After an extended caregiving period, I’m happy to be back with more energy than ever. First up for 2018? I finally completed my collection of short stories, which is entitled The Dangers of Helium. It contains magical realist and surrealist stories, plus a novella. The collection spotlights characters who struggle daily in varying degrees, yet still reach for hope, whether it is real or imagined. All of the stories were inspired by photographs of the unexpected curiosities that exist in our everyday world, from a woman selling iguanas in a Mexican marketplace to a clown wandering the streets of London. Now it’s down to the business of getting it published. Here’s to an empowering 2018 for us all!