I'm delighted to celebrate 10 years in business. The winter projects I was working on have now come to a close. I have made the decision to temporarily close Trusty Transcriptionists until Oct 2024. From now until mid October my life is very full professionally and personally. I need to take some time to enjoy my free time. I have some exciting travel plans on the horizon, in addition to looking forward to the Euros and Olympics this summer! I hope you have a wonderful spring and summer!

I made the decision last year to essentially wind down Trusty Transcriptionists as business was very slow and I really needed a change and a new challenge. I contacted most of the clients that I had dealt with in the last year to inform them of the change and provide my new email address. I am now working full-time in criminal justice which is very challenging and rewarding. I've found great contentment in returning to my career and putting my university degree to use once more. I started my new job the last quarter of last year and essentially closed my work computer and did not look at it again. During that time I turned my business onto 'temporarily closed' as I felt so overwhelmed by learning my new job and undertaking training that I just did not have the capacity or desire to field emails. This week I turned on my business computer for the first time since starting my job and found quite a number of emails from previous clients who I had not heard from in several years. This prompted me to provide an update on the blog as to my current situation. My current job is fulfilling and I appreciate my time off to pursue my hobbies and rich social life. I have however, agreed to take on a few projects on weekends. I am currently completely booked up for the month of January with old clients where the demand is not overwhelming and they are happy to have the work done on weekends. I am being extremely selective about which projects I take on. Please do feel free to get in touch but please note that I will only be checking emails sporadically, not on a daily basis. I am happy to book in weekend ad hoc projects but will require advance notice. I want to thank all of my clients over the past ten years for using my services and I wish you all the best. 

Trusty Transcriptionists is celebrating 9 years in business! It seems very difficult to comprehend that this much time has passed since I began this venture essentially on a whim. I want to thank all of my clients past and present for supporting me during this time, you have all contributed to the success of my transcription services business. As alluded to previously things have changed considerably since the pandemic. AI has certainly come along leaps and bounds which has impacted me greatly. I still have clients, especially in the Human Resources field who say to me that they are grateful when I am available to transcribe their meetings as it far exceeds the transcript generated by voice recognition, I hope that continues to be the case but I cannot stick my head in the sand. I have been aware for years that this time would eventually come and I find myself more or less working part-time these days because there is simply not enough demand for my services anymore. This is a natural progression in life and while I am sad, I have also accepted this, change is inevitable in life and I do need new challenges. I do intend to keep the business going for the foreseeable future whilst turning my hand part-time to other things. To celebrate my ninth anniversary I have rewound my already very affordable prices for all one-to-one academic interviews. These rates are what I was offering in the first few years of transcribing academic interviews.

Lately, a lot of my work has centred around either Human Resources interview transcription or transcribing PACE interviews for various councils across England. If you require this sort of transcript you will be pleased with what I can produce for you. This is an area in which I have much experience and my initial training came from five years working for the Police transcribing taped interviews (with cassettes!)

The extra time I’ve had on my hands for the past few months has been spent wisely. I’ve been doing some volunteer administration work for an LGTBQI+ organisation that promotes equality in sports. I always find nonpaid work a very rewarding and nourishing way to soothe the soul. I envision myself in my retirement years (will there be such a thing?) volunteering for a myriad of organisations, there are so many that I support and feel an affinity with. My local fitness centre still offers dance fitness and Zumba classes which I still enjoy immensely, the jury is out on whether or not I’ve improved in these classes! They also started offering Tai Chi this year, which I love, I can get absorbed in it and the hour passes in what feels like minutes. I’ve also been doing some self-directed group therapy to address some losses from my past. This has been a painful but healing process and I find myself at the happiest I have been since I was a child. I’m continuing my Spanish on Duolingo, this is a very long journey and I need to apply myself more to accelerate the pace. But it was very satisfying when I was recently in Spain and several people told me how great my accent was and that I was very good at speaking Spanish! They were probably being kind but I’ll take the compliment!

