Why Writing $10 Articles Almost Made Me Quit Freelancing

When I finished the first draft of my book, I had a realization that changed everything for me: I wanted writing to be more than a hobby. I wanted it to be my career.

Like a lot of new writers trying to break into the industry, I started looking for opportunities online. Freelancing seemed like the most obvious place to begin, so I signed up for several platforms—Fiverr, Freelancer.com, and Upwork. I had no real experience working with clients yet, but I knew I had to start somewhere.

Most of the advice I found online said the same thing: if you want to build a freelance portfolio, you should start by taking small jobs. The idea was that low-paying work would help build experience, reviews, and credibility.

So that’s what I did.

My early freelance projects were mostly short blog articles. And not the kind of writing I was passionate about, either. I was writing articles about vacuum cleaners, random household products, and other topics that I had absolutely no interest in. These assignments typically paid around ten dollars per article.

At first, I told myself this was just part of the process. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

But what I quickly discovered was that these articles took far longer to write than I expected. Researching the topic, organizing the information, drafting the article, and editing everything properly could easily take hours. When you break down the time spent on each project, that ten-dollar payment starts to feel very small.

After a few months, I was exhausted.

I had entered freelancing hoping it would bring me closer to writing the kinds of stories I cared about. Instead, I found myself spending hours writing content I didn’t enjoy, for very little money. It was frustrating, discouraging, and honestly a little disheartening.

For a while, I stepped away from freelancing completely.

Part of me wondered if maybe this was a sign that writing wasn’t meant to be my career after all. If I couldn’t make these small projects work, how was I ever going to succeed as a writer?

But even when I stopped applying for freelance jobs, writing never really left my mind. I kept thinking about stories, characters, and ideas. The desire to write was still there—it just needed a different direction.

Eventually I realized the real problem wasn’t freelancing itself.

The problem was that I had been writing about things I didn’t care about.

So I went back to the drawing board and asked myself a much better question: What kind of writing do I actually want to do?

The answer was obvious. I wanted to write fiction, specifically romance stories and novellas. Those were the kinds of narratives that excited me. Those were the stories I could sit down and write for hours without losing interest.

Instead of applying for random article jobs, I started rebuilding my portfolio with writing samples that reflected the work I actually wanted to do. I experimented with different styles, worked on developing stronger storytelling, and focused on projects that felt closer to the kind of writing I loved.

That pivot changed everything.

Soon I started landing small novella projects, and for the first time freelance writing actually felt rewarding. These projects paid significantly more than the ten-dollar articles I had been writing before, and they allowed me to focus on storytelling rather than generic blog content.

More importantly, I started to feel excited about writing again.

Looking back, those early freelance jobs taught me an important lesson. When you’re starting out as a writer, it’s easy to believe you have to accept any opportunity that comes your way. But sometimes the best thing you can do is step back and rethink the direction you’re heading.

For me, the turning point came when I stopped chasing any writing job I could find and started focusing on the type of writing that truly interested me.

Because when you care about the work you’re doing, everything changes.