Emily, time to raise those rates! You will lose some clients, but it may be time to lose some, by the sounds of it. And same here with the back-and-forth on projects. They're knocking on my email door today, but I'm working through something else first. At lunchtime, I'll respond!

Good way to break up the workload, Paula. I had to prioritize first, then get the hard stuff down on paper. I stuck a release in between projects because they're usually easiest to write.

Cathy, I think that's a healthy attitude. I've gotten much better at drawing the line. There's one of these current projects that may not work out, and I'm okay with walking away from it should it become too much of a hassle. No amount of money could make an impossible situation any better, right?

Besides the fact it almost killed me, I also have family responsibilities, living with my 92-year-old mother. I am not saying my responsibilities are more than anyone else. But they are a priority for me and I refuse to let work take over my life like it did in my corporate days.

So while I feel like a bit of lightweight in terms of projects, I still have the dilemma of knowing where to draw the line. In the beginning, I accepted almost anything that came my way. That just didn't work for me.

It's the rare exception when I do what I call "one and done" projects. It is also the rare exception when I find clients are unwilling to nudge a deadline.

I have had prospects (can't remember any clients) move on because I nudged back on a deadline. Definitely have had prospects move on because of my rates. Used to bother me. Seldom does now.

I couldn't charge more, since these were all articles, but the lowest paying ones are 75¢/wd and the best (due today!) is $1.20/wd. So there's not a lot to complain about,pay wise. Oh, I also have a list of 31 executive write-ups due to another client, those don't pay much per word, but no interviews are needed. The only time-consuming part is already done: notifying a bunch of publicists so they can send me the info I need. Each blurb takes maybe 10 minutes to write up, so it's simple, straightforward work.

I've been doing a lot of the things on your list, but I also found it easier to focus on one client's work in the morning, another in the afternoon. Sometimes that gets broken down even further to make sure I keep moving on several projects. Of course, today, I'll focus mostly on the piece that's due today, but I know a 1PM interview for a different article will interrupt me. After that, I'll go back to the one that's due (if I haven't finished already), then turn my attention to one of the other projects until another interview that's slated for 6pm. (Darn west coasters!)

I think 'don't answer right away' is something that would make a big difference to me – I've already lose two hours this morning having a back and forth and working things out for a new project. If I'd have left it, I'd be further forward with this week's deadlines!