Between-Book Blues

Every writer has faced it. That moment when you finish one book before beginning another. For some, the wait period is only a few hours before they begin on a new project. Sometimes it's months before they sit down and write another book.

For me? Well, I usually edit the book during the wait period, which kinda feels like writing, if you squint and turn your head to the side. But after that? It's usually about 1 & 1/2 to 2 months of planning for my next book. In which I write... nothing.

Frightening, really. And it does disrupt my life. When I'm working on a project, I'm constantly thinking about it, tweaking it, working on it in my free time. When I'm between projects, suddenly there is a big, gaping hole where most of my life used to fit.

I spend a lot of time out of the house during these months. I spend a lot of time on twitter, facebook and my email, waiting for SOMETHING to happen to capture my attention for the next few minutes.

Being between projects drives me nuts, and after a few months, if I don't start on something, I usually look something like this:



Some people write short stories. (WHAT? Write something SHORTER than 100K?) Some people read. (Can't complain there.) Some people spend time with family. (What family?) Some even have different projects that they juggle. (You lot are never really BETWEEN projects, are you?)

So I wanna know: how do you handle the between-book blues?

Me? I just go bat-crap crazy.