I try to keep them an inch away, but sometimes your plant might grow into it and burn itself... I sometimes have it even closer than an inch, I only have burns when the plant gets withn about 1/4" from the light.
remember closer is better, the farther away, the more lumens lost.
most people say use 2 cfls per plant... but it depends on the plant size and how much of the plant gets light from the bulbs. you can start with a cfl per plant or even 1 for 2 plants, but in time they will need more light to cover more of the plant.
also get a cfl with the most watts you can find, 27w seems to be the most common most watts you can find. energy star cfls are also prefered; or cfls with energy saving feature.