Folks with an interest in space, engineering, US geopolitics as they relate to space missions, and next steps for exploration...

Are really going to have a treat coming for them when @WordsmithFL finishes his current WIP. 🙂

We have *such* talent here on CoSo. Still, the attention to detail necessary for such a project is in fine hands with this storyteller, who knows how to write with precision and scope.

(So please rap his knuckles when you see him here, & tell him to finish his MS already!)

@WordsmithFL

Stephen, I know you have tinkering to do with the first chapter (fiddly technical matters to further shore up the visuals / chronology, mostly: nothing major), but as for the large-scale stuff? The ability to set a scene, bring all the moving parts to bear on a story without getting in the weeds of the wrong details, and encapsulate sweeping cultural movements in actionable concrete terms?

You're *so* very much on point. This is going to be a terrific text once finished.

@MLClark Thank you for all the kind thoughts and support. I look forward to what you think about Chapter 2.

My writing mentor, Sheila Finch, gave me two excellent pieces of advice:

(1) If you're in love with a scene, it should probably come out.

(2) If the scene doesn't advance the plot, it should probably come out.

History books typically don't work that way. But this story is so like a novel -- heroes and villains, complications, etc. -- that I'm treating it like one.