During my wonderfully restful winter break, I realized I’ve given a lot of advice about how to make a living writing without discussing the one rule that’s really made it possible for me to become a successful, well-paid freelance writer.

So I’m going to tell it to you now. Fasten your seatbelts, because this one piece of advice will be the single most powerful thing I will ever tell you. This one has the potential to completely change your life.

Ready? Here it is:

–Every week, from Friday sunset until Saturday after sunset, I don’t work.–

Not ever. I turn off my computer, my phone, my celphone and whatever other devices are around that might lead to working. I am not posting on Twitter, updating my Web site, prospecting for clients, filing articles, or conducting interviews.

Even more radical than not working for 25 hours each week, during that time period I don’t thinkabout work, either. I don’t plan what I’ll do when I get back to the computer. I don’t talk business with friends. I slam the door on my business life and leave it completely behind.

Each and every week, I take a complete vacation from working. It’s called Shabbat, or the Sabbath. And it’s the most amazing tool for personal growth ever invented.

Without that time away to reflect, relax, unplug…we humans tend to just grind along, slowly getting more and more burned out. We don’t progress as fast. We don’t fully realize our potential.

When Stephen Covey made “sharpen the saw” one of his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he was echoing a timeless truth: we need time off to recharge in order to be our best.

There’s a reason we’re not called “human doings” but “human beings.” We need time to just be. To discover who we really are, apart from our ability to earn, meet deadlines, and take meetings. To simply marvel at our good fortune at being alive in this beautiful world.

I’m not trying to convince anyone to practice my religious faith – Jews don’t seek converts. But in today’s real-time culture of 24/7 connectivity, I’m finding it’s more important than ever to carve out a big block of time away from work each week. It’ll save your sanity, refresh you, inspire you, and make you a better friend, sibling, spouse, parent…and writer.

It may sound scary to take one-seventh of your time each week and commit to making it work-free. When people start doing it, they’re often terrified they’ll earn less. But the reality is you’ll probably earn more, because you’ll be so much more effective. Either way, I guarantee you’ll be happier.

Remember, nobody’s tombstone says, “I wish I had spent more time at the office.”

All I can say is try it, you’ll like it! Maybe for you it’ll be Sundays, or Mondays, or it’ll start in the morning, or whenever. However you do it, know that you deserve a day off. Take it, and see what happens.

Last week we finally got it, from the horse’s mouth, for the first time as far as I’m aware — the straight story on how much a typical writer makes working for a content site.

On Freelancewritinggigs.com, Deb Ng interviewed Demand Studios senior vice president of content and editorial Jerry Reed.

Among her questions:

“What does the average Demand Studios writer earn in a given month?”

The answer:

“The majority of writers do this on a part-time basis to complement other forms of income. But, what we’ve seen is the typical writer earns a few hundred dollars a month.”

Now, when someone says “several hundred” to me…it means $300. Maybe $400. Above there you’d say “more than several hundred” or some such.

Of course, the missing piece in this conversation is: They earn several hundred dollars a month…writing how many articles? And how long does that take them? If they’re all $20 articles, that would be roughly 15 articles a month. Is that all they have time for? All they can get assigned? All they can stand?

When I write 15 articles in a month, I’m generally paid somewhere between $4,000 and $7,500 by my current clients, depending on the situation. Still think it’s not worth the time to pitch editors?

One aspect of the article I found amusing was Reed’s anecdotal report that “we hear from our writers that they earn somewhere between $15 and $30 an hour.”

I think we can assume the writers Reed hears from are the ones who write real fast. Because if you can’t write an article every 45 minutes or so, you can’t make even that rate at $20 an article or less. And I’m going to assume he hears from the happy campers.

I’m hoping all the writers for Demand who’re earning less than this quoted hourly rate will drop us a comment down below…because what I hear from my writers, the ones I mentor, is that they’re often lucky to end up earning $15 an hour. They use phrases like “I feel taken advantage of” to describe their feelings about writing for mills.

And in any case, $30 an hour is ultimately not really a good wage for a freelance writer, as I’ve recently discussed on this blog.

I’m hoping that interview is read by a lot of writers who’re fantasizing about content mills providing them with a substantial living. We know there are a few writers who do in fact earn substantially from these sites — and that just means the majority of the writers are making even less than $300 a month, as the high-earners skew the average.

And the important thing to remember is Demand is one of the better paying content sites out there! Many pay less, or put you in bidding wars where you don’t know if you’ll get a dime. So this is pretty much the Cadillac pay of content sites.

