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THE NARRATIVE ARC
I’m Used to Being Replaced, But Writing Broke My Heart
Is there still a place for us?
Last month, one of my freelance gigs, an $8,000 project, was placed on hold with an apologetic email and open-ended optimism: “we hope the pause will be temporary.”
This is not my first experience of a paused project. And rarely is it temporary.
In my experience, it means they’ve had their budget hacked back like a bad pixie cut, or… they’ve found a replacement.
After 16 years in the freelance world, writing, editing, and doing a little voice-over work, I’m used to being replaced. There are freelancers taking on jobs for exposure and reviews; writers from countries where $5 can buy you more than a coffee and $100 is a month’s wages.
I get it.
Over the years, as my experience has grown, so have my prices, and I understand not every job needs an experienced writer. For some content jobs, hiring an experienced writer is like feeding your 4-year-old a boutique pistachio and dark chocolate truffle when they’d be happy with the $1 factory-made chunk shaped like a frog.
Honestly, those are jobs I’m not sad to miss out on. Writing 1000 descriptions for household cleaning products? I’ll pass, thanks.
