The new year starts with both a bang and a whimper. The bang is the sound made as my (still quite new) Honda backs hard into a lamppost, crumpling into a shape that will take it off the road for three weeks. The whimper is my immune system trying to respond to the burrowing bite of a shellback tick behind my ear – a bite that lays me out for ten days.

All of which means, as far as I can tell, that I should have a quiet start to the year and take it easy.

I don’t blog all that much, as those of you following me know. Until I’m going on an adventure, and then I love to tell tales of the journey. So it’s that time. Since my last big adventure I’ve written several novels for kids and finished my Doctor of Creative Arts. Now I’m heading to Alaska again – returning to the Island Institute for a second writing residency. Four delicious weeks, this time during winter, to dive into the deep space that writing an adult novel requires.

A big difference this time: I’m not going alone. My aunt, Carol Birrell, applied with me for the joint residency. Together we’re going to write, create, paint, draw, sculpt and play for four weeks – alone, together, and with the Sitka community. We’ve added a week at the start to head up into the Arctic Circle to see if we can find the Aurora Borealis.

So – stay tuned. Adventures coming up.