From a Wall Street Journal review by Belinda Lanks of the book by Adam Alter titled “Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most”:

After the debut of his 1952 novel “Invisible Man,” Ralph Ellison spent 42 years writing a follow-up—only to leave it unfinished when he died in 1994. Truman Capote, by the time of his death in 1984, was still working on his self-hyped novel “Answered Prayers”—decades after publishing his 1965 masterpiece, “In Cold Blood.” Fran Lebowitz has been wrapping up a book since the year Ellison died.