I finished the notes for what may be the very last revision of "Steel Clouds" before I have to call it and submit. Tomorrow I will start implementing my notes and by Thursday I want to go ahead and submit my work to the copyright office, then to the Academy Nicholl fellowship (a copyright is good retroactively to the date you applied through the copyright office, meaning if someone steals my work before the copyright gets approved I can still get damages).

Kobi and I both figure that setting myself a deadline to "complete" the project will help me prepare for the fast-paced world I'll have to deal with, where deadlines mean you have to get it as good as you can by X date or it's not happening. It means learning to do the very best work I can in the very shortest time possible. That's a priceless skill for a writer and my ability to get projects done in a short span of time has improved dramatically ("Vimana" was nine months from the first keystrokes to its debut at FF 2015). The draft might never be perfect, but it has a solid beginning, middle, and end that have all been fine-tuned as well as I'm able.

I'm really jumping in with this. I've made it a point to tackle all of the most difficult challenges with this project, and there have been many. The natural limitations of the medium and the "correct" industry way to format your manuscript are the two biggest hurdles. Pruning out the cliches, unnatural dialogue, and inherent problems with my original 2010 story was another. Cirrostratus was a good story, but my writing has matured a great deal since I put the project to bed (late 2009) and I've been able to make an incredible story out of it.

If I succeed, I must never forget the wonderful help and support I've gotten from my readers and fellow writers. The furry fandom has really allowed me to learn and grow as a writer while participating in a growing, dynamic subculture.

With that in mind, would anyone like to read it once it's done? I'm not looking for proofreaders but any feedback on how well I can finish a project 100% solo will be extremely helpful, since I usually have a small army of proofreaders when I have a manuscript. I'm hoping to show that I've learned something from years of feedback.