I see your point. It surprises me he fell so far back. I think perhaps the problem was not the little bit of practice that he got with The Fork, The Witch and The Worm but rather, as you say, he clearly threw those together over the weekend (or the equivalent) and they were accepted, published and sold well on a profit for hour of work basis. I think the problem is he learned he was trying to hard with the Inheritance Cycle (I seriously cannot believe I just wrote that) and realized just how low the bar was set for him. Now, if you will excuse me this makes me realize there is half a liter of vodka upstairs in the freezer...