take a year off

I would love to just take a year off from work, and do nothing. But even better, I would love to do stuff that I love – to improve my ability playing saxophone/piano/guitar/songwriting/drawing.

I often hear stories about musicians who took year(s) off and just practiced, the two that come to mind right now are Sonny Rollins and Eric Clapton. They became some of the top musicians of their generation, and certainly made a living off the time they took off to practice.