The Life Cycle of Creative Projects

Hello One-Who-Longs-To-Write,

There’s a certain look people get when they’re lost in the middle of a writing project — a mix of frustration and awe. We get to see it a lot at Firefly. They know they’re making something, but they have no idea what it is, or how to get there.

We love this look. Partly because we get it, and partly because we know how to help.

The most frustrating part of the creative process is the lack of language we have for it. We wander in, we wander around, we learn and grow, and then we wander out hoping we have something the world wants.

But.

We think there is a map. We’re going to roll it out for you here, so that you can figure out where you are, and what you might be needing next.

Ready? Let’s go…

The First Province: Hibernation

Let us say this slowly: Watching TV on a sofa while eating crinkle chips is part of the creative process. For real. Downtime, however it looks for you, is critical.

But here’s the thing — hibernation should be a choice. When we mindlessly drift away from creating and label it as “procrastination”, we don’t receive the resplendence that’s due. Make the choice and give yourself the space you need, abolish the guilt, and enjoy the pause. Nothing blooms all year, and rest lets everything sprout newly.

The Second Province: Pollination

You know those days when the world just feels alive? You’re getting ideas, you’re excited about making things, you’re seeing beauty in little details?

You don’t need to wait around for that feeling, you can actively cultivate it by going out and finding the things that feed you.

The trick is in the “going out and finding” part — the good stuff doesn’t always just show up on your doorstep. Like those smart little bees, it takes energy to fly around looking for tulips, but we need that nectar to survive.

So — what is your creative nectar right now? It’s different for everyone. No judgment, just listen. Is it a lunch break in a park, just listening to birds and children? Is it a matinee all alone with a huge bag of popcorn? Is it walking slowly through a bookstore? Let your hungers lead you somewhere you want to go, without any pressure to produce.

The Third Province: Idea

When we’ve been pollinating long enough, ideas start to come. It’s inevitable.

This can be tricky, because committing to one idea means letting other ones go. How do we know which idea to follow through with? How do we say goodbye to all the things we won’t make? How do we trade in the sweetness of nectar for one path that will carry us forward?

Hard though it may be, the courage to commit is the doorway to the whole rest of the map.

The Fourth Province: Chaos

Sorry! So many people loathe this stage. But if we can embrace it — wow, it’s full of life.

As soon as we settle into an idea, it turns to chaos. The idea keeps expanding — “Wait, it’s not a memoir, it’s a screenplay!” “Wait, I want to write this in 3rd person!” etc, etc.

This is good, it’s where the true, deep, creative, individual work happens. It is your soul in all its uniqueness struggling to get past the conventions you’ve accumulated. The trick is to stay there, even if it feels messy, even if you don’t understand it. Don’t let the uncertainty overwhelm you… or find ways to come back when it goes. Keep writing.

The Fifth Province: Production

Writing is a lot of work. It’s magical and transformative and amazing, and also, we have to spend a whole lot of time just forming one word after another and getting them down.

In this phase we need to get our hands on our keyboards over and over. We’ll circle back into chaos, we’ll lose the point, we’ll get bored of the project, and we’ll come back. This is the work of it. It’s real, uncomfortable, and totally worth it.

If you’re looking for company, our classes Rising Tides and Focus and Flow are some ways to create structure and forward motion at this stage.

The Sixth Province: Refinement

When we sit in that chair for long enough, the chaos shrinks and the work grows and then we somehow have a thing. We may not know entirely what it is, but it’s undeniably there, a messy first draft.

Now it’s time to edit. Like all the rest, this can be a slippery patch — it’s easy to feel like you’ve done your work, you should get to put it away. And you might want to for a while; a dip into hibernation can be really useful right here. But to reach the full heights of the creative reward, there’s still more work to do.

Reread, get feedback, change the order, play, play play. (We have a workshop and a coaching package for this stage, if you want a co-conspirator.)

The Final Province: Birth

Here’s one way to look at it — work isn’t finished if no one has seen it. The point of the creative life force is to let something new into the world, something needed.

This province may be intimidating but damn it feels good.

The trick is in finding the right way to let your project go. That might mean having one friend over for an intimate evening and reading it to them. It might mean self-publishing six copies for your inner circle. It might mean seeking a conventional publisher.

Take some time in here to reflect on what’s right for you and for this particular piece of work.

Why does this matter?

Moving all the way through this cycle feels wonderful. It deepens our humanity, it claims a place in the world for our voices, it brings us new kinds of wholeness.

It’s what drives us here at Firefly, and it’s what we want for you.

So, wander around in these provinces. Pay attention to what’s hard and what’s easy for you right now, and how that has changed. Think about what you need to keep moving, even just one or two steps. Download a PDF of this map and keep it close.

If what you need is us, we’re here for you.

This is your creative life, mysterious and magnificent and all yours.