noticed things before. When I started noticing things, I paid more attention to them, I became more interested in them. It's sort of a cycle that feeds itself. You become more interested and then the details that you write about will become more interesting and unique to you, I suppose.

Jennia: That's such a good way of describing how you maintain that momentum because you start off by saying it starts with passion. Maybe a passion for the topic, or that story idea, or whatever it is. And so then by doing that it's like you're just again, like you said, you're just feeding that passion constantly as you're working on the project.

Paula Whyman: Exactly.

Jennia: Well, to end it we can jump from starting to ending (both laugh). And this is something that you wrote in your book and that is that there isn't a perfect endpoint. So since there isn't a perfect endoint, how do you decide where to stop?

Paula Whyman: That's a great question. I wanted to end on a hopeful note. So I talked about something that was going to happen.

Jennia: Mmm.

Paula Whyman: And I wanted to leave the reader with the understanding that it is an endless project and it's the project that's going to basically consume the rest of my life, probably (laughs). Maybe not my writing life, but outwardly. And that's okay. It reminds me of, actually, something, a conversation I had with my agent early on because a lot of this book—I was writing the book while I was doing the things.

Jennia: Mmm.

Paula Whyman: You know, while I was doing the conservation. So it was kind of nerve wracking at times because you're waiting for so many things to happen. Like, plants don't grow fast (laughs). You know, I was waiting to see what would grow back in some place after I weeded, things like that. And I said, "Well, what happens if this thing doesn't occur, and then I can't write about it?" And she said, "Well, write about the failure." I was like, "Oh, of course! I can do that!"

Jennia: Ahh, yes (Paula laughs).

Paula Whyman: So I think there doesn't have to be an endpoint for there to be an ending—

Jennia: Mmm, wow. I love that.

Paula Whyman: —of the book.

Jennia: That's so well said, yes (both laugh). And then what takeaway message would you like to leave listeners with?

Paula Whyman: I would say in any project that you're thinking about, that you're excited about, if it's something new and you feel daunted, just start small, but think big.

Jennia: Mhm, yep.

Paula Whyman: Start with one small corner, one scene, one character, one detail, one plant (both laugh). And—

Jennia: Great way of tying that in!

Paula Whyman: —don't sort of overburden yourself with the idea that you have to do this huge thing. Because then it can be overwhelming.

Jennia: Yeah, that is so true. Well, thank you very much.

Paula Whyman: And I guess I would just add that if you go to my website, which is paulawhyman.com, you'll see a list of events there. And if you're gonna be nearby, I hope you'll come and say hello. And there's also a link there to the Bad Naturalist Newsletter, which is a free newsletter; I write about what's happening on the mountain, things I'm doing here. And I also love to talk with readers. So if you have questions, please reach out through my contact page and I'll be happy to answer questions.

Jennia: Well, that's great. I'm sure that people will hopefully get in touch and I'll just say now, if you've read the book, you'll most likely want the newsletter just because you are going to be wanting to know what happens (both laugh). So that's my next step!

Paula Whyman: Oh, well, thank you so much!

Jennia: Thank you for listening and be sure to check out the show notes for additional information, including all of Paula's links. And then please join me next week when Samantha Greene Woodruff will be here to tell us how to bring the 1920s to life when writing historical fiction. Thanks again!