I've gotten into songwriting this year and I think this article captures some very real things about how lyrics can be created. I always start by scribbling on a piece of paper with some experience or some idea that's on my mind. I try to write a first verse, maybe two. Then I'm usually exhausted. Sometimes there's a line that you know is wrong so you just leave it for now. Then I pick up my instruments (acoustic guitar/electric guitar/keyboards), figure out the chord changes, play with the melody and the rhythm. Sometime in there, I'll type up the lyrics I have, usually improve the wording, and pick up where I left off. I don't usually write long songs so they don't usually have more than three verses, a chorus, maybe a bridge.

Anyway, I think the article gets a lot of things right about how the creative process works. There's something unconscious about it when it's working well - you don't exactly know where all the words came from, sometimes it feels like they came out of you, sometimes it works really well to think surreal thoughts and not just put the obvious thing. That's the free association, I think, that the OP talks about. Eventually I sing the demo to someone and maybe keep editing it. It's done when it's good enough (not perfect) and I'm exhausted by working on it more.