Was that a big mistake?

TPP happened upon the Prairie Home Companion and Garrison Keillor was waxing philosophical about the beauty of writing a book.  "So what are you doing this summer?"  "Writing a book."  It does sound so intellectual, so academic, and as long as you keep a note pad nearby, people seeing you in a hammock or in a lawn chair figure you're deep in thought, working your brain to the bone.  And Keillor explained that you can keep this going for years without anyone getting the wiser.  "How's the book going?"  "Ah, had to trash a whole chapter and start over again."  And they nod their head in sympathy and understanding.  And how true all that is, so has TPP made a huge mistake?  He actually delivered his book manuscript to his editor this past month, and now what is he to tell people he's doing?  Keillor would be proud because this book took at least a decade from its inception.  Of course my office is still deep in book materials and it would be good to get all that neatened up, although one worries about what you may find buried deep in the paper strata.  Keillor would probably say if it was all that urgent someone would have yelled about its absence by now; the simple fact that you did nothing and nothing bad happened means it wasn't all that important anyways. Actually when something has been a major project for so long, it does leave a vacuum and we shall see what expands to fill that space.