Devotions 2.0

We're back, baby

Welcome back! It’s been a while.

A lot has changed. For starters, I’m not in London at the moment, as the housing crisis prevented me from finding suitable accommodation before my lease ended. This is why I took an extra month off to recuperate and figure out my next steps. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.

I packed up my flat and put it in storage, then bought a one-way ticket to Geneva, where I’m staying with my aunt and her family on the French/Swiss border. It’s beautiful here and just what I needed. I’m spending a lot of time reading and eating my weight in croissants. My aunt has a cat named Léo I’ve become great friends with. The mountains greet me every day, the light is softer, and I take walks to the lake on sunny days. I’ve significantly reduced my social media consumption in favor of reconnecting with myself, as all the stress of flat hunting has slowly pulled me apart over the course of three months. Being with family and speaking my mother tongue has encouraged that. Writing has brought me great relief.

by Shanti Shea An

Moving forward, Devotions will have a bit of a different format than it did before. Here’s what I’ve decided on:

• The usual written essays will come out every other Sunday. Weekly writing, though therapeutic, was difficult, and I found myself losing grasp of the point of this project. I want to take more time to produce meaningful work. This will start next week.

• In between, there will be a Devotions Podcast! It’ll be hosted on Substack and sent to you via email like normal. One episode will come out every other Sunday, alternating with the written essays. They’ll be short, about 5 minutes or so, and will be poetry-focused, meaning I’ll mainly be using the time to read a poem out loud, though I’ll share some thoughts as well. Hopefully, as I find my footing, I can introduce guests and friends too. I’ll talk more about it in the introductory episode, which will be out in two weeks.

• I’ve introduced an option to be a paying subscriber for $5 a month if you feel inclined to support my work. This is entirely optional. The core content will remain free to access, but as a thank you, I’ll send out monthly reading wrap-ups to paying subscribers. Donated funds will always circle back into my writing: they will be primarily reserved for submission fees, as I attempt to slowly snowball my writing into a full-time career. If you’d like, you can upgrade your subscription here.

I know these are pretty big changes, but I hope it creates added accessibility and a more enhanced Devotions experience. Of course, these are subject to change — I can’t wait to see how this project grows. I hope you’ll stick around.

Much love.

<3

Tara