Still sound appealing? I didn’t think so.

Additional reading on the content mill issue:

The 5 Types of People Who Should Write for Content Sites

Screw You! My Short-Lived Experiment at Demand Studios by Kathy Kehrli of Irreverent Freelancer.

After I posted my 7 Habits of Highly Paid Freelance Writers, I heard from new writer Bob Lynn. “Do you have a related, or similarly helpful list of suggestions for people trying to break into writing?” he asked. “I’m totally new to this.”

This got me thinking about the important habits for writers looking to break into earning and getting those first few clips…so here you are, Bob:

The 7 Habits of Highly Successful New Freelance Writers

1. They write regularly. Develop a writing routine and try to write every day. That’s the only way you’ll be ready when you get a paying assignment.

2. They believe in themselves. Rejection letters do no phase them. If they send 20 resumes and queries and get no responses, they don’t take it personally. They don’t dwell on it – they move right on to the next step in their plan to find paid writing.

3. They are willing to market their business. Their methods may vary – they may favor in-person networking, cold-calling, social networking or sending query letters. But successful new writers are always looking for a new, better-paying client. They have a plan to market their writing and stick with it.

4. They seek out mentors. Writers who want to earn a good living attend workshops, hire mentors or coaches, or ask editors for advice. They know mentors can help them develop and get better-paying assignments.

5. They are open to criticism. Successful writers are not prima donnas who moan over ever tiny change an editor wants to make to their story. They join writer’s groups to seek feedback on their work. They are self-confident enough to listen with an open mind to suggestions for improving their work.

6. They keep learning. Whether it’s reading the newspaper to study the style of it, or buying writing books, downloading e-books, taking college classes, e-courses, or a writer’s group, successful writers look for opportunities to increase their knowledge.

7. They have goals. Vague dreams of earning a living from writing will not put money in the bank. Writers who want to move up in pay set long-term goals and break them down into shorter-range goals. They break those down into concrete to-do lists and focus on accomplishing their tasks, and track their progress. Periodically, they analyze their results and to adjust their goals based on what’s working best for them.

Make a Living Writing blog reader Susan Glenn emailed me a while back to ask for more information on how to convince corporate clients to pay higher rates for your services.

“Tips about how writers can articulate their worth would be very interesting,” she wrote. “Not what does the writer NEED, but what is professional writing WORTH to the client — especially relative to other professional services they retain.”

Great question…so today I’ll share a bit of the speech I give prospective clients who ask me about rates. One of the things I’ll frequently say early on goes something like this:

“If you’re having a bidding contest to find the lowest price, I’d like to tell you right now I’m going to lose. I will not be your lowest bidder, and I don’t generally work with companies that are only concerned with how little they can pay for writing.

“I work with business owners seeking exceptionally talented writers who can help establish them as the pre-eminent thought leaders in their sector. They need to communicate in a sophisticated, compelling way with their target audience.

“That’s what I will deliver for you — authoritative content that communicates that you are the most knowledgeable source for information in your industry. This will attract quality clients, build Web traffic, and will pave the way for you to charge more for what you do.”

Of course, when presented with it that way, most of my prospects rush to say, “Oh, that’s me! I understand that I need to be the authority. That’s just what we need to do.” And discussions of how little they can get me to work for tend to evaporate.

They get it immediately — I’ve helped them put their finger on what it is they’re really in the market for. They need content so compelling and strong that it will enhance their brand and company reputation, and bring them more business. Not every writer can give them that — but I can.

Once you’ve framed it that way, if they balk at a rate, I tend to point out that paying, say, $1,500 for a custom-written article they can get republished in newspapers, use on their site, hand out as fliers, email to their prospect list, expand into a white paper, and otherwise use FOREVER to promote their business and drive Web traffic at no additional charge is the marketing bargain of the century.

Compare it to the cost of placing a single decent-sized print ad! To doing one radio spot, or putting up one billboard! The reality is that having strongly written information about your company is a real deal, even at prime rates.

I find most writers don’t think about their services through the client’s eyes. Writing is usually part of companies’ marketing budget — and in that context, it’s very affordable compared with many other forms of marketing spend.

So ask for a great rate, and explain why you’ll be worth it. You’ll be surprised how often you find yourself with a wonderful new client who’s happy to have you, and willing to pay you what you deserve.

For more about negotiating rates, see my post for the week on WM Freelance Writing Community –How I Got Paid $300 A Blog.