Constantly evolving is a lifestyle choice

You know that feeling of being settled in your career and knowing exactly where you’re going and why? Yeah… I vaguely remember that feeling. Since 2020 though it feels like I’ll never know that peace again! But I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. 

In 2020, I left the company that I had been running for fifteen years, for family reasons, and went back to my roots as a translator. I needed the freedom that working as a freelance translator gave me and I could, for a time, sustain the financial instability that goes hand in hand with that, especially when you’re starting out. 

I found a much different world than the one I had left 15 years prior. I studied, adjusted, and adapted, and I created my happy little community of clients and fellow translators. But it didn’t feel like quite enough. I am a restless soul after all.

So last year I decided I needed a new challenge. I had applied at a publishing house to be a project manager, with no prior publishing experience. I didn’t get the job… surprisingly…

But what I did do is start training again. I started studying the publishing business, I took some editing courses, I joined the EFA (Editorial Freelancers Association), and completely out of the blue that publishing house contacted me again and offered an editor position. My stint with them was brief, but it consolidated my desire to integrate my work as a translator with more bookish pursuits. 

It was 2025, so of course I started creating editing and fiction-related content on TikTok. I connected with other editors and with authors. And in a completely reckless sink or swim moment I decided to offer a few free book edits. Because to be considered by independent authors you need a portfolio, but to get a portfolio you need to be considered by authors, it’s the age-old conundrum. 

Thankfully I didn’t sink, in fact, I’ve swum my way to having several books under my belt. I’ve also made great connections, I’ve had referrals, I’ve built fantastic relationships with the authors I’ve worked with (some even recurring), I’ve gotten experience in some of my favorite genres (fantasy, sci-fi, romance…), and I even edited a movie script!

But the best thing of all, is that I get to do what I love most in the world, reading. All day, every day, I get to read books, and I get to make them (hopefully) better. And for a life-long bookworm that spent her childhood and young adulthood between the shelves of many a library, it’s a dream come true. 

I still get to exercise my language muscles with a few select translation clients, but I also get to help some wonderful authors bring magical worlds of fiction to life, and I can’t think of anything that beats that.