While you know very well that it's a blessing to have multiple assignments, it can be a "mixed" blessing if you find it overwhelming.

As in everything in life, organization is (annoyingly) the key.

Before you can start organizing consider 2 issues: deadlines and profitability.

1. First, find the assignments you have to get started on because of deadlines and put those at the top of the list. This is Category 1.
2. The best counterweights to these are the jobs you can do quickly, either because you know the client well, or you're adept at handling the subject matter, or both. These are the most profitable. This is Category 2.
3. Anything that doesn't correspond to the above belongs in Category 3. Assess how much time you'll need to spend on each assignment in this category.
4. Always keep an active list based on first come-first served.

Now for the organizing.

1. Set each day's schedule in advance.

2. Divide each day into work slots based on your 3 categories. Whether you have a 12, 8 or 5 hour days, divide the time into these 3 main chunks. These needn't be 3 equal chunks in terms of time.

• Let's say you have a 5-hour workday. You might allot 2 hours to Category 1, 45 minutes to Category 2 and 1.5 hours to Category 3. Make sure you've allocated enough time in each slot to give you measurable results and progress on each assignment.

3. Don't fill up your entire workday with the 3 Categories; leave time for other work related activities. These can be inserted as breaks between categories, especially if they require less intense concentration.

• Reviewing emails and flagging them is one such activity, reviewing other writers' blogs and tagging them for comments or future reference is another. What are your typical break-fillers?

4. If you work more than 6 hours a day, be sure to include little "rewards" here and there. These should be tailored to your fancy: downloading a song, soothing your eyes at your favorite artist's website, online jokes or cartoons (MyComicsPage.com). Of course, thereare online rewards too.

Please let me know if these ideas were interesting/familiar/valuable/some or non-of-the-above, and please share ideas for fun online and offline "rewards".