Monthly Archives: March 2015

For their early March meeting, Ruckusmakers converged on a well-kept Hudson River village a short train ride from Manhattan, a 50’s kind of place. In the nicest possible way. And as they made their way up Main Street from the … Continue reading →

Slice of life: every month or so I attend a networking event for entrepreneurs in central Paris, less to connect with clients than to keep a finger on that pulse and enjoy the buzz and enthusiasm. Last night’s get-together celebrated … Continue reading →

Here we take a look at a few money issues. We’ve agreed that generosity is good, even essential. But what about passionate, generous freelancers and entrepreneurs who are so engaged with their clients’ concerns that they give away too much? … Continue reading →

There was some finger-wagging in Post #4. That’s a turn-off—almost as bad as a translator/language cop lecturing a potential client about misused subjunctives and conjugations until ze eyes glaze over, then wondering why projects fail to materialize. No way to … Continue reading →

Fear was on the agenda at the recent Ruckusmaker workshop—a Gollum-like creature writhing and muttering within even the boldest of hearts. For both freelancers and entrepreneurs, we’re talking fear of failure. Fear of your prototype exploding or the bank manager … Continue reading →

Seth Godin has commented that the connection economy thrives on art and generosity, and today I want to consider both. For the translators among us, art is the mastery of our craft—the ability to create texts that go beyond accurate … Continue reading →

This will be a short one. After the Ruckusmaker weekend, I headed north to rural New York State to visit my father, a spry 97-year-old Iwo Jima veteran who spent his working life at the GE plant in Schenectady, NY. … Continue reading →

Bear with me, please. Outstanding translation is usually draped in a cloak of invisibility: seamless and compelling, it passes for original text. That’s right: people forget that the report/article/maintenance manual/essay/speech they’re reading was born in another language. Meanwhile, translators are … Continue reading →

Testing, testing. The first of eight blogposts. Trial run. In early spring 2015 I took part in an exceptionally stimulating RuckusMaker weekend led by Seth Godin, whose blog and other writings I’ve long admired. Eighty fired-up participants brought enthusiasm, energy, … Continue reading →