Creative process in 8 stages
On November 10th
I am not a huge fan of the Kubler-Ross “stages of grief” and theories of “stages of …. ” derived from it. People mourn in bits and pieces and don’t march through neat stages. But the Huffington Post has this short article by painter Kimberly Brooks on the 8 stages of the creative process, and it rings true. In my clinical work with creative persons I have heard so much about this. It can really be useful for people to know that the painful, confusing, discouraging parts are just a stage in the process. It can help people, strangely, not be too discouraged by their discouragement.
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2 Responses
Alex
Lynda Barry has a trenchant comic on this. It used to be on my dining room wall. It’s about getting past your negative internal editor and being willing to endure the uncertainty of letting out the unknown within you. Or, as Anne Lamott says, “Perfectionism is what stands between you and your shitty first draft.”
Nov 14 at 12:17
#6
Roger von Oech’s model of stages of thinking about a project –The Explorer, The Artist,The Judge, The Warrior — is in some ways speaking of the same thing. Von Oech’s model is more true and more useful to me in my creative practice than what’s described in the essay, though.Accept discouragement, yes; do the hard work of working through it or throwing it out, yes; hang around with it, no.