Back to the mystery/adventure novel

Since I've just finished a story and sent it and another piece out to seek their respective fortunes, I gritted my teeth and took up my mystery/adventure novel after a hiatus of many months. I thought it would be painful, largely because I was embarrassed at letting the novel languish for so long, and facing one's inadequacies is always gruelling. But even though I didn't write much today, it wasn't nearly as humiliating to get back to it as I had feared. The Writing Demons scurry from the light like cockroaches.