I've had a few good years in a row writing "literary fiction", but it is time for me to do something different. I've been working seriously on art for the past year, and I've spent a lot of time making up stories to tell my daughters while I Dad all day long. So it just makes sense for me to combine those two things and focus on being the best dad I can. This year will be dedicated to writing and illustrating children's books.  

This is the cover for the potty training assistance book I did for Shannon in watercolor and ink.

I'm planning on doing a little bit of "how to illustrate and write a kids' book" style stuff on my youtube/patreon page as the year goes on, but I don't want to get ahead of myself; I never really loved teaching when I was getting paid to do it, so I don't know if I'll be motivated to do it for free: even if I don't have to grade any essays. As I discovered during the last quarter of 2017, if all the parts of a project are not essential to getting it done, then those non-essential pieces will just get tossed aside. I have no interest in being a "content creator" on social media. I want to tell stories that people want to read or that can be useful in some way. I don't want to advertise for garbage products that no one needs.

I have a lot of people to thank for this opportunity and for the support I've had over the past few years, but the person I need to thank the most is my wife. Tina has never done anything other than be positive: even when I was sketching Pandas on toilets or grumpy elephants at four in the morning. It amazes me every day to see how hard she works to be an awesome mother and wife. Our girls are very lucky to have a role model like her, and I am lucky she lets me hang around.

To those of you who've been kind enough to commission work from me, thank you so much. It means a lot to know that some of the stuff I am making will be enjoyed somewhere other than in my own home, and that it might help you to sell your products. 

As for social media. I am still going to be pushing stuff through facebook, but I will not respond to messages there via messenger and not likely to posts either. I don't have time. I will push stuff on twitter but won't respond to messages on twitter. I don't have time. I will check instagram once in a while and post there as well. So you can maybe communicate with me on Instagram, but the best bet is to just comment directly on my website or email me or send me a letter in the mail or call me. You know, like an actual person. Oh, or if you have a message for me and you want to tell me on The Daily podcast, I listen to that almost every day. So I would hear it there. Sorry in advance if I don't respond to your message because you didn't read this. But I know if it is important, then you'll try again.

I'm going to set up my patreon page soon  to showcase the originals and the one-off artwork I do as things move on, and I'll get a gallery up here on the website as well once I get a few minutes in the coming days.

Thanks so much again to everybody who's helped me spread the word about my books and my work. Enjoy your New Year's Eve safely and with loved ones if you can. For those of you who have not had the kind of year you'd hoped for, I hope that 2018 makes up for it.

Happy New Year,

Brandon