Kate Sotejeff-Wilson

Prove you wrote it yourself

Recently, I had to prove that I’d written 300,000 words myself. Why? I’m now a qualified member of the UK Institute of Translation and Interpreting (MITI) for all my three source languages: Finnish, German and Polish into English. If you translate into or out of the “big four” languages, or FIGS (French, Italian, German andContinue reading “Prove you wrote it yourself”

Cyborg writing

We are cyborg writers now. Can we write at all without machines? When my laptop broke, I felt bereft. I decided to write by hand. But how could I share it? Could anyone read it? Writing offline felt scary: it was clumsier, less secure, more precarious. While my laptop was being fixed, I started writingContinue reading “Cyborg writing”

Women writing socially in academia: the lineage of an idea

You might not notice when you started writing something. An idea can take years to develop, and years more to come to fruition. But looking back can be revealing and help you look forward. If you’ve never tried this, I absolutely recommend it. Inspired by Margy Thomas and Helen Sword in #Acwrimoments8 I decided toContinue reading “Women writing socially in academia: the lineage of an idea”

New year, new words

At the end of the year, the English dictionaries hit us with words of 2023 thick and fast. In 2024, which ones do you think will stick? Artificial intelligence (Collins) was the obvious choice. In 2023, this meant generative AI based on large language models you could ‘talk’ to, like ChatGPT (the Economist). But theseContinue reading “New year, new words”

All I want for Christmas is time to write

The holidays are coming closer and so are deadlines, but if all you want for Christmas is writing time, we have new dates and a new venue for the new year. Looking forward to writing with you in 2024! Writing in a Winter Wonderland, Unity Tampere 8&9.2.2024 Unity is a brand-new venue for us, inContinue reading “All I want for Christmas is time to write”

Lydia Davis – Essays One

Here is one of those delightful books that lure you into the pages of their fellows. Reading it, I kept wanting to send photos of pages to particular people. And to read what she’s been reading. By the end, I felt I had made a new friend. Lydia Davis is deftly insightful about her ownContinue reading “Lydia Davis – Essays One”

When should you write in a language you learned later in life?

When should you write in a language you learned later in life? Some people never do. They are monolingual and they only write in the one language they learned to speak and listen and read and write in as a child. That is true of fewer people than you might think. Some people always do.Continue reading “When should you write in a language you learned later in life?”

Writing with Pleasure

Writing with Pleasure is a pleasure to read. I whizzed through it on the train down to facilitate a writing retreat. I was travelling to a pleasurable writing experience, with people I had written with before as individuals, though not in the same group. But I also knew the experience would be a pain. IContinue reading “Writing with Pleasure”

Little and often

editor's desk: headphones, mouse, notebook, pen, and moomin mug

I’d love to have vast swathes of time to do nothing but write, but I haven’t got it. So little and often works for me. What about you? For three years now, pretty much every Wednesday, I’ve been writing with others on Zoom. We started in spring 2020 (no prizes for guessing why, but here’sContinue reading “Little and often”

We wrote a book

This week, with two colleagues, I sent a book we had edited off to the publisher for peer review. This same week, I finished the first draft translation of another book. I’m working on that one with the author and a master’s student on placement with me. So in both cases, we were a teamContinue reading “We wrote a book”