Generous readers & subscribers,
Thank you for your patience during my Substack sabbatical. I guess it is enough to say that I needed a break, but I also needed to figure out how Substack—as an entity—would be able to support my craft going forward. Sometimes it takes leaving something to realize what you’ve left.
I didn’t miss the writing part because I was still doing it.
I didn’t miss the publishing schedule, though I realized I needed more time in-between sharing.
I didn’t miss the notifications from an app that is growing more and more like the overzealous Twitter or X or whatever Elon Musk calls it now.
What I did miss was your support in comments, in likes, in texts, in letters, in email responses, in emojis. I did miss hearing your thoughts or challenges or questions. I did miss, especially, when you’d tell me how much my writing had improved and you could only say something like that because you’d been reading my work for so long that you could sense the way the sentences morphed, strengthened, and took shape.
I did miss the meaning-making inherent in the writing. I did miss transforming my lived experience into words that were consumed by you, by me, by a me much later than the me that wrote the thing. I did miss how essays would turn into seasons of my life that I would reflect on and feel nostalgic about or relieved by.
Since my sabbatical started, I’ve changed as a person and as a writer. I moved to the city above all cities [read: New York]. I began a small business. I’ve written countless essays and short stories. I’ve experienced a hardening—a thickening—in part because of the city above all cities, in part because of the demanding circumstances I’ve encountered. My writing is grittier, more truthful, more raw. The pieces I’ve written are longer and edgier. I’ve spent more time with each one, entangled in a wrestling match over words. More and more, the words are victorious. More and more, I’ve improved.
Despite my Substack sabbatical, I’ve become more firmly entrenched in my writing and, as the description posits, “using the written word to probe truth, beauty, and meaning”.
Here are some changes you can expect in my re-launch (despite the already updated logo, layout, and color scheme):
One alchemization (essay, short story, poem, excerpt of a longer piece) per month available to free and paid subscribers.
Voiceovers available at the top of the page.
One gratitude journal per month available to free and paid subscribers.
If you are a free subscriber, you will receive two posts monthly. Anything published in addition to the alchemization and gratitude journal will be available to paid subscribers only. As a writer, I have a tendency to indulge the intuitive urges of my creativity. The indulgences will be pay-walled when released.
Any of my work that is published in a public journal, magazine, or newspaper will be available for both free and paid subscribers as soon as the piece is published by the external source.
I will unpause paid subscriptions today. Paid subscriptions will remain five dollars monthly. Any profits from this site will go directly towards supporting my writing career and building a distinguished portfolio. Anything I make on Substack will cover the costs associated with getting my work in front of more Editors and will keep me afloat as I write longer spec pieces. Your support is how I can keep pursuing writing as a career. I’m a woman of words, though there are none enough to capture my gratitude.
Finally, I would like to share a very exciting project I’ve worked on during my sabbatical. I’ve poured (no pun intended) my creative soul into an Etsy shop, where I sell handmade candles and digital prints as part of a treasured collaboration with my dear friend Karina Duffy. My creativity, as you know, yields diverse output. Etsy’s platform allows me to explore the contours of my creativity as it relates to design and production. I invite you to follow my shop and peruse the offerings. Linked below.
Until next time,
Kiera
welcome back!!! so excited for this new chapter :)