Finishing School: Guiding Principles and Practices

In Finishing School we meet once a week to help each other finish creative projects, using the method outlined in the book Finishing School written by me and Danelle Morton. We work together in a structured way that protects individual creative freedom and supports personal insight.

At our first session, we ask you to tell us about your dream. That is, we ask you to describe the project you are working on. We do this in a particular way, with an emphasis on the tangible parts of the project that have to be finished. So we ask three things:

1) What are you ultimately trying to create? In its final form, what will it be?
2) What piece of it can you finish this month?
3) What piece of that can you get done this week?

Then we examine our calendars carefully and write in times that we will work on the project. We commit to checking in with a creative buddy before and after each work session. During the week, we try to keep to our schedule and take note of the obstacles and the successes. In the next session of Finishing School we talk about what we did, what happened, what we learned, what was unexpected.

Every week we repeat this operation. We share our struggles, insights, setbacks, and successes. We encourage each other to problem solve. If invited, we contribute our own knowledge and resources that we think may be relevant. But we respect each individual’s privacy and sovereignty over his or her creative life.

Usually the method brings us the strength and stamina to continue a project toward completion. But sometimes the method brings us to the realization that we no longer want to work on the project, or that it is no longer viable, or that we must radically redefine it, or abandon it. When this happens, we treat it not as a failure but as an insight, a breakthrough that will lead to more vital and appropriate action.

Throughout the process, we try to report our experiences honestly and factually. Sometimes we discover patterns of behavior we had been unaware of—ways that our actions do not match our plans, patterns of avoidance, fears, etc. We may share these discoveries with the group, but that is an individual decision. We strive to create an atmosphere of discovery, detached and nonjudgmental.