Sounds familiar. I'm always complaining I don't have enough free time to do all the little projects I'd like to, yet, when I do have some time, I'm as like to spend it surfing, chatting, or something unrelated.

First, don't sweat it, it's your free time, so why force yourself to do anything in particular? (It's bad enough working to deadlines and orders at work, I find)

Next, find something that you want to do, that you want to *use* as well. If you don't want to reinvent wheels, go find some and adapt them? The reason people code in their free time, is because they can't find a tool or whatever, to do exactly what *they* want it to. If you're doing it because someone else may use it, you're starting in the wrong place (IMO)

What do I do? Well, start on something else usually, or go back through my notes of things that might be useful, to see if anything catches my attention. If not, then I may not code at all, I might go play a game instead, watch TV, read a book, work on a paper model, which when it's finished, will just gather dust and get in the way.. But I did it, for me, not for anyone else, so it's worth it.

You can always just go browse though the nodes here, help a few people out, read some of the interesting code chunks, maybe you'll find something you think you'd use, with just a little adaption...

C.