I live in Sheffield and translate from German to English, focusing mainly on marketing, tourism, media and entertainment. I have now been translating for 8 years and achieved MITI status in early 2014. When the 2013 ITI Conference came around, I had only been freelancing for a few months, having previously worked as an in-house translator in Stuttgart and Nottingham for five and a half years. I hadn’t earned much money at that point, but I was determined to attend. And I’m very glad I did. I was still adjusting to working alone (enjoying the lack of office politics but feeling a little lonely) so it gave me a real boost to spend three days surrounded by like-minded people and talking to people I’d previously met online – although it’s surprisingly difficult to spot them when you’ve only seen a tiny profile picture on Twitter! As someone with an interest in literary translation, I’m particularly excited about the session with Ann Cleeves, and I believe this year’s conference offers a great mix of familiar and new speakers. I’m also looking forward to the Tweet Up, the Sunday tour of Northumberland and exploring Newcastle. I will be attending my first London Book Fair the week before the conference, so I should be brimming with new ideas by the end of April! I look forward to meeting many of you in a few weeks’ time.