Happy birthday, blog!
19 Mar 2013 | 5 Comments | posted by Megan Onions | in Me
When I started this blogging journey almost exactly a year ago (time flies!), my main aim was to share my experiences and, hopefully, provide some food for thought for other translators and freelancers. Since then, I have written on a wide range of topics, from marketing to professional development and from productivity to client relations. I’m delighted with the response to my blog, in what is already a pretty saturated field. When I started out on my own (I had already blogged for employers), I never imagined that I would be invited to give presentations and interviews on blogging – not a bad start!
In order to say happy birthday to my blog (I think maybe it needs a name – what do you reckon?), I thought I’d run through a few of the most popular posts so far:
• The 1 Linguist, 3 Questions series – this has been amazingly popular, with a lot of my translation role models agreeing to take part. There are still one or two to come, so keep your eyes peeled for them! If you want to catch up, have a browse through the series so far.
• The Freelance Translator’s Reading List – another collaborative effort, receiving suggestions on my Twitter and Facebook accounts. If you have anything to add, please get in touch and I can add your favourite(s) to the lists.
• Dealing with the quiet times – despite being one of my more recent posts, this has proved one of the most popular. I think everyone can relate to the feeling you get when things have a been a little slower than normal. In fact, Judy Jenner has recently posted some great tips on dealing with famine periods over at Translation Times.
The past year in blogging has been very successful (and enjoyable!) for me, having been invited to contribute to the ITI Bulletin, do presentations with colleagues, write guest posts and do online and audio interviews about blogging and my business – all on the basis of this little blog. Here’s a quick round-up of what opportunities blogging has resulted in for me:
• Articles for the ITI Bulletin (more to come soon!)
• Presented with Marta, Valeria and Meg at the Language Show in London
• Invited to write a guest post for Dana Translation
• Interviewed for Sharp End Training’s Blogging Toolkit, along with Judy Jenner and Corinne McKay, and hosted a giveaway of a free copy
• Interviewed on Lloyd Translates about how I got into translation
• Included in the blogroll of 10 colleagues’ blogs
• Interviewed on Sara Colombo’s blog about work/life balance
If you’re considering starting a blog, or you have let yours slide somewhat, I’d definitely recommend going for it – who knows what it could lead to?
Megan’s proofreading has been very beneficial to me. I appreciate her accurate linguistic knowledge of English, and especially her stylistic recommendations.