Please send me a message if you would like to book to have your digitally recorded interviews transcribed.
Best wishes,
Kim

[email protected]

​In April, Trusty Transcriptionists celebrated eight years in business. This year saw me at a crossroads more than any other. After an inconsistent workflow during the pandemic, I wondered if I wanted to keep this going or turn my mind to a new challenge. In the world of transcribing, as long as things are busy and fascinating academic studies are being presented to me to transcribe, I remain happy. But I was beginning to lose my joie de vivre with the entire enterprise, to be honest. For the first time in eight years, I applied for a few jobs in my area of expertise where I could put my social sciences degree to use and was offered job interviews. I pulled out of the process twice because things picked back up again to the pre-pandemic level. I then found I was committed to several large projects with hefty purchase orders. Perhaps when it came down to it, I wasn't ready to move on from a business that had taken years to build up. So I set a new goal to keep Trusty Transcriptionists going for a decade and then reassess from there. I find that having these goals helps keep me motivated. 

The other thing that became abundantly clear to me when I was lone working during the pandemic is that it's not sustainable long-term with my business. Once things began to get busy again I needed some help as I was constantly having to turn projects and clients away because a person can only do so much transcribing in a day. It became frustrating and tiring, and I felt burnt out. So for my larger academic projects, I once again have several very trusted people helping me out. I still work on all of the HR work and journalists' transcripts myself because of confidentiality issues. But because academic projects generally consist of 15+ interviews per client, we can now get through these projects more swiftly if the client agrees to me getting some assistance from my trusty transcriptionists!

The last six months have seen me working on interesting academic interviews, including a very large ethnographic study to the more standard and countless one-to-one interviews. Lately, I've been transcribing some heart-warming interviews sent to me from youth workers, these people are amazing and the work they do is so important. I find it fascinating to hear young people's opinions and thoughts on a myriad of topics, especially politics and equality. I also delved into the dark triad of personality, an intriguing and eye-opening study.  And I found myself working on three healthcare studies. One of my favourite studies was about neurodiverse young people, where I learned a lot about high-functioning autism and how different genders present. Another study that gave me a lot of food for thought was about sustainability. It made me reflect on some of my choices in my own life and tweak a few things to play my part in being more sustainable, like having more meatless days and avoiding fast fashion (Since the mid-1980s I've always loved second-hand shopping, who knew that I was actually contributing to a more sustainable world!) I've also never driven a car in my life and have always used public transportation, so I feel I've at least slightly atoned for my other sins over my lifetime ;-) 

I will close this blog entry by saying I was yet again reminded of how fragile life is and how important it is to appreciate each day. During the summertime, my husband's cousin who was only in his 50s was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and passed away shortly after. He'd been living his best life and had taken a dream trip to Hawaii before the diagnosis; this made me happy because at least he had one fabulous last hurrah, even if he didn't know it. And that's the thing, we never know what's around the corner. Two days after we attended this cousin's funeral, my husband went for a run, came home and didn't feel well. He started having chest pains. The long and the short of it is, he had a mild heart attack. I felt so grateful that this happened at home rather than when he was outside running. The NHS has been brilliant and several weeks ago he had surgery and was given a stent. None of this was on our radar prior to it happening, it came completely out of the blue. It was very frightening and difficult to come to terms with of course, but now he's as good as new. We've made some small lifestyle changes (Like we've stopped ordering our weekly takeaways, our definite Achilles' heel.) As the saying goes, 'tomorrow is promised to no one'. My ethos is to try to live a meaningful, happy and authentic life whilst embracing the ups and downs because nothing is linear. To try to be kind to others and to forgive others' mistakes and forgive my own as well of which there are many because I'm only human.
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Work remains busy and for that I'm grateful. If you would like to book yourself in for a large academic study please contact me, at this time I have availability from mid-October onwards.

