67 | What Kingdom Writers Get Wrong About Their Writing Life

Have you ever held a belief about your author life that felt completely spiritual… but quietly kept you from moving forward?

In today's episode, I unpack three beliefs I've seen quietly circulating among Kingdom writers — beliefs that come from sincere, God-honouring hearts, but that might be getting in the way of the author life God actually intended for you.

Drawing from personal experience and scripture, this episode explores the difference between passive waiting and active trust, why the craft treadmill isn't always the answer, and why the most visible writers in your space probably have far less figured out than you think.

No judgment here. Just one author friend sitting across the table from another — with honesty and compassion, saying — hey, I recognize that. I lived there. And here's what I learned on the other side.

And if you're ready to change up your author life, check out the Revive to Thrive Way™ here.

📌 Don't miss next week's episode — something significant is coming for Kingdom writers who are ready for a shift.

👉 Listen now to uncover the secret to becoming an anointed scribe!

Scriptures referenced: Matthew 25:14–29, Proverbs 13:4, Ephesians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 1:27, Proverbs 3:5–6

Transcript

What if I told you that the thing quietly standing between you and the author life God actually intended for you… isn't your writing? It's not your platform. It's not your budget or your backlist or the size of your email list or how many reviews your last book got.

What if it's something far more subtle than any of that? Something that sounds so reasonable — so spiritual even — that you've never once stopped to question it. Something you picked up somewhere along the way. From a well-meaning mentor, a conference talk, a Facebook group post, a blog you read at two in the morning when you were doubting everything. And it just... lodged itself quietly into the way you think about your calling. Into the way you make decisions. Into the story you tell yourself about why things aren't moving the way you hoped.

So, today I want to gently shine a light on three of those beliefs. Three things I see quietly circulating among Christian and Kingdom-minded writers — writers with good hearts, genuine callings, and real God-given gifts — that might, just might, be getting in the way.

And before we go any further, I want to say this clearly: I have personally believed every single one of these. Every one. So there is zero judgment here. Zero. This is just one author friend sitting across the table from another, saying — hey, I recognise that. I lived there. And here's what I learned on the other side.

This is the Anointed Scribe Podcast. Stay with me.

I'm Urcelia Teixeira, ex real estate agent turned award winning Christian fiction author.

When I wrote my first novel on a bucket list whim, I had no idea it would spark a spiritual journey that would redefine my calling.

But you know what friend?

Self publishing wasn't easy. I got quite caught in the hustle, chasing rankings and sales while desperately trying to stay rooted in Christ.

Now, by God's grace, I'm building my author business his way. And now he's called me to help you do the same.

Welcome to the Anointed Scribe Podcast where faith meets business for Christian writers. Let's write, publish and grow our author business God's way. Are you ready? Well then, let's get started.

Hey, it's your author friend, Urcelia and welcome back to the show. I am really glad you're here today. Whether you're a regular — in which case, thank you, truly, for showing up week after week, it means everything — or whether this is your very first episode, let me officially welcome you to the Anointed Scribe Tribe. You're in good hands, friend, because this podcast exists for Christian and Kingdom-minded writers who want to build their author life with God, not just for Him. And if you're not sure what the difference is, honestly, that's kind of what this whole episode is about. So you're right on time.

Grab your coffee, or your tea, or whatever you've got going — I'm in Cape Town right now so I'm basically oscillating between coffee and a cold drink because it's the peak of our summer here and the sun is out — but whatever your preference, let's just have a real conversation today. Because this episode is personal. It took me a while to sit down and actually write it out because I had to make sure I was coming at it from the right place. Not from a "let me tell you what you're doing wrong" place. But from a "I wish someone had sat with me in this" place.

Alright. Three myths. Let's go.

BELIEF 1 — "If God truly called me to write, He'll handle the success."

Let me tell you why this one is so easy to hold onto: it sounds exactly like faith. It sounds like trust. It sounds like the kind of beautiful, open-handed posture that every devotional and every Christian living book tells you to have. And at its root — at its very heart — it comes from something genuinely good. A desire to not be controlling, right. A desire to honour God with the outcome. A desire to hold your writing loosely and say, Lord, this is Yours.

I love that heart. I had that heart. I still want that heart.

But here's where it quietly went sideways for me, and where I think it goes sideways for a lot of us.

At some point, that beautiful open-handedness started to look less like surrender and more like… stillness. Like inaction dressed up in spiritual language. I would pray about my books, genuinely and sincerely. I would ask God to bring the readers. I would trust Him with the outcome. And then I would wait. And wait. And wonder why the doors weren't opening.

And when things didn't move, my brain would go to one of two places. Either: maybe I didn't hear God right. Maybe I wasn't really called to this. Or: I just need to pray more, trust more, wait more.

And friend, neither of those responses actually moved anything forward. Because the missing piece wasn't more prayer. It was what comes after the prayer.

I had to learn — and this was genuinely a process for me — the difference between passive waiting and active trust.

Passive waiting says: I've given this to God, so I'll step back and see what happens. Active trust says: I've given this to God, and now I'm going to take the next faithful step He's showing me, and trust Him with where it leads.

