Traci Ashbe Dark Epic Fantasy Author

At the lowest point in my career as a writer, I was 24. In the span of several months — and I swear I’m not making this up for dramatic effect — over half my client base told me they could no longer offer me contract work because “they couldn’t afford to pay me.”

Thankfully, I had a job and a place to live and I was OK. But that crushed me. More accurately, I was mad. I felt like no one valued my work or my expertise enough to pay decent money for a good writer/editor. I was trying to pay off grad school, and my blog dumped exactly $0 into my bank account every month.

I thought I’d found my purpose. And being wrong made me question everything.

Fast forward two years. I have a pretty good writing job and am hopeful for future opportunities. Then the Google…