DM Burnout (CSC)

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: The DM sat staring at his game notes. Before him lay a sheet of note paper, blank except for an aimless doodle. For nearly an hour, no inspiration had come for Saturday's game, making tonight a dismal repeat of last night. In fact even running the game seemed like a terminal chore.
Authors call it "writer's block. It Business executives call it "bum out". Whatever the name, it can affect DMs, too. The general symptoms include a lack of inspiration for new game material, a loss of enthusiasm about running games, and the dismal feeling after a game that you didn't do a good job.
Chances are that it's not something that the DM has really ever considered. Most galne players play games because they love them. The thought that they could become tired of it never crosses their mind. Yet, it happens.
The solution is to quit- take a vacation. Get away from gaming or at least from DMing for a while. Recharge the old creative juices by reading good books, seeing good movies (and not just genre stuff), and becoming a regular player for a while. If the DM has been running games long enough to burn out, then one or more of the players in his campaign should be competent enough to run their own games. Ask one of them to run their own campaigns until the burned out DM has had a chance to recuperate and become excited about the possibility of running his own game again. Don't push it, though. Relax and just enjoy not having the responsibility of DMing for a while. Hey, maybe this is a good time to get familiar with the Player's Handbook again.