New, fresh, objectively.” As a freelancer, it’s easy to get caught up in the nitty-gritty-it’s inevitable if you’re passionate about your work. “When I’ve learned all I can at the core of a piece, I pull back and…become a surrogate for the audience. Like putting together a presentation: You know what’s going to be in it, but you don’t always know what’s on the table of contents until you’ve made the content.

Just start somewhere, anywhere, and the beginning will eventually take shape. The beginning is always daunting-but don’t let it stop you from working. “Know the difference between a work’s beginning and beginning to work,” Tharp says. But a clear mind always works better for you. That’s tough to do when you have a million things happening at once. Carry yourself with a sense of openness to ideas, so that when you’re struck with inspiration (or called on to do a new project), you’re already warmed up to work. Tharp says to “find your pencil,” or the thing you create with, arguing that carrying around a pencil (or paintbrush, or camera, or whatever your tool may be) every day makes you ready to use it when the time comes. Learning to be consistent, to be hard on yourself, to make timelines (and stick to them) will make you more efficient, productive, and excellent. As a freelancer, it’s easy to flit around and get swept up in things. “You don’t get into the mood to create – it’s discipline.” The ability to work rigorously and consistently is necessary to transform a spark into a deeply valuable skill. Here, some of her best pieces of advice put through the lens of a freelancer who must constantly juggle craft with commerce. While it does focus on those involved in “the arts,” there is plenty of wisdom for the modern multi-tasking creative. It’s filled with ideas and exercises made to enhance your craft, whatever that may be, with better tools-both mental and physical. In it, she shares skills learned as a lifelong accomplished choreographer that help make creativity work better for you. “The white-hot pitch of creativity is only useful to those who know what to do with it,” says Twyla Tharp in her best-selling book, The Creative Habit.

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp