What's your hourly rate? If I quoted you a project rate of $35 an hour, would you leap at it, or would you be insulted? Freelancers need to make a higher hourly rate than an employee-equivalent because we have to cover all of our overhead, from our office supplies and Internet connection to our health insurance and Social Security tax. On the other hand, the flexibility that is the greatest perk of freelancing means that at least a few of us (ahem) have a tendency to waste time.

Over the years, I've realized that I can't work more hours, but I still want to make more money. I've tried to pick high-paying projects whenever possible, but I've also tried to work more efficiently.

I do two things to keep myself from wasting time. First, I use a timer to keep my on track. It's the Flylady philosophy: if I set my timer and force myself to work for at least 15 minutes, then I've made some progress - even if I then spend the next 45 minutes being distracted by SuDoku.

Also, I track my time using a shareware application called TraxTime. I punch in and punch out when I'm working on a paying assignment, and it helps me see just exactly how many productive hours I spend in a day. Microsoft Outlook has a journal function that works similarly, and some writers even stick to writing on a paper calendar.

Once I started to see where my time went and what my hourly rate was, I was able to make better decisions about what projects to accept and what publications to target.