The creative process

beginnings, middles and endings

“Every day and in every way, I am becoming an artist.” — adapted from Stewart Smalley of Al Franken on SNL

Awareness and knowledge is power

Knowing your creative process and knowing what stage you are in helps you be a better artist, adding more awareness and understanding to your life. By creative process I mean the first draft stage of your art.

Are you at the beginning: enthusiastic, hopeful, a burst of energy? Are you in the middle: challenged by the material, wondering what to do next? Or, are you at the end: sad or happy to be ending?

Instead of being the effect of the thoughts and feelings at each stage, recognize that those thoughts and feelings are part of the process. So what are they in more detail?

The beginning

When I am at the beginning of a novel, I often feel anxious and nervous. When I realize this, I realize that the feelings come from not knowing what the story will be, just that it wants to be told. Then I realize that anxiety is more like an excited energy that wants to come up from my underground mind. Once I get past the uncertainty, I get excited and jump right into creating the story, and the beginning goes by smoothly, until I get to the end of the beginning and the beginning of the middle.

Half

Many novelists I know speak of the “dreaded medium.” This is where procrastination rears its head. This is where I often want to run screaming off the page because suddenly I’m knee-deep in the story and all my worries come to the fore: is this story any good? What about this other character? Where do I go from here? I have deviated from my scheme. What should I do? This is where I feel like I really don’t know how to write. And what am I doing being a writer anyway?
What I have learned is that this is a necessary part of the writing cycle. It’s messy, it’s not pretty, and it’s not fit to be displayed except to the most indulgent souls. My strategy? To allow it to be messy! That is what it is. And then I sit down to write and create more clutter, and have fun doing it. Because soon the end comes.

The end

Finishing a first draft makes me sad. I have enjoyed discovering history so much that I am saddened by the end of this discovery process. It will never be so fresh again. I also look forward to the editing phase, which has its own beginning, middle, and end. When I finish a story, I stop, taking my time to write the final scenes, saying goodbye to my characters in their freshness. Then I recognize the end, I cry a lot and give myself time to finish. That is, I allow myself to celebrate and transition to the next phase.

Where are you?

If you are not sure what stage you are in, seek advice. Learn from the experience and wisdom of others. If they don’t know, it will be a learning process for everyone. Take what resonates with you and dismiss the rest, not as invalid, just as not applicable to you.
Take a moment to point out where you are in your process. Now what?

celebrate your success

Take time to celebrate your finished piece and the journey you took to get to this moment. You are not only a creative being, but you acted on a dream and brought your creation to life. He overcame challenges, he faced the demons of weak focus, lack of motivation, procrastination, no-sayers and time sucks. You climbed the mountain of doubt, fear and inertia. You did it!

Congratulations! Now show your art. Bless humanity by sharing your unique vision.

Let your light shine. Enlighten us with your beauty, truth and mastery.