The cycle of mounting and executing and moving on to the next project has skidded to a halt, and he cannot say why. It does not make sense to him. Not this night or any other, not at any level of the brandy bottle. This is not how it is supposed to work. A project is started, it is developed and mounted and sent out into the world, and more often than not it becomes self-sufficient. And then he is no longer needed. It is not always a pleasant position to be in, but it is the way of such things, and Chandresh knows this process well. One is proud, one collects one’s receipts, and even if one is a bit melancholy, one moves on. — p. 243 The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
I’m in the process of completing our book, doing final changes at the editor’s request. It occurs to me that the book will soon exist on its own, without my further development of it or interaction with it, soon to be “sent out into the world.” Melancholy, indeed.