When I was growing up in Canada, summertime was always my favourite season; as a young adult, it switched to autumn. Nothing can beat a crisp sunny fall day. I was in awe of the magnificent beauty of leaves changing colour and then falling to the ground.  This season can remind us that nothing remains static and that change doesn't have to be scary. It can sometimes represent renewal. I have been living in the UK for 20 years now, but I still celebrate Thanksgiving weekend in a  low-key kind of way. I like to use this time to reflect on what I'm thankful for in my life. I also try to pause and think about what I'm doing that is not serving me well and proactively think of a better solution. Sometimes we can get stuck in toxic behaviours that can spiral out of control. These have been difficult times for all of us. Things are slowly returning to a semblance of normality but with new changes on the horizon seemingly every week. This can be difficult to assimilate and can certainly produce a great deal of anxiety.  It serves me well to reflect on those things in my life that I do have control over and make small positive changes. On stormy days this helps me to bend like branches in the wind rather than breaking. I hope that this season brings you great joy and renewal of hope. 

I'm available to transcribe your academic interviews from mid-October onwards. Please contact me if this is a service that you require. 

The past six months have been up and down in the transcribing world for me. Work has fluctuated from being super busy to being very quiet. Things are picking up again, and jobs are rolling in, for which I am thankful. Before the summer, I transcribed an academic study on policing in the pandemic. I found this fascinating, and it was nice to work in the policing arena once again. I also transcribed interviews for a large academic study that concerned the Black Lives Matter movement and black professionals experience of working in the City. I felt so honoured to be able to contribute to that study. It was enlightening. Yesterday I transcribed a coaching transcript which is something I always find interesting. No matter what issue they're trying to delve into, I do find I can apply some of the reflections to my own life in one way or another. Win-win- an interesting piece of work and some free therapy! I've also been transcribing weekly comedy podcasts for over a year now. I'm pretty sure the laughs I've had from that work have saved me from some darker times. 

Being away from my computer for more time than I was used to, allowed me to reflect on my own life. But not in a ruminative or unproductive way, although that happened too of course! I was able to make headway on some difficult personal subject matter for me. Baggage as they say. There is a topic of conversation that comes up time and time again when I meet new people and they hear my accent. My accent is still Canadian, although I've lived here for 20 years now. And that's the old 'Do you go back to Canada often?' This question, in my mind, I've dubbed 'the conversation killer'. I either go for the evasive 'Now and again' but this response usually gets probed. Or I tell the truth and say that I no longer have any family left in Canada so I don't go back very often. That is often is where the conversation ends, flat and uncomfortable. I then ramble on about something else to change the subject. Death is a heavy topic, and people generally avoid talking about it.

But death is my specialist subject. When I tell people I don't have any family left, they presume that I must have some family members who are alive and well. But this is not the case, I come from a small family. My father had two brothers. His younger brother died when he was in his early 30s, he did not have children. My father died in his 40s, with me as the only child. And my father's older brother died in his late 50s, he was gay and did not have children. My mother had two sisters. Her younger sister died at the age of 2. And her older sister died in her early 60s, she had married very late in life and did not have children. So I never had cousins. My mother was my last living family and she died 11 years ago when I was 39. It's a pretty hard pill to swallow to not have any family members left that knew you as a child. There is a real sense of profound loneliness in that. A feeling that is very difficult to articulate. When you have no one to share family memories with, they start to drop off and fade. I wanted to cling to these memories with such intensity, I didn't want to lose them. It's like a part of you is gone, vanished forever, you will never be whole again. And you aren't, you simply are not the person you once were. 

When my father died, I was 14-years-old, and my mother decided to move away from Ottawa to Toronto. So I also left all my childhood friends during a very difficult time in my life. Those strong bonds had been broken during those formative teenage years. This was both a blessing and a curse. I suddenly found myself in the big bad exciting city, without a single friend. I was starting my very tricky high school years. And I had not allowed myself to grieve the death of my father, which would come back to haunt me time and time again. But these years I had in Toronto were also some of the best and most memorable years of my life. It was like starting life from scratch. My entire life that I once knew had been turned upside-down. But this builds resilience. It builds character. And it teaches you some invaluable social skills that have served me well ever since. During those years, I became extremely close to two friends. They remain my two best friends. They are what I now refer to as my chosen family. One of these friends does a lot of travelling and has lived in various places in the world. During the pandemic, she has ended up back in Canada living with her elderly mother. And the other, I am so fortunate, has lived in Ireland since before I moved to the UK. I have seen neither of them for several years now for obvious reasons, but that will soon change. 

