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The composition of ideas itself? Probably not. Some people loop composition and orchestration together, but I don't. Knowing how to play instruments has definitely made me a better orchestrater, no doubt. Too many times have I gone and asked my wind friends, "hey, is this fun and playable", and, kind souls that they are, they put up with my constant asking. I play the cello as my "main instrument" and compared to most of my wind writing, the scores just look more professional, because I know what it can do Coming up with a melody, motifs, laying out structure, planning textures, etc. are all things that don't really require instrument knowledge, I think. Instrument familiarity helps with executing those, but not much past that, I think.

Sometimes I'm a couple cents off, but I'm generally pretty accurate in terms of tuning as well. Sorry, OP, didn't mean to steer the thread off topic.

I usually start a piece by finding an idea I want to express, and then based on that I try to make a rough model of the form of the music. I usually start writing the actual music after that point. Sometimes I'll write a melody and build a piece or a section of the piece out of that, sometimes I plan out the harmony first and then write a melody to it, but most often both form together naturally. Probably because I usually compose at the piano. Personally, I usually prefer to not immediately write something down. I like to give an idea some time to change a little bit, until it really sticks. My philosophy with that is if the idea isn't good enough to remember, you can probably come up with something better with time.

I have an unfair advantage by having perfect pitch, so whenever I'm humming something random and it hits me like, "that would be an amazing motif", I go ahead and write it down, note for note. Ken's method is, from what I've seen, pretty common, and it works! It's reliable, and serial muscle memory keeps those motifs in your hands for a little bit. As for how it sounds... unless it's incidental music that will only be virtually realized, I've been taught to always write with the players in mind, as a super high priority. Unless it's an aleatoric piece, I tend to write using technological notation right away. It just keeps it in one area, which is nice.

I start by improvising on a keyboard using various sounds trying to get a mood or some thing I can hold on to. If a melody and chords present themselves fully formed I'll immediately write it down. I've lost too many ideas by not doing this. But regardless, everything is eventually written if musicians will be involved. I use a digital recorder that uses "takes" just like in a recording session. I can try different takes without editing myself at all. Then gradually I can visualize (or auralize) the work. Then as I proceed I keep an eye out (ear) for an ending. If I can get the ending, writing the middle is much easier, because that's a big hurdle to climb. I don't know what a mindmap is, but the process is the same whether I'm writing to order or just experimenting. I've always been a compose-at-the-piano person. I have to hear it before I can realize it.

very nice

Good work. A little derivative of Chopin but that's OK. I'm a fan of Chopin. One suggestion I have is to pepper the sextuplets throughout the piece instead of saving them up for the end.