I did two and a half months of that two years ago. Rented a private office and had all day every day to work on my idea.
Today I don't even know how those months just disappeared, except that I got nothing substantial done at all. I do remember a few 'small distractions' from an earlier client that needed 'a little' work done. Then there was the sleeping in and the internet procrastination. Oh, it was also really lonely and weird.
My advice is to be acutely aware of your opportunity and cease every second like your life depended on it. Plan which things you need to get done, with priorities and estimates. Also, try to have someone else involved in the effort, if only a couple of hired gun programmers. That's how I am going to play it when the next time rolls around (real soon now).
> Today I don't even know how those months just disappeared...
Could it be that you were a bit burned out? I know it used to take me about 2-3 months between contracts or jobs before I got relaxed and hungry enough to want to dive back into really hard work. A longer runway than 2.5 months is definitely a good idea if you're starting from ground zero.
I was really burned out in 2000, but I had enough savings from the bubble to take some time off. It took me about 6 months to get really interested in things again, and what I ended up doing professionally at that point was totally different from programming for a living.
Today I don't even know how those months just disappeared, except that I got nothing substantial done at all. I do remember a few 'small distractions' from an earlier client that needed 'a little' work done. Then there was the sleeping in and the internet procrastination. Oh, it was also really lonely and weird.
My advice is to be acutely aware of your opportunity and cease every second like your life depended on it. Plan which things you need to get done, with priorities and estimates. Also, try to have someone else involved in the effort, if only a couple of hired gun programmers. That's how I am going to play it when the next time rolls around (real soon now).