Indeed.

I still find it amazing how brief the rush is. Here I am, finished a draft of something I left unfinished for AGES, and a week on, all I can think is, "I have X, Y, and Z to do next..."

I don't want to think how much worse that would be with external deadline pressure. After all, I spent a week mostly reading and not writing. And I've certainly seen some writers who don't seem to have that option.