I hope that you have all had a great christmas and that 2017 has started happily. It is traditionally a time to be thinking about new things and perhaps more importantly to be rounding off old ones. 

I think of January and February as the Sunday of the year, a time for catching up on what was missed, setting what has been in order. It seems barmy to characterise this most depleted part of the cycle as being exactly the right time to become a new, improved, dynamic, high-achieving, high-kicking, bad-habit-free über-mensch. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a pretty hard sell at any time of the year, but if I am going to even think about the concept of new year’s resolutions, there’s no way I’m getting into that until March 1st. That is the beginning of a new year in a much more tangible sense for me. Winter is done, the reserve tank is no longer our only source of sustenance. Plants are growing, the world is awake. That is the time to rev the engine. 

I hope too that around that time I will have a clearer idea of when my funding goal will be reached - or with luck may have already reached it. it can be hard to find the last bits, I know some authors have had to be very patient. I don’t want to be patient! I want to get excited about what an editor is going to add to my book, I want to see what a designer will come up with, and most of all, I want to hand it on to all of you and hear what you think of it. 

Some of you may know people who are fans of fiction, book lovers, book worms, believers in the arts. Any one who refers a pledger, hooks them in via recommendation or social media, (better still, by directly asking them!) will get a thank you gift from me. Either a print of any of my work, or an item from my shop. I really want to cast a wider net. 

I feel determinedly optimistic about this new year, not because there is nothing to worry about, but because we can still feed ourselves and we can still grow plants and we can still read and share and talk and love. Politics can be a terrible downer, but it needn’t be the only game in the garden. Happy 2017.

PS, if you are interested in what a free gift print may look like, here is a link to a selection that you could choose from: http://luluallison.wixsite.com/holysmoke/interlopers-

And here are some new additions, based on quotes from Twice the Speed of Dark: