this sounds way too good to be true somehow

[floatingleaf]

So, for the past few weeks I have been catching up with an old friend of mine, who unexpectedly resurfaced via email (like all my old friends, she lives 'across the big pond', obviously). And who also happens to be a professional publisher, interested in feminist and/or lesbian literature. Many years ago, before I flew across the big pond, we had an idea of making a book together. An anthology of lesbian short stories, written by various American authors, translated into Polish by yours truly. My publisher friend was very enthusiastic about it, but she didn't have enough money to sponsor the project, so we applied for a grant. Predictably enough, we didn't get it (there was only one feminist organization in Poland at the time, and they told us they had more pressing issues to deal with than publishing a book about lesbians). And that was the end of it - or so I thought. Now, however, my publisher friend claims she doesn't need to go begging for a grant anymore, she can fund it herself, and the market is much more receptive to the topic than it used to be all those years ago. In short, she still wants to do the book with me - more than one book, in fact. She just wants to start publishing new lesbian literature that isn't currently available in the Polish language, and I am her translator of choice. She will only start looking for someone else if I decline her offer of cooperation. And she doesn't expect me to do it for free either.


Make no mistake - she can't pay me big money, and I can't afford to turn this into a full time occupation. At least not right now. But even doing it 'on the side', as a source of some much appreciated extra income, is an improvement compared to doing it 'just as an exercise', for the benefit of a small circle of friends, or not at all. The thing is, literary translation is as close to a professional 'calling' as anything ever got for me. If I knew how to make it pay, it wouldn't even cross my mind to do anything else. It also happens to be one of the few things I'm good at. I may not have the creativity to write original fiction, but I find the inner workings of language endlessly fascinating, and it's natural for me to 'adopt' the style of an author I'm reading, to almost instinctively start thinking in it - which makes it relatively easy to recreate that style in another language. My brain thrives on that kind of mental exercise. It's quite possibly the only kind of 'challenge' that does not discourage or scare me. It's only the practical side of making a living as a tanslator that always seemed too much to handle...

Comments

[stormatdusk.livejournal.com]

i've got shivers!

i kept waiting for the kicker, for the but... did i miss it?

this sounds amazing!

[floatingleaf.livejournal.com]

I stayed up far too late last night writing this post - which is why it sort of ended without a conclusion, lol. But the but is that I don't really see myself finding much time for this - considering that I still need to have a full-time job (if only for such mundane purposes as retirement savings or health insurance), and after spending 8 hours at said job + 2 more in traffic there really isn't a whole lot of energy & motivation left in me to do whatever I want to do... *sigh*

[surreysmum.livejournal.com]

Wow, FL! Go for it, girl! Sounds just tailor-made for you. Keep us updated on how it's going, will you?

[floatingleaf.livejournal.com]

Sounds just tailor-made for you.

I know. That's why it doesn't pay enough to live on. That would be simply too beautiful to be true, wouldn't it?... *wistful sigh*

Keep us updated on how it's going, will you?

Of course I will. But it's gonna take time before anything happens. First, I have to actually read something I might want to translate, lol (lately I've been reading mostly slash fanfic, which unfortunately does not qualify ;P). Then my friend has to contact the author/publisher and get the copyright. Then I have to find the time to actually work on it, which will be a challenge. But I think in this case I just might have enough determination to keep trying.;)

[willys-digs.livejournal.com]

OOoo, that sounds fantastic. I hope it works out for you.

hugs

Jo

[floatingleaf.livejournal.com]

I hope so too.;)

[helynhighwater.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful! Glad to hear it :^)

[floatingleaf.livejournal.com]

Thanks for responding! *hugs*