"let me tamper with your metaphor"

I'm glad you did. Your version of the combo shop is much more enticing.

Thanks for sharing your own history. I've often seen descriptions of the years of "development hell" that sometimes leads to movies being made and marketed, and sometimes to nothing to show for all the work. Good to know that such a long term process can happen with books, as well... and that they do sometimes eventually get to see the light of day.