Quote of the day May 1, 2014
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings.add a comment
“I’m amazed at how much my writing is improved when I step away from the computer, even in small amounts. If I’m stuck, I vacuum the living room or walk the dog. I’m amazed at what comes out of that… We have to realize that part of the writing life where we’re sitting down at the computer is harvesting the crops, but you have to have planted them and watered them and created fertile soil – and that’s a life.”
— Donald Miller
Thought of the day April 18, 2014
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.4 comments
I read this on Tumblr and thought it was so fitting to our profession as well. It is originally from the Zibbet forum (Zibbet is kind of like Etsy – it’s a site for artists to sell their handmade works) and was written by user Sweet2Spicy (Elsie) on January 20, 2014:
A customer wanted to purchase a beautiful Wire Wrap Bracelet and spotted an artist who did absolutely amazing work, but she charged a good price too. The customer thought that the artist’s price was way too high so she approached the artist and in quite a brisk fashion stated “I want to buy a Bracelet from you, but I think you charge too much.” The artist was a little taken aback but replied, “Ok, how much do you think I should charge?” The customer replied “I think you should charge “X” much, because the wire will cost this much, and the clasp this much, and the cabochon this much. I even factored in the price of your pliers.”
The final price the customer had calculated was a lot cheaper than the artist’s original price, but she said “Ok, deal. You will get your goods in a week”. The customer was very pleased with herself and can’t resist telling all her friends what a fabulous deal she has negotiated and how smart she is, and that in a week she will have her gorgeous bracelet.
A week later her parcel arrives in a lovely packaged box. She opens it and inside is Wire, a Clasp, a Cabochon, and 2 sets of Pliers. Angrily she contacts the artist asking “How could you do this to me? I asked you for a Bracelet and you sent me a box of Wire, a Clasp, a Cabochon and 2 sets of Pliers?!?!” The artist quietly replies “My dear, you got exactly what you paid for, if you think there is something missing, then you will need to pay for it.”
Moral of the story, when you buy handmade you are not just buying the materials you are buying the artist’s time, effort, love and dedication that goes into making your pieces.
Musings from an overworked translator 