My objective in writing this blog post is not just to share my creative process with you but also to prompt you to examine your creative process.
I’m committed to publishing a new blog post every week. How do I make that happen?
Some might imagine that ideas pop into my mind, and then when I sit down to write, they emerge as finished blog posts. People like to think of the creative process as mysterious, magical, and not subject to control or planning.
For me, that’s not the case at all. I have a process I follow every week that gets me from idea to published blog post. I have systems of repeatable processes and actions that help me select a topic, research and develop it, write it, and finally polish and publish it.
Using the same repeatable processes helps me save mental energy by laying out a series of actionable steps and “ship more work, and higher-quality work, in less time, and with less energy.” David Kadavy, Mind Management Not Time Management.
The Four Stages of the Creative Process
I’ve been reading Mind Management Not Time Management by David Kadavy.
Kadavy points to the four stages of creativity identified by experts that are common to most creative processes:
• Preparation – Inputting into your mind the raw materials of ideas.
• Incubation – Time to let your mind unconsciously work on the ideas and concepts you added during the preparation phase.
• Illumination –Ideas start coming together, showing new connections and possible solutions to problems encountered during the preparation phase.
• Verification –A time to test the illumination ideas, discard those that are not useful, and develop those with merit.
These stages, Kadavy explained, are “all about the progress of your project – How close have you come to reaching a final product?”
In addition to the four stages of creativity, Kadavy has identified the seven mental states of creative work: Prioritize, Explore, Research, Generate, Polish, Administrate, and Recharge.
These mental states work within the context of the creative process. They are necessary to complete the work of the creative process and keep it going to the next project.
My Creative Process for Going From Idea to Published Blog Post
As I read the four stages of creativity and the seven mental states of creative work, I realized that my creative process fits into these systems. My process developed organically, encountering ideas about creativity and experimenting, finding what worked for me.
1. Explore – Generate ideas for blog topics. Most of my ideas for blog topics come to me during my morning routine, often prompted by a Readwise highlight. Whether an idea arises then or some other time, I use a Shortcut to generate a new Craft document filed under my “Blog Post Ideas” folder. When I set this document up, the Shortcut allows me to record my initial thoughts about the topic, typically as a rough outline.
2. Prioritize – Select a topic to develop and write. About a week prior to my Tuesday publishing day, I scan my list of blog post ideas and select one that appeals to me. I review my initial thoughts and any resource material attached and write about it the following Monday.
3. Preparation – I do some initial exploration and research to find new sources and ideas and open a new MindNode mind map. The first step is to transfer my initial thoughts and resources in the Craft document into the MindNode outline view. I then switch to the mind map view and start organizing my thoughts, dragging them around to notice connections and reorganize them.
At this stage, I also start identifying gaps in my thoughts. I notice where I need to do more research and note any questions.
4. Incubation – After creating the mind map, I revisit it many times to record new ideas I have and new resource materials. I continue to rethink and reorganize. Ideas and solutions to questions start to come together after they’ve had time to incubate. I review and revise the mind map the afternoon before I write the first draft.
5. Illumination/Generate – I usually write my first blog post draft during Coffee Shop Monday. By the time I’m ready to write, my preparation and incubation have resulted in a mind map that guides my writing.
I set up my laptop with my word processor Ulysses open to a new document on the left side of the screen and my MindNode mind map on the right. My job is to convert the mind map into usable prose. Sometimes, while doing this, I realize that my material might be better organized, and I’ll make the changes as I write.
When I’m done, I’ll use the revision function in Ulysses to check my grammar and spelling. I’ll also look at grammar and spelling suggestions in Grammarly.
6. Polish/Verification/Incubation – I go back and fill in the remaining details, polish, and make multiple edits during the week before publication. I try to give myself at least a week between finishing a first draft and publishing a final draft. This gives the post time to incubate and for me to approach it with fresh eyes.
Rushing a blog post from the first draft to publishing results in an inferior product. Occasionally, I’ll encounter new resources I want to include in the post or have further thoughts about the topic.
I’ll publish the post to WordPress the day before publishing and make several formatting changes. On the morning of publication, I’ll usually make one final review, make minor changes or corrections, and publish the post.
7. Administrate and Recharge – I have various administrative tasks to complete at the time of publishing. I move the blog idea in Craft into the “Published” folder and do the same for the Ulysses document.
I also post the link to the blog post to Facebook, Twitter (X), Mastodon, and the MacSparky Labs discord server and save a PDF of the blog post to DevonThink for long-term storage and access. Furthermore, I publish a copy of the post on Medium.
After completing these administrative functions, I try to give myself a break of a day or two to recharge before starting the process again.
Implement Your Creative Process
I found it very helpful to learn about the four stages of creativity and the seven mental states of creativity. I didn’t understand these when I initially put my system together, but if I had, I think it would have helped me put together my process more quickly and efficiently.
Do you have a creative process you use? If so, how does it fit the Four Stages of Creativity? What could you do to make your process more effective?
If you don’t have a process, make one for you, not me. Don’t try to adopt my process and make it your own. It likely won’t work for you like it does for me. You’ll have to experiment and find what works best for you.
You might want to start with the Illumination/Generate piece of the process and build out from there. The creation itself is the goal. You can work out a process that leads to the act of creation (Prioritize, Preparation, Incubation) and the steps that come after (Polish, Verification, Administration, and Recharge).