Reflection on the Creative Process

Stage 1: Thought

This is anything and everything that comes to mind. I don’t want to be taken out of my current flow but don’t want to forget the thought, so I jot it done in a thoughts.md file for later review.

Stage 2: Concept / Idea

This next stage ties into my current areas of focus, projects or goals. If it doesn’t fit into any of these, it might just be a resource I don’t want to lose and will but in a catch-all resources/ folder, however more likely, it will be discarded.

This ensures focus on my current projects and goals.

If not discarded, this is where the thought takes shape with more notes, links to references, etc. If an idea needs some public validation, I might create a snippet / code bite example to share with others.

Stage 3: Outline

Based on time and current focus, I will take an concept or idea that has promise and start to flesh it out. For the eventual article, the first part of this would be an outline to give my thoughts some structure.

Stage 4: Article

This stage is for items / topics that have enough weight and content that I want to reference back to and potentially build upon as time goes on.

They aren’t necessary for public consumption but I want public access to them for referencing. If they get traction from others, or seem like they could be really helpful to others, I work to evolve them into a resource.

Stage 5: Resource

This is the final stage of the creative process. This could be a guide or the like, that is meant to be found, SEO optimized and the like.