I hate downtime. To me, it's not so much "time I have to myself," or "time between jobs," it's "time when I don't have any framework."

It's when I'm waiting on some of the many other -- absolutely necessary -- steps in the writing process. When I'm waiting on an editor to get back to me, to approve a synopsis, to get back editing notes on a draft, to get me in the loop about where a product is and when it might be out.

It's not just time between deadlines (because really everything is time between a deadline), it's time when I'm...stuck. Spinning my wheels. Without ANY deadlines anywhere in sight, giving me a little direction, a little nudge, a little reminder.

It's like being becalmed at sea, I guess. When there's no wind blowing, and the sails just hang lank and empty, and the sun beats down, and the crew of Awesome Ship X in Bitchin' Story Z, when they're just stuck there, right? Some gorgeous old age of sail vessel hanging out in the middle of the ocean, without any land in sight, without a cloud in the sky, without anything to push them?

That's me in downtime. I try to stay creative. I try to game, I try to roll dice with my buddies, try to throw myself into a video game or two, try to watch movies. I try to keep the juices flowing, to keep myself primed and ready and psyched to work on something.

But, man, it's tough. I don't have a lot of downtime (I normally drift for a day or two, then get SOME sort of note from SOMEBODY, working SOMEWHERE), but when I do, it really stinks.

I've got this Patreon going to keep myself somewhat busy, and to give me a steady outlet. The problem is that 3-4-5k fiction pieces get buzzed through pretty quickly (I just wrapped one up right before writing this, in fact), so I get "ahead of the curve" on there pretty easily. I've got a plethora of other products -- solo stuff, some announced, some still private -- to peck away at a little bit, too...but even that personal stuff, even that stuff that nobody's holding their breath waiting for? Even that stuff flows better, when I've got something else going on.

When I have a deadline, it feels like I have all the deadlines, and that little nudge, that little direction, that little (ideally) contracted reminder is enough to get me to focus on what needs done. I write the project that's coming up due, and then I write something else. I get in the zone. I work.

But in downtime-downtime...oof. It's rough.

I don't like being becalmed.