TheOtherSarshi

So, it's been two years since my last update here. That's... a long time. This post is written for all the people whom I met here and who drop by every once in a while to see if I've been around, as well as for those who came across something I wrote and then wondered about me. I never liked the sort of mystery where an author I enjoyed vanished with absolutely no trace, and this is my attempt to not inflict that particular frustration upon others.

As I was saying back in 2016, in 2014 I became a freelance translator for one of the huge video game companies. That particular video game is maybe a bit smaller than it used to be (at least, as far as I can tell), but it's still huge. I've become the person in charge of the small translation team for it, because apparently I'm good when it comes to paying attention to detail and editing and stuff like that. I miss my old boss, she was awesome.

I also worked for an AAA shooter recently (as the head of a three-person translator team again), and translated/adapted stuff there - the gaming company was thrilled with our work, and some of the players are, too, which is awesome.

And I'm also translating a software-messenger thing that's insanely popular. 

I don't know how the hell it happened, but I'm apparently one of the top professionals in my job?... I don't normally say that, especially on the part of the internet where I go by my real name, because it sounds so stuck-up, but I think it's true?... It's hard to tell. It's not like freelance translators gather around and compete for a title, but I keep getting work on Big things and clients want to keep me, so I guess that's what success looks like. 

It's super-weird, because I've always been told that I'll starve to death as a translator, especially an English-Romanian one, because there's so much competition on the market and prices are so low. Instead, I'm doing great and I keep wondering if/when it will all come crashing down. Christ. On the one hand, I smile at clients, act like a pro, do the work, figure out the kinks and name high prices - and on the other, I'm still anxious, and feel small and socially awkward. It's not that I don't think I'm good at what I do, but it still feels like it might go away soon, with just as little explanation as when it came.

But if I end up jobless again, at least this time I have some money set aside.

God, it feels good to get that off my chest. I wasn't going to write it, but there it is.

Aaaanyways! STORIES!

I have written a bit here and there, but much, much less than I'd have liked. (see above: job, anxiety, saving money) 

I have a bunch of things I'm working on: 

1. A non-fiction book about MISA, the cult I was part of for a long time; I'd want to get a few things off my chest, but it's slow-going. I finally started writing it because my former yoga instructor, a guy I really looked up to and whom I was in love with as a teenager (though I can't for the life of me remember *why*) and who pretty much tried to entangle me very deep with the cult thing died in late 2017. He had cancer and didn't get treatment in time, trying to solve it all 'naturally', as far as I've heard. We hadn't talked for a number of years at that point, and it really struck me that we'll never talk again. And I just want to write to remember who some of us there were, in our foolish way - the sort of naive fools who thought we could cure cancer by thinking the right way, who tried to follow impossible rules, and who hurt ourselves and each other. Because god knows, whenever I mention that goddamned yoga cult, people think of funny, sex-obsessed people, and I just think of all those who died when they could have lived, and who tried to achieve some Procustean ideal for which they cut off and stretched bits of themselves, smiling on the outside and pained on the inside.

2. A few short stories, most of which are half-done. One is a weird thing about a university and a guy who makes art with computers. One is fairy tale-based. One is a fantasy story in an alternate universe which is about deceit and desperation. And the rest are mostly ideas in my head. 

3. A novel-length thing that starts with a beauty & the beast type story and ends somewhere else entirely. 

4. The Hellish Novel of Doom, which is a huge project which keeps popping back in my head at times, but it's just... big. Big worldbuilding, loads of characters, loads of plot. I'm not sure I'm ready to write this, but if I lose all my translation clients, I'll know what to work on.

As for fanfics, including "The Affair of Loki and Darcy" and its possible follow-ups... fanfics are what I write when I'm alone and feeling glum. I feel glum often, but I'm rarely alone. So I have no idea what's up with those.

Maybe I'll manage to use some of the discipline I have at work to actually, you know, write things properly and finish them and maybe publish them. Yeah. That seems like a plan.

I don't know if anybody still follows me, really, but one thing I really hate about online people is that they sometimes disappear without a trace and I don't even know if they're still alive.

I'm still alive.

A few years ago, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make a decent living with my skill set. I mean, sure, I can write - but how many writers live off their books, you know?

I got lucky, eventually, and I landed a few English to Romanian translation gigs for various self-help, personal development books. It was a bit funny, since I'm a fairly cynical person who doesn't believe in that sort of thing, but I did my best and it went well.

I then landed a few Romanian to English translation gigs for fiction, which was a step up.

And in 2014, I got recruited as a freelance translator for one of *the* biggest video gaming companies out there. I've been working for them ever since and it's amazing, it's got that blend of creativity and madness and fun and teamwork that I can't help but love. 

Incidentally, it's a demanding job, which sucks most of my time and creativity away. I'm also currently living with The Guy, who takes up more of my time with more awesomeness. I'm happy, but I no longer write as much as I used to. It's a bit hard to bugger off into a quiet corner and do my writing thing when there's someone around and I'm not anywhere near a quiet corner.

When we were in school, we were told that geniuses write their works in "solitude and pain" - I'm not sure I agree with the "pain" bit, but I'm starting to get the "solitude" bit.

I love my new life, but sometimes I resent it a little for not leaving much room for other things I love.

I kind of miss the times a few years back when I'd hang out on dA a lot. I miss churning out short stories one after the other, interacting with people, looking at amateur art and pro art together.

These days it's all about work and getting things done - and I do love my job, but sometimes I feel like doing one thing I like means missing out on another thing I like. 

My novel *will* get published, at one point. It's just that I got busy, my editor got busy, I got hit by a burst of perfectionist panic and... well. *sigh*

More hours in the day, please!

Finland, I have something to ask you: will you still be teaching kids handwriting? Because some of the world says you aren't. Hell, you've even made the news in Romania!

I've seen a number of people say you're only ditching cursive handwriting, so you'll be teaching your kids to write each letter separately instead of joining them up in a flowing script, but others are going on and on about how innovative it is of you to get rid of all that pen and ink business and jump straight to keyboards.

So which is it, Finland? I'm of the opinion you're probably giving up on drawing little lines between the letters of a word, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm insane and everybody there is using keyboards now.

One of the books I've translated is free on Amazon for the next three days. You can pick it up and tell me how much I messed up on it right now!