With 2022 around the corner, this seems like the time to reflect on the things that helped us or brought us joy in 2021. The following is a list of my favorite apps, books, music, podcasts, TV, and video games from the last year, including many that I would recommend to others. The categories for this list are taken from Jesse J. Anderson’s Extra Focus newsletter, but the selections are my own.

📱Apps

• ​FitOn. I’m a strong believer in the idea that staying physically healthy is important to nourishing creativity and focus. FitOn was my favorite app for working out at home throughout the pandemic. It’s got a pretty extensive collection of yoga, strength training, and cardio workouts, and it can build a “routine” for you based on your fitness goals. The paid version adds popular music to the background of the workouts, but you can’t control what tracks play so it’s more like a radio add-on.
• ​Insight Timer. I’ve tried several guided meditations apps, but often the features you want most are behind a paywall or embedded with ads (which makes sense—content and apps take time and money to create). Insight Timer works on a model similar to YouTube: the content is creator-uploaded and users can donate to creators. Whether you’re looking to relax or fall asleep or become more mindful and aware, chances are you’ll find it here.

A lot of artists who create for pleasure or as a hobby find themselves facing a creative blockage at some point (or many points) in their lives. We can’t quite find the answer to the question, “why can’t I seem to create right now?” Sometimes, we’re asking ourselves a variation on that same question: “is right now the right time to create this?”

For a long time, I’d internalized that piece of writing advice that often gets doled out: “write every day.” While that advice does have some underlying merit, it also made me feel guilty whenever I fell short of that goal. Sometimes, I’d go for weeks without writing, and I felt like a failure for not living up to those expectations. I tried to figure out a writing routine to help me stick to my goals, and some months that plan worked, but other months it absolutely did not.

I finally figured out that my writing routine—or any creative routine, really—was heavily affected by the creative season I was in.

One of the biggest mistakes I made when I first started writing was to equate the word “editing” with merely correcting grammar and spelling. Although that is certainly an integral part of the editing process, it is by no means the only one. It wasn’t until I started working in publishing that I realized there were names for the multiple stages of editing that a published work of writing undergoes, along with a recommended order of doing them. In the fanfiction community especially (where I got my start as a writer), “beta readers” will often edit multiple levels at the same time, but for writers who are considering selling their work, it can make sense to go through the more formal editorial process.

First comes developmental editing, then copyediting, and finally—just before the piece is published—proofreading. Aspiring authors can help critiquers by signaling what kind of editing they’re looking for, i.e., saying whether one is willing to rewrite entire sections of a piece, or whether one wants to keep the bulk of the text intact but just have it polished. By using the jargon associated with the different levels of editing, authors can communicate their needs quickly and also begin to learn the language of professional publishing.

Whether you want to write for your favorite game company, for a community content program such as the Dungeon Master’s Guild, or to self-publish, there are a few basic changes you can make to your routine, process, and mindset that can save you a lot of time, money, and headache in the long run.

Track Your Time

In 2018 I was introduced to Toggl, a free time-tracking cloud app that can be accessed from your web browser or mobile device. Alternatively, you can always jot down the time you spend working in a spreadsheet or in your planner/journal. I use it to track how much time I spend on a given project and each portion of that project, such as outlining or drafting or finding new clients. It’s been super useful to be able to look back and see how much time different assignments actually take me, and then be to able to forecast approximately how much time I’ll need, whether I can hit a deadline, or whether it pays enough to be worth my time. It’s also helped me gauge how much is “too much” in terms of day job, freelance, and social commitments. Time tracking can also help at tax time, depending on what you’re deducting on a Schedule C (internet, phone bill, etc.).

If you’ve ever thought about submitting a resume and writing sample to an open call for freelancers, there are a few basic guidelines you can follow to help maximize your chances of landing a trial assignment. These are drawn from my own experiences wading through the “slush pile” of freelance writer applications, as well as my experiences as someone submitting my resume to a company for consideration.

1. Follow the submission instructions. Companies need freelancers who can follow directions, so sending in something extraneous or omitting something mandatory can be a big strike against you.
2. Organize your resume to be more like a bibliography, listing any writing credits first and foremost. If you don’t have any writing credits, or if your job experience or education is irrelevant to writing, you might want to try self-publishing or being a guest contributor at your favorite blogs first to build up your resume.
3. Make your writing sample short, sweet, and relevant. It’s harder to write concisely than it is to write at length, and the longer your sample is, the less likely it is to be read in full. If you’re applying as a writer to an RPG company, attach rules material such as an item, a place description, or an adversary. Don’t attach fiction unless you’re specifically applying to a fiction-writing position, and don’t attach screenplays when you want to get hired to write short stories.
4. The strongest writing samples display creativity, highlight your command of the game’s rules or knowledge of the market’s target audience, and showcase your unique writer’s voice. They also demonstrate higher-level grammar and style proficiency, such as avoiding passive voice and wordy phrases.
5. Finally, be professional and polite. Remember that another human is the one reading your email. Manage your own expectations, and if you’re not selected for this opportunity, be gracious about it. It’s a small world out there, and never know when you might run into that editor again.
6. Bonus Tip: If the website says “we do not accept unsolicited x, y, or z…”, think twice before opening your email with “I know you don’t accept unsolicited x, y, or z, but…”. See tip #1!

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash.