In her essay A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf suggested the idea she posits in the quote mentioned above. It was a revolutionary idea for its time and no doubt stirred many passions when she proposed it in the lectures she gave at Cambridge University in 1928. What she was referring to, of course, was the financial and conventional barrier that aspiring women writers faced in English society in those days.

The luxury of having a room of one’s own is something that is still, nearly one hundred years later, beyond the reach of a certain percentage of women—and men—who are trying to be freelance translators, though today’s barrier no longer reflects societal taboos; it is usually created by a shortage of funds.

Time and technology change our lives in a multitude of ways, and the modern trend of telecommuting has encouraged the proliferation of another modern trend: the home office. But not every translator has the space in which to create a home office or can afford to have a dedicated computer of their own, and some still work at the kitchen table and share the family laptop with spouse and children. Am I exaggerating? Perhaps. But surely it’s no exaggeration to say that all translators want a room of their own in which to immerse themselves in their work, whatever form that might take. A room where they can disengage from other concerns and indulge in their research, reading, and translation, blissfully immune to unwelcome intrusion and outside distraction. I am one of the lucky ones. I have a room of my own, and I love every inch of it.       

         My home office is a good size; fourteen by twelve feet, and the ceiling is ten feet high so there’s plenty of space for ideas to go “sailing alone around the room” as Billy Collins says. There are three large windows in two of the walls, and a French door that leads to the side porch and the rock garden beyond. There is a pond with a fountain in the garden, and when the weather cooperates I leave the door open so that I can hear water falling on water, one of the most soothing sounds imaginable. Among many other advantages, having a room of my own means that, when reminded of Billy Collins, I can reach up and take a book of his poems off the shelf and read a few of them; maybe even find one to quote.

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