What has also changed is my feelings about not having any family left. It is still dreadfully sad of course, but I've finally been able to process it. I've been able to forgive myself for finding that struggle so hard to move on from. I understand it's not a normal thing to face before the age of 40. Because of the pandemic, nobody is asking other people about whether they travel home or not. It is understood that this is a very painful subject for so many people who were kept apart from loved ones during restrictions. And finally, I'm getting old! People no longer expect me to necessarily have parents who are still alive. It's not unusual for someone in their early 50s to have suffered these losses. Sometimes the question is even pre-empted for me. Before the pandemic, I had never seen a single grey hair on my head, lately, I've seen more than a few. Before the pandemic, I didn't wear glasses. Today I am picking up two pairs of prescription glasses. One pair for distance (I can no longer see the television clearly). And a pair for close up. What? This is new. I find myself having great difficulty reading small font on my computer screen. I have to enlarge my documents to properly proofread them! But I say this with gusto, bring on the older years and all they entail, please, I'll take it! Going by my family history, you can understand why! Every day is a gift. 

If you need your academic interviews, podcasts or coaching interviews transcribed, please drop me a line!

Trusty Transcriptionists is celebrating seven years in business! 

 Well, here we are in our third national lockdown. This time there is light at the end of the tunnel as the vaccination programme is rolling out at quite a steady pace. At least this can give us all hope, which is something that was desperately needed. It is hard to believe that we have been living under restrictions for close to a year. 

I have written before about mental health in an earlier blog. I think this is an opportune time to revisit this topic. 

A few years ago, I found myself in a difficult place after running my business from home for several years. I was so busy working and trying to make the business run successfully. I found that I ended up isolating myself from outside activities and regularly socialising. I didn't realise at the time that it would take such an impact on my mental health. I became unnecessarily lonely, as I did have a large support group I could have reached out to. I cut myself off because I was experiencing anxiety and did not feel up to seeing people. When you are not leaving the house, interacting with people and having new experiences, you can quickly lose your confidence. You can also find yourself in a malaise and no longer have the motivation to get out and about. It becomes a very vicious circle. It was a lesson I learned the hard way. I do fear it is something many people in the general population are possibly now experiencing. I was fortunate that I could address it and take action to turn things around, but under our current restrictions, this must feel impossible if this is something you are experiencing.

I have had my difficulties and small meltdowns over the past ten months.  I have been able to bounce back fairly quickly each time thankfully because I had the tools to do so. One of these tools is being open about how I'm feeling. Just having a support network of several people you can trust to discuss your issues is invaluable. I went for a socially distanced seven-mile walk on the weekend with a friend who suffers from anxiety. Walking and talking comes so naturally. It is an easy and effective way to open up to someone. This particular friend and I are each other's support network when it comes to mental health issues. I have been feeling fine lately, but this friend was struggling. It was good to be able to provide some support. Just listening, that's enough. You don't have to give sage advice, people generally just want to be heard and not judged. If you find you are experiencing mental health issues, you don't have to suffer in silence. You will be surprised at how many people can relate to what you're feeling. I suggest being selective about who you turn to during these times, but do turn to someone. You can open by saying 'I'm struggling a bit today', many people will get where you're coming from.
 
The next tool for me is exercise. I am not a gym bunny, but I started using the gym as a tool several years ago, to manage my mental health. There are so many benefits, the positive endorphins, seeing people (even if you don't speak to them), a productive outlet for negative feelings. I, like many other people, have struggled when the gyms have been closed during lockdown. During the first lockdown, I became so paranoid about the virus that I stopped going out to take daily exercise. This time around, I am ensuring that I go for a walk at least every other day. My ultimate goal is to go every day, but sometimes it is just too miserable weather-wise. I am lucky to have several friends who live on their own that need human contact, and we go for socially distanced walks together from time to time. For the most part, I do the walking on my own or with my husband, although he is more of a runner. I enjoy taking photographs, so I take the opportunity to try and get a few snaps along the walk. Taking photos somehow gives it more purpose and joy. I'm not a runner or a cyclist but if that's your thing, then all the better! Of course, we can also exercise at home. I keep threatening to learn a dance routine on YouTube and at this stage into this third lockdown, I'm ready to explore that! Many of my friends are doing online yoga and finding that super beneficial. But try to get outside, because even if it is overcast, getting fresh air benefits both the mind and the body.

