Recommended Readings: Related Links from Around the Web (Finances and Freelance Ed.)

Sorry for posting these so late. As for my weekly non-music update, with how busy I was over the weekend, I don’t have much to report.

Today’s links focus more on finances and freelancing than music, sound, or game design. Why? Because I think that most people starting in these fields don’t consider themselves freelancers, or don’t know where to look. In the future, watch for blogs, from me and probably others, based entirely on this idea.

Also, there’s a bit on writing; I would love to be a writer, and one day I may just do some writing other than what’s required for game design, but the reason I’m posting these links is because I feel they offer good advice for anyone within creative fields.

Expect future Weekly Weblinks to feature more on freelancing and business as well.

Also, I have a folder full of links for upcoming Recommended Readings, but I try to limit these (10 links today, and it feels right). If you want or need more information, don’t
hesitate to ask in the comments.

Game Design

• Make Your Own Games. Tadhg Kelly compares gaming companies, both independent and corporate, and compares them to bands and orchestras. I feel this is a great article, but it misses the idea of jazz bands, and small just-for-fun classical ensembles, where they’re still driven by discipline and often have sheet music and such, but still have the chaotic and crazy that garage bands have. I feel his comparison should go as follows: bands are hobbiest programmers, jazz bands are the independent gaming studios (following just enough of the rules and midsets to make it work, but still taking risks without a safety net). (@ Gamasutra)
• The Fatal Flaws of Flash Game Design. This article, by Erin Bell, is a grab bag of good game design (obviously) and freelance (not so obviously) tips for anyone starting out. (@ Gamasutra)

Business Related

• How To Increase Your Workspace Productivity. Is your workspace fighting against your creativity and workflow? Fix it. (@ Unplggd)
• How To Budget For An Irregular Income. I can’t stress this enough: as a starting musician/composer/sound designer you are –not- going to make ends meat. Even when you become established, unless you’re working in-house, you’re not going to have a steady income. J.D. explains here how to budget effectively for the slow months. (@ Get Rich Slowly)

Freelancing

• What the Carnies Can Teach You About Freelancing. Exactly as the title suggests, by James Chartrand. Incredibly useful read. (@ Men With Pens)
• 60+ Resources For Entrepreneurs To Step Up and Take Charge. More reading for anyone who truly wants to start out in any business. Even if all you want to do is flip burgers, you’re still selling yourself and your time. (@ Applicant)
• 3 Steps To Building A Profitable Business Using Twitter. Professional relationships are built these days in 140 characters, or so Twitter would have you believe. Chris Johnson explains ways to take your relationship beyond tweets, and build connections. It will be interesting to see how Twitter plays out, whether it’s as revolutionary as everyone wantsto believe, but for the time being there’s no harm in trying. (@ TwiTip)

• 5 Must-Have Qualities to be a Top Freelancer. Like most freelancing tips, this is just good business sense laid out in plain English. As a composer/musician/designer you have to treat yourself like a business, or you won’t go anywhere. (@ Freelance Folder)

Writing

• Write When You Think You Can’t. When I first read this article, I thought it was ways for breaking writers block, which it obviously is. But then I reread it and noticed, at the
  top of the page, that it’s more about writing when you’ve never written before, and how to start. Good for anyone doing, or who wants to do, creative work. (@ Dumb Little Man)
• Accept What Is – Don’t Judge as Good or Bad. I wish I’d read this yesterday. On Monday night, when Brandon and I were trying to speed-write a
  song, I wanted to give up because the piece wasn’t perfect. Then we laid it over the video, and it was everything we were hoping for. Often times, we’re shooting for something better than we need, and we let it bring us down, when really all we need to do is accept it. (@ ZenHabits)

Related posts:

1. Recommended Readings: Related Links from Around the Web (July 22, 2009 ed.)
2. Time to start taking myself seriously.
3. The Road So Far
4. Guerilla Marketing for Modern Composers: First Things First
5. Global Game Jam, 2010