That does not mean you have to lower your prices to compete with them–that would be a mistake. It simply means that you need a better reason than, “I’m awesome” to charge those rates. Remove your pride in your talent and your prejudice against newbies just starting out and get to the real value you offer.

You can always clean when you are done writing–but if you let the cleaning distract you while you write, you’ll have a hard time getting anything done.

• E-mail. Don’t check it all the time. Schedule it and it won’t suck your time.
• Phone. If you are working, turn your phone off if possible. You can always return calls later on.
• Social networking. This is great for business but you have to watch the amount of time you allot.
• Forums. Try and spend time here in the evenings or when you are “off work”.
• TV. Don’t turn it on. Seriously.

So don’t force yourself to sit down and write, write, write. Allow yourself the time between writing and deadlines to wander a bit and do some mindless zoning. You’d be surprised how much better your writing sounds when you aren’t forcing it.

Instead, why not grab a pad of paper and a pen and go to a park, a lake, a beach, the woods, wherever and do some old fashioned outlining? You’d be surprised at the way nature and being outside can inspire you and add a touch of something different to your approach.

For most of us, writer’s block stems from a fear–either that we’ve run out of words, angles or ideas, or we aren’t good enough, or that we don’t understand a topic–or that we just plain can’t write. When you let yourself go stream-of-consciousness and write it out, the fear goes away.

Don’t underestimate the power of a simple list.