Remember when I thought 2018 would be the one when I’d take to blogging? Well, that didn’t happen 
Guess I prefer doing to talking about it.
The year 2018 in facts and figures was as follows (results for 2017 and 2016 are shown in brackets, for comparison):
Invoices sent: 194 (146) (118)
Projects completed: 318 (293) (310)
Busiest months: May & September (January & February) (October & November)
Gray hair gained: err, best stop counting now
Biggest project: 20 000 w (28 000) (28 000)
Most frequent translation area: Marketing (Marketing) (Technical)
Most interesting project: Cannabis growing instructions (Shaun the Sheep game) (Yard Sauna)
New clients gained: 30 (13) (9)
Record project income: 1700 € (1700 €) (2400 €)
Translation vs Editing: 94% VS 6% (64.6% vs 35.4%) (89.7% vs 10.3%)
Hit a record number of invoices, projects completed, and new clients so far. As also in the last year, Marketing translations keep ahead of Technical translation, and Marketing/Technical editing/proofreading has pulled back to a modest 6%. For the sake of transparency it should be noted that though I’ve managed to take on 30 new clients, the lion’s share of them have been one-project cases (the Estonian language being on the small side, projects tend to be few and far in between). All-in-all, a good year!
The Alchemist giving back
Having moved from an apartment to house this Autumn, to a new community in Aespa, I’ve decided to contribute to Aespa Perepark (Aespa Family Park) to acquire more attractions for children there.
First real vacation in years
It finally happened – during the summer of 2018, I managed to take a family vacation without bringing my trusty PC along with me. Uncle Marnet and Aunt Aili manage a Vetevana Tourist Farm by Lake Hino. The 10 days spent there went by in a flash, mornings belonging to discovering the sights of Võrumaa, afternoons and evenings to enjoying peace and quiet in our cottage. Can’t pour from an empty cup, as they say. Well, the cup was filled to the brim now!