I finished writing MR. MONK IS CLEANED OUT, my 10th original MONK novel, last night and delivered it to my publisher. I always feel a little bit dazed and lost after finishing a book. It takes a few days for me to adjust to not having the story "in my head" all the time and to no longer feeling that ever-present deadline pressure. It's also kind of odd to suddenly have a bunch of hours open up in my day (and nights) for other things. But that will change soon. I've got to start writing a new spec feature script, thinking about the plot of my next MONK novel, and preparing for pitch meetings that I have later this week and early next week…
Congratulations on finishing your latest book. It’s kinda the same but kinda different for us technical writers. Finishing a user manual for a new product is a relief more than a “crack open the champagne” moment, especially after the first few. Still, it’s nice to see the finished product, even if, these days, it’s a PDF file rather than a nice hefty printed volume.
The thrill of holding the printed volume in hand always dissipates slightly upon finding the first typo. Oh well. Then it’s on to the next book, or the next update. I still marvel that it’s possible to make a nice living at this, and I can’t imagine any other “job” that’s as cool as this one.
Cheers and applause to you on seeing yet another project through to completion.
10th!? I did not realize there are that many.
Gerard —
Well, there aren’t yet 10 books available yet — #9 will be coming out in a few weeks. It’s lovely to have new arrivals to look forward to, however. 🙂
To that end — I haven’t read the newest release, “Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop,” just yet, and I probably won’t read “Cleaned Out,” and whatever #11 gets titled, for some time to come. We’ve only got five new episodes of Monk left … so it’s a relief to know we’ll still have new Monk to look forward to just the same. Which is why I’d like to save the books for awhile — wait until I’m going through “Monk Withdrawl”!