| What a year! What year for Stone Soup and what a year for the world! I can say that team at Stone Soup is looking forward to 2018 with real optimism. We have turned the corner on the print to digital conversion and are looking forward to a creative 2018 in which delve deeper into music and multi-media art forms and begin to develop creative projects that merge writing, art, music, and theater in ways that may not have been done before. But, more on that later in the post (and later in the new year). I'd like to start by thanking all of you who stuck with us through the transition, and all of our new subscribers. We were doing a lot of improvising this year to keep Stone Soup going. We at Stone Soup are looking forward to a calmer 2018! The 2018 print annual has already sold about 100 copies. We have also redesigned Stone Soup (to be revealed next week, with our January issue) so that your 2018 issues and Annual will have a beautiful new look. Past, present and futureI had asked you all to think about family food traditions during this holiday season and send us one. Sarah Cymrot, one of our fabulous Stone Soup bloggers, posted an entry on her family's tradition of making Monkey Bread. She talks about a recent death in her family, and how important it was for them to follow through on the Monkey Bread tradition, as usual. Traditions are anchoring. We can see how important they are through the comments you've left responding to Sarah's piece. Thank you.I'd also like to welcome a new blogger to our growing roster of bloggers (if you are interested in blogging let us know). Dylan Gibson gives a short introduction to animationusing an iPhone app called Framecast. I don't personally know this program. If you have an iOS device -- and iPhone or iPad -- I'd check it out. Welcome, Dylan! And thank you. I would like to see Stone Soup publish an animated story in 2018. The fact is that animated stories are hard to make. It takes real dedication. If you get the bug, master the technique and then use it to tell a meaningful story. But first, you have to learn how to make the dog walk (and draw a dog as cute as Dylan's)! What I want to talk about today as the main portion of the newsletter is based on an article in today's New York Times. It is an article about the opera singer, Maria Callas. Whether or not you are interested in opera I would urge all of you to click on the link I just gave you and look at the article. Within the article there are ten links to excerpts of Maria Callas singing. Now, remember that this is a NEWSPAPER. That is news-paper. But, obviously, you cannot make an actual article printed on paper sing. Please begin thinking in 2018 about Stone Soup as a place for you to experiment with new ways of being creative. Never before in history has it been possible to combine music with words outside of movies or the theater. I want you to begin sending us stories that incorporate music, animation, drama -- let your own imagination roam. Keep the New York Times article on Maria Callas in mind. As a creative writer you are no longer limited to pure writing. Thank you all again for your loyalty to Stone Soup. We are trying our best to support creativity. When you support us through subscribing and through buying the Annual you help us realize our mission. On behalf of Emma Wood, Jane Levi, Sarah Ainsworth, Emma Birches, and myself, our best wishes for the New Year. Until next week, William | 
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