Full-time freelance translator
When I set up my office back in 2007, I decided to work a part-time post at the Foundation of Research and Technology (www.forth.gr), in the Institute of Computer Science. I kept the part-time post until end of June this year.
Apart from providing a stable income, this part-time post taught me so very many things about computers, websites and gave me other interesting insights to the world of computers and the Internet. Five years went by so fast! And then, Life showed me a different path in life, you know, just to keep me (far) away from boredom. I always wanted to become a full-time translator, working from home, but I never found the courage to leave my part-time post. You see, Life was keeping an eye on me, and since I was not willing to let go, it forced me to continue without it.
Three months is not a very long time-period, and cannot really be taken as a concrete sample, but this summer turned out to be unexpectedly all-right work wise. Suddenly, I had more work than I could have handled if I had kept the part-time job. I would never have had the time to finish all these demanding projects and achieve the tight deadlines. I did not even have the time to write any posts for my blog (hence, the long absence). Work was coming from all my regular clients, and one or two arrived from old clients that had not worked with for a long time.
Slowly but steadily I was getting used to not leaving home-office for lots of days in a raw. If it wasn’t for the deadlines, I may have forgotten what day of the week it was. It was such a new experience for me. Then, I caught myself talking to friends on the phone or chatting in social networks and using all the time the same reply to the question- “Where are you now?”- “Oh, at home”!
Some of the times, I felt blessed that I did not have to wake up and go out in the heat (it was a very hot summer in Crete) and drive to the office. Some other times, I saw the bright sunlight only through the open window that my desk faces. One gains some, one loses some! As long as there is a healthy balance and projects of interst are coming my way, I am OK with it!