Endings and beginnings and stuff like that.

SALE: 50% off poetry prints and an announcement about the next chapter

IN SUMMARY | 50% off all poem prints through 7/14 and updates about the future of my business (and my work as a writer).

At the moment I am sitting at an outdoor coffee space. I have accidentally crashed a party at which dozens of people are wearing the tiniest hats I’ve ever seen, and I am perched at a communal table pondering how one should announce “big news.”

Do I begin with a career retrospective? Do I channel my (limited) marketing knowledge and ANNOUNCE IN ALL CAPS ABOVE THE FOLD? Do I take you on a true-to-me meander, building an update from the bottom up?

I suppose I just go on and tell you:

I’m pausing my poetry business for the foreseeable future. Yes, it is time. As a sort of “thank you for these many years”/“farewell for now,” I’m doing 50% off all my poetry prints. The sale will last through July 14th at 11:59pm EDT.

Wait! What’s happening? Why?

My family and I are moving to Ontario, where I’ll be attending the University of Guelph’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing program. I’m going to be working on my growth as a writer and I am so excited to do so with meaningful support. We found our dream flat on acres (and acres!) of woodland—we’ll have a garden plot and trails galore. I am elated. I feel open and excited and hopeful about what the next couple years could be for myself and my family.

The decision to pause my poetry business has been a long-time coming. I first felt the tug of it a few years ago, but its arrival always felt far-off. As this new season approaches, it finally seems necessary. I am keenly aware of the logistical and time constraints I’ll be under as a graduate student.

While I am so excited about tending to my own creative growth, I know I will be limited in my ability to grow my “business” (feels odd calling it that). It just doesn’t make sense to keep the door haphazardly open when my attention needs to be elsewhere.

What’s next for notesontheway?

Things will change. I will not be offering any physical prints or handwritten custom pieces for the foreseeable future. My shop will be closed. HOWEVER! I will (duh!) still be writing. My priority in the interim is sharing my writing here on Substack. I will also continue to offer digital-delivery custom poems on request.

I’ll be launching a new website at the beginning of August. You’ll be able to contact me with custom poem requests there, as well as access my poems and an expanded portfolio of my published work and multimodal collaborations. I’m very excited about how that’s coming together and I look forward to sharing it with you :)

How can a reader continue to offer support?

Don’t go!! Stick around here on Substack and keep reading. I hope that in the not-so-distant future there will be new poems and essays to share and new projects to announce. Reading, sharing, engaging—all these are simple, practical ways to offer support. If you want to go a step further, consider becoming a paid member of The Daylily. Means so much to have y’all on board.

Thank you all for the many brilliant years you’ve given me of sharing my art with you in such a personal and tangible way. I hope that this is not a disconnective decision, but rather that those of us who connect over poetry and nature and divergence might begin a new chapter together. Hope you’ll stick around—I’ll do my best to make you proud you did :)

-torri