Pulled cards this morning like I usually do and got a message that’s not just for me.
It’s for you too.
The Devil, Knight of Wands reversed, 7 of Swords and Read the lineage
Here’s what they’re saying about your writing:
You’re thinking yourself into chains that aren’t real.
The mental trap of “I need to write like [insert successful author]” or “I have to fit this genre perfectly” or “my voice needs to sound more [insert industry expectation]” - that’s the Devil’s illusion.
The industry wants you to pick one lane so it can categorize and control you. But your power is in refusing that limitation.
You’re hesitating to claim who you truly are as a writer.
You know what you want to write. You know your voice is different. You know your stories don’t fit neatly into their boxes.
But you’re sitting on that power because you’re not sure how to name it yet. Or because naming it feels dangerous. Or because fully embodying it means you can’t hide behind “aspiring writer” anymore.
Spirit is saying: do it YOUR way.
Stop trying to fit into their definitions. Take what serves you from traditional craft advice and leave what doesn’t. You’re allowed to write in a way that’s never been done before.
That’s not wrong. That’s innovation.
This part made me emotional (especially after the Substack live I did yesterday):
Read the lineage.
You’re not alone in this. You’re not making this up.
Black and Brown writers have always been the ones who refused to stay in one lane — who mixed genres, who centered our voices, who wrote stories the industry said wouldn’t sell and created bestsellers anyway.
Zora Neale Hurston. Octavia Butler. Audre Lorde. Toni Morrison. James Baldwin. Maya Angelou.
They didn’t ask permission to write the way they wrote.
The lineage already walked this path.
You’re continuing what they started.
So here’s what I’m telling you today:
Stop overthinking what kind of writer you’re “supposed” to be.
Start embodying the fullness of what you write.
Do it YOUR way, not how the industry expects.
And remember: the lineage holds you. They did this before you. You’re not lost — you’re on the path they cleared.
Your voice matters exactly as it is.
Not after you polish it for white comfort. Not after you fit it into their genre boxes. Not after you code-switch it into something “marketable.”
But right now. As it is. In all its complexity and specificity and refusal to be one thing.
This is the work.
This is liberation.
If this message landed for you, you know what to do with it.
And if you need support doing this work — healing what’s blocking you, mastering craft on YOUR terms, navigating the industry without silencing your voice — that’s what The Story Temple is for.
The lineage holds us all.
With love and fire,
Lakeisha, High Priestess of The Stoy Temple
Thank you for sharing this! I’ve been struggling with exactly this—hearing advice to get hyper-niched and it not feeling true for me. Thank you for the reminder of those before us who fought against a lot more to do it their way. You channeled something.
What encouragement