Hello and Hayy New Year! 

I have a big update here, but don't worry it's not a huge change, just one I need to make for me.

I am changing the way I post updates for Hope and Harry and how I use Patreon (and other services) and this is going to have some impact on readers.   This is a bit of a long post but I think it's important to make things clear.

1) I will be posting Patreon exclusive content that will only appear to folks that subscribe (this will be available at the $1 tier).  There is a reason for this.  I have comics that I would like to make that don't always fit in this "family friendly" comic.  I really want that comic to be for all ages, but some of the things I want to make and stories I want to tell are not kid friendly.  There is sometimes language issues, and sometimes situational issues that I want to use but don't fit in the public format of Hope and Harry and I value my readers too much to suddenly change my tone and leave you wondering what the heck just happened.

2) I will be launching a new comic in the spring that will have new characters and tell stories that aren't about my family.  My family is pretty much grown up now and my kids don't always want to have the things they say and do be immortalized on the internet in comic form.  They have a right to their privacy and there are funny things that happen around me that don't need to be in Hope and Harry, but can be in a comic populated by other characters.  This will also give me more freedom to tell stories that are completely fictional, where Hope and Harry always has some grain of truth in it.  That doesn't mean I'm giving up Hope and Harry, this will just be another comic that is updated a bit more irregularly. 

3) I am going to be branching out from Patreon.  This last month has taught me that Patreon is not a small group of people working to help out another small group of creators.  Patreon is a business and if they need to throw me, my work, and my supporters under the bus to achieve their idea of success they will do that.  Fortunately Patreon has backed off it's ill conceived new payment structure, but I doubt that will last forever and something else will come up that will make me question my use of this service. So I am investigating Drip, Gumroad, and a few other sites to see if I can diversify where I get my support from, and if you are one of my supporters it will give you the opportunity to choose how you support me.

4) My absence. I took a break form Hope and Harry to work on a project for Inktober and was hoping to get a publishable story from that work.  It's not there yet, but I'm hoping it will be in 2018.  I was also taking a break from Hope and Harry because my work was suddenly a lot more public than it had been.  It used to be a project that was for me and a few friends.  Then people at my work, and other real life friends found it and started talking to me about it and I felt weird and uncomfortable, even embarrassed.  Even though they didn't intend it to be it felt like they were mocking me for spending time making a comic. I had to take some time to get my head around why I felt that way, and realized it was all about me.  That deep down inside I felt that maybe this wasn't what "real artists" do with their time.  I'm feeling better about that now.  Making comics makes me happy.  And "real artists" work to make themselves happy.  So I'm going to choose to be happy and keep making stuff that a hundred or so people read every week - and that is not insignificant.

Finally I want to thank all the people who support me, both financially and spiritually.  All those folks who encourage me, who buy my commissions, pledge to me on Patreon, and comment on my work.  Everyone of you is wonderful and I want you to know how much your support means to me.  It's hard to keep moving forward if you don't feel like you have support.  I have so much support it's, well it's more than I deserve and I feel humble knowing that you believe in me.

I hope 2018 is great for all of us.

Kathleen