Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today’s post is with Linwëlin, who volunteers as a Tag Wrangler on the Tag Wrangling committee.

How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?

I wrangle tags for several smaller fandoms and I help with translating tags from Spanish to English so they can be wrangled. I mostly pick up fandoms to wrangle that have a majority of Spanish tags.

I think the most interesting part of translating tags is finding the different meanings of words in different regional dialects other than my own español rioplatense. It’s fascinating to me how within the same language a word can have a ton of different meanings, or the same concept can be named a ton of different ways. Look up all the ways you can say ‘popcorn’ in Spanish and you’ll see what I mean!

What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?

It all depends on my energy and pain levels, but I usually break it up into smaller chunks of time (just an hour or two at a time) as often as possible because that’s what I can usually manage best.

Sometimes, though, I get in The Zone™ and I might only realise it’s been eight hours when my partner calls me for dinner!

What made you decide to volunteer?

I joined fandom later in life than most others I know, but I found the community just in time—it’s helped me through some of the roughest moments in my life. It’s provided an escape, a way to express my creativity when all my other hobbies were inaccessible to me.

I don’t have disposable income to donate, but I do have spare time, and I wanted to give back somehow to this community that has given me (and many others) so much. When I saw the call for Spanish-speaking volunteers back then, I decided to give it a shot!

What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?

Managing my own time and energy without burning myself out is the hardest part. I’m disabled, and my chronic pain (along with the medication I take and the side effects of it all) means that I have to be very careful about pacing myself if I don’t want to crash and burn.

I would like to spend a lot more time wrangling than what I can feasibly (and sustainably) do on an average week, but my health has highs and lows. Sometimes I can sit down for eight hours and have a blast translating and shovelling a ton of tags, and sometimes I can only sit for half an hour and only manage to do one or two tags. Sometimes I’ll only be able to do the bare minimum for a couple of weeks, and then I’ll bounce back.

The biggest challenge is accepting that not every day will be a satisfying marathon of productivity and efficiency, give myself some grace, and try to work with my limitations, not against them. I end up achieving a lot more when I manage that.

I mention all this because I was a bit afraid when I applied that my disability would make it impossible to keep up with the commitment of volunteering, but I’ve found that not only can I, but I enjoy it immensely. I’ve found community and support within the OTW, and personally I’ve never felt alone or lacking in help and resources. I hope this gives a new perspective to someone reading this who might be on the fence about it!

What fannish things do you like to do?

I read a lot of fic, and fandom is my main creative outlet, especially on hard days. I love writing, and lately I’ve been listening to and learning how to record podfic as well. I like to participate in drabble writing events, sprints, and other mostly-small challenges.

I’m also trying to learn how to draw! I have a lot of scenes I’ve pictured in my mind and I hope to someday be able to bring them out into the real world.

Now that our volunteer’s said five things about what they do, it’s your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in the comments. Or if you’d like, you can check out previous Five Things posts.