I'm a recovering freelancer that recently picked up "Start Small, Stay Small"* from a thread here on HN and it really resonated with me.

I have been freelancing very informally over the last few years but I find myself totally unable to progress. My contract work has fizzled out and I haven't been able to get the energy or passion together to replace it with more. I've gone through numerous cycles of trying to love freelancing followed by total burnout & disillusionment. Put simply, I feel like I'm stagnating.

I'm a good all-round web developer and communicator so I would like to draw on this and work on my own stuff. I love the freedom of freelancing and I can't see myself working for somebody else (nor would my CV allow for it at this stage). Due to unfortunate family circumstance I'm living back in the family home which gives me the opportunity to try things while still living rent-free so I'd like to grasp that.

I'm sure there are many others here on HN that are making their living via their own software so I'd love to get some advice and resources to help get me motivated and broken-in?

- For those who didn't have breakaway successes upfront, how did you get started and, in particular, motivated?

- How did you generate ideas and then focus on them?

- How did you fail? What ideas didn't work and how many of them did you have?

- What resources did you use? Lectures, classes, sites, books, blogs etc.?

* http://www.startupbook.net/