Buffers are full of win.

I probably enjoy talking about buffers too much, but that's because buffers are fugging AWESOME to have. Who doesn't like the idea of being able to put up oodles of strips without any (future) effort on their part should they decide to take off for a few weeks?

The idea is simple: You work ahead now so that you don't have to work as hard later if you don't want to. Of course, it's also addictive in that once you start a buffer you don't want to stop having one, and so it often becomes a matter of racing yourself to keep your buffer from shrinking away back to nothing.

Swearing by buffers has both benefits and drawbacks. While having one basically ensures that you can always meet your deadlines, it also means you miss the chance to put up those personality-defining 'author's notes', Dead Piro Days, special strips, and other quirky off-beat replacements that go up when people can't think of a strip. People tend to like seeing a little humanity in their artists; being able to empathize with them is powerful.

A drawback I've noticed in my own experimenting with buffers is how hard it is to hold them back from the public - after all, they don't do me any good while they're sitting on my hard drive. It's a delayed payoff for an unknown reward, in other words, and that part is certainly dangerous.

Still, I kinda like being really far ahead of myself...