Lara Wood will be out in 2014. The paintings are going well. Once they are complete (sort of), I go back into them, looking to balance out colour, correct shadows, tones, etc, so that the images don't look too dissimilar and yet exciting on their own. It's quite the task, like trying to create 14 little masterpieces, a story within each, that leads to a dramatic conclusion. And it's a dark story, so I'm taking a risk in terms of sales. I have no idea how it will be received. I'm trusting the child creator within to guide me more than I trust the adult who has too many societal weights on his shoulders and worries too much.  The text has yet to be fully sketched, but it's looking good. I aim for five hours of painting a day, but I have to take days off to market the other books, work on other projects and continue with writing columns and reviews. 

And I took in a couple baby skunks. I kept them for one night. I Googled for some knowledge and figured they were old enough to be outside on their own, that their mother was probably alive and hadn't abandoned them. They like cat food. Didn't make much of a stink. After I let them out, they had joined up with another sibling, so there were three. And the night after an adult skunk appeared - a very big and fast skunk. After sighting this skunk, the three little ones disappeared from under the back porch.