The creative process has become painful -seeking advice

[Sacred Fool]

I see it similarly to InSa.  It reads to me as if by concentrating on your own process you are first picking up on all the accumulated garbage, but, if you can clean that up, you'll find more rewarding things beneath that.  Maybe you're like an archeologist digging through an ancient latrine, searching for discarded treasures, except in your case the poop is not yet fully composted?  Maybe you've been avoiding digging through the stinkier stuff, but now is the time to do that so you can move through it to the more mentally/emotionally mature stuff?  Maybe you need to commit to the process for a time to see what emerges?  Rather than the Dark night of the Soul, maybe you're entering the Stinky Night of the Soul? (Humour intended.)