Over the past week or so, I’ve prepared quotes for two big jobs. Both would have taken about three weeks work and were priced accordingly. I haven’t heard back from either of them. Neither have I heard back from a potential client in Malaysia, and nor have I heard from the agency I contacted yesterday about a translation that seemed to be right up my street. It’s all very discouraging. It’s more than 6,000 euros of business I’m not doing. What am I doing wrong? I suspect I’m too expensive, or maybe too slow, but really, I’m just guessing.
On the other hand, I spent most of yesterday immersed in a translation. The more I do translation, the more I like it. It’s like meditation to me. I become completely absorbed by the words and the challenge of capturing the author’s thoughts in another language. Also, as time goes on, and more of my translations are being published I’ve found enormous satisfaction in the fact that knowledge is being disseminated to people who, if it wasn’t for my work, wouldn’t be able to read it.
It’s been another difficult week (third in a row). I’m not sleeping well and consequently I lack motivation and I’m very tired by lunchtime. Oh well. Things will turn around eventually I suppose.