And the third tool is sleep. If you are not sleeping well, this is going to undermine everything going on in your life. Lack of sleep creates a negative outlook. It impacts on your eating habits, motivation to get that exercise, and your mood becomes erratic. I was suffering from insomnia for several years. Overcoming my insomnia problems was something I finally tackled and essentially solved right before the pandemic began. The most impactful solution for me was going to sleep without my phone in the bedroom. I'd heard about the blue light issues, but I finally decided to take it seriously about a year ago. At first, I made excuses to myself, 'I need the phone as I use it for an alarm'. Well, I still use it as an alarm but now place it in my home office. I can still hear it when it goes off, but I generally wake up before that anyway because I've had a restful night of sleep. When I'm winding down to go to sleep, I remove the phone from my bedroom and put it in the office, where it remains for the night. Sometimes if I have bouts of insomnia (I am unsure if there's anybody out there who hasn't during this pandemic!) I will allow myself to bring the phone back in to distract myself from ruminative thoughts. But generally speaking, it's not a great plan. Reading is probably a better idea. Whenever I suggest the phone solution to anybody who is suffering from insomnia, they always seem to baulk and make an excuse as to why they can't live without sleeping next to their 'appendage'. I get it, Smartphones can be super addictive. But this honestly was a game-changer for me. 

The final tool is breathing. Anxiety can cause shortness of breath. Sometimes we are not even aware that it's occurring. If I had a magic wand, I would make shortness of breath disappear from my life forever. I have experienced this for over 35 years after my father died, and I didn't properly grieve. Way back then, mental health awareness was not what it is today, and consequently, I have suffered from this on and off throughout my life. It is a sign to myself all is not right. It generally manifests itself when I am in denial of something and simply not acknowledging a troublesome issue. I've noticed it's reared its head over the past few weeks, whilst I'm trying to remain positive, yet feeling quite concerned about this new variant of the virus, and the impact it's having on people's lives and the deaths that keep rising and rising. This is all scary stuff. I'm trying to filter it out to live a life with some normality, but then I find myself unable to catch my breath. The biggest problem I have is once I get into a shallow breathing cycle, it can hang around for weeks if I don't proactively deal with it and figure out what it is that I'm repressing. Practising mindfulness and deep breathing exercises help. I find the 3, 4, 5 breathing technique works best for me. Breath in for 3 seconds, hold the breath for 4 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds. Repeat. Do this until your breathing becomes less shallow. Sometimes I do this whilst walking, which I find extremely helpful. Please Google this if you are experiencing trouble in this arena because different people have different breathing exercises that work best for them. 
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Those are my top four tools. I also have been finding that I'm watching a lot more television than I have in years, it's a nice distraction. I'm hooked on watching old movies and reality shows like The Great British Sewing Bee and The Great Pottery Showdown. I'm actually getting value out of my Netflix subscription for the first time in years. I'm currently enjoying Cobra Kai and The Good Place. I do find it hard to sit in silence these days. I listen to a lot of talk radio, usually when I'm in the kitchen or working on a puzzle. There's something about the live interactive element to talk radio shows that I find helpful because it feels like you're less alone. And I've really taken to cooking lately. Cooking was always more of a means to an end for me, but for the past four months I've been enjoying cooking a decent evening meal and I find it relaxes me. I've explored about 30 new recipes, instead of just sticking to my usual 15 or so that I rotate. That's been a positive of this pandemic. Here's to hoping that the next time I communicate on the blog, we're out of lockdown three and that life is looking a little bit brighter for all of us!