Our question this week comes from freelance writer Tracy Romoser from my Women in Digital Journalism (WIDJ) email forum. She had gotten a new client and was hesitant to charge for the several hours it would take to sort of get the project organized and ready to start rolling.

My response: Why would you NOT bill these hours?

There's a common problem among writers, I find -- many are meek and insecure about the value they are bringing to their clients. They worry about billing their interstitial time. But if you don't bill it, you're really shorting yourself. There's a reality that projects have ramp-up times. You need to read materials your client has sent you, set up tracking spreadsheets, or whatever's required. And clients for the most part understand that.

With encouragement from the list, Tracy billed her setup hours, and reports that they paid without a blink.

"Thanks for your blessed advice," she wrote me. "I did add those hours and they accepted it."

I actually had a similar question myself recently, even though I was so sure Tracy should bill those hours. Weird isn't that, when we can't take our own advice?

I had a copywriting client that seemed to be winding down, so I asked for a meeting with my editor to see if I could get any of the dormant projects on my to-do list for them restarted. We talked for an hour. I went home and dug up some information about the projects she'd requested and emailed it over. It all took about an hour and a half not counting travel time. And absolutely nothing came from it, at least so far.

So, should I bill this time? I guess I got the same virus Tracy had, because I felt funny about it. I've rarely been in a situation where I take a project meeting that doesn't end up in a project I complete.

I asked an editor friend of mine who said, "I'd bill it." So I did. And they paid it, without a blink. It's only we writers who think some of our work hours aren't as valuable as others. ALL the time we put into a writing project constitutes precious hours of our lives we gave to that client...and it should all be compensated.

Of course, there's always the odd few minutes where you answered a quick email or dug up one fact where you don't end up billing. And I personally look very askance at writers who work on hourly assignments and radically pad their hours. Hey folks, you're giving all us copywriters a bad name. Cut it out.

But if you are honestly expending the time, bill it. Clients understand your time has value. The question is, as writers, do we?