BOOK: Seven Steps on a Writer's Path

This came out maybe a year ago. It's co-written by a Nancy Pickard, a mystery writer who came up with the steps, and therapist Lynn Lott who took her writing workshop.

The basic premise is that a writer's -- or any creative person's -- life goes through this cycle, repeatedly:

1. Unhappiness
2. Wanting
3. Commitment
4. Wavering
5. Letting go
6. Immersion
7. Fulfillment

Nancy would set 7 chairs in front of the room, label each one, and invite participants to come sit in the chair they were in, and speak for it.

Many things feel right to me about this model. The fact that there's a whole bunch of work to do BEFORE creation. That Unhappiness itself is a whole stage. That Wanting cannot co-exist with the fogged misery of Unhappiness, but is a fruition of the unconscious's processing. "Eventually you get sick and tired of being sick and tired," she says, "Which is a signal that Wanting is near." That Commitment is followed by Wavering. And most of all, that the way out of Wavering is Letting Go. You don't will your way out, you surrender.

I see the first five steps as the dragons at the gate -- rightful guardians whom you must pass to do your work.

At the time I read it, I was in step 6 -- immersed in work. Now, after a satisfying Fulfillment... I have come full-circle to Unhappiness. I am starting to recognize this stage. She says some writers even learn to enjoy this fallowness, seeing it like the buildup of sexual tension that will carry you into a pleasurable state.

That's a nicer model than just feeling like an inexplicable loser.

I am rounding the corner from Unhappiness to Wanting. Figuring out that the book and the building were my next two goals, is the early tendrils of Wanting.

So, anyway -- does this model work for you? What stage are you in?