There's a passage in Matthew 25 — the Parable of the Talents — that I keep coming back to on this. The master gives each servant a different amount of money — one gets five talents, one gets two, one gets one — and then he goes away on a journey. And when he comes back, he doesn't reward the ones who held the money reverently and didn't touch it. He rewards the ones who went and worked with what they'd been given. The servant who buried his talent because he was afraid — he was the one who got it wrong. And his fear, his caution, his desire not to mess things up — those aren't foreign to us as writers, are they?

Calling still requires faithful action. That's not me saying hustle harder or strategy your way to success. That's the Bible saying that what God places in your hands is meant to be taken care of, worked, and multiplied — not just prayed over and waited on.

And I want to be gentle here because I know some of you have been in seasons of genuine waiting. Seasons where God has said, "Not yet." And that's real. Obedient waiting, discerned waiting, is absolutely a thing — we talked about that two weeks ago in Episode 65 actually, about knowing your season. There is a time to be still. But there's also a time to pick up the pen, make the decision, take the step. And learning to discern between the two? That's one of the most important skills a Kingdom writer can develop.

So let me ask you something — and I just want you to sit with this, you don't have to answer out loud. Is there something in your writing life right now that you've been "trusting God with" but actually haven't taken a single practical step toward? A decision you've been avoiding. A strategy you've been praying about but not actually implementing. A door that's been open for a while that you keep looking at but haven't walked through yet?

Because sometimes what we call faith is actually fear wearing a very convincing costume.

And that's not condemnation, friend. That's an invitation. An invitation to move from passive waiting into active, obedient, faithful participation in what God has already commissioned you to do.

Alright, we'll get back to the episode in just a second, but before we do, I want to ask you something.

If you're a Christian or Kingdom-minded author who feels like you're working really hard at this writing life but somehow still feels stuck, scattered, or quietly exhausted — I want you to picture something.

What if instead of white-knuckling your way through every launch, every marketing decision, every moment of self-doubt... you had a clear, God-grounded framework that helped you build your entire author business from a place of peace instead of pressure? What if you finally had clarity on exactly what's been getting in the way — and a practical, Spirit-led path forward?

That's exactly what the Revive to Thrive Way is designed to do. It's my program for Christian writers who are tired of trying to grow their author business from pressure, confusion, and second-guessing. It walks you through three foundational steps that completely changed the way I approach my writing life — and I genuinely believe it could do the same for you.

If that's resonating, I'd love for you to check it out at anointedscribe.com/revivetothrive — the link is also in the show notes. Okay, back to the episode.

BELIEF 2 — "If my books were just better, they'd sell."

This one. This one right here. This one kept me on a hamster wheel for longer than I would like to admit, and I talk to enough authors to know I am absolutely not alone in this.

So let me start by saying what I mean and what I don't mean, because nuance really matters here.

Craft matters. Growing as a writer matters. I am not standing here telling you to stop learning, stop improving, stop caring about the quality of what you put out into the world. Your readers deserve your best, and your calling deserves your excellence. That is not up for debate.

But there is a difference — a significant, important difference — between growing your craft because you love the work and God is genuinely developing you as a writer… and chasing another craft course or putting your book through another round of rewrites because you've convinced yourself that craft is the problem when it might not be.

Here's how this belief usually shows up. Your book isn't reaching the readers you hoped it would. Sales are slower than expected. Reviews are fewer than you imagined. And your brain, trying to make sense of the gap between where you are and where you want to be, lands on the most humble-sounding explanation it can find: it must not be good enough yet. I must not be good enough yet.

And I want to say — that is actually a humble response. It genuinely is. There's no pride in it. There's no entitlement. It's a sincere-hearted writer trying to take responsibility. And I respect that enormously.

But humility doesn't always mean the diagnosis is correct.

Sometimes a book isn't finding its readers not because the writing is the problem, but because of how it's positioned. Whether it's clear who it's for. Whether the cover is communicating the right thing. Whether the description is actually connecting with the reader who would love it. Whether the author has a way of reaching that reader at all.

And here's what's heartbreaking about the craft treadmill: it never actually ends. Because there will always be another thing to improve. Another skill to develop. Another author whose sentences are more elegant than yours. And if your measuring stick is "good enough to succeed," you will never, ever feel like you've crossed that line. Because that line keeps moving.

I spent a period of my author journey rewriting and revising and taking course after course, genuinely believing that the next level of craft was what stood between me and breakthrough. And what I eventually had to sit with was an uncomfortable question: is this actually what needs to change? Or am I using self-improvement as a way to avoid the parts of this I actually don't know how to navigate?

Because sometimes learning more craft is safe. It's productive-feeling. It's something you can control. And it keeps you from having to face the parts of author business that feel scary and unfamiliar and uncertain. But sometimes, it also steers you down the path of diluting your own voice because you're adopting someone else's voice.

Now, I'm not saying that's what's happening for you. Only you and God can discern that honestly. But what I am saying is that if you've been on the craft treadmill for a while and things still aren't moving, it might be worth asking a genuinely different question. Not "what's wrong with my writing?" but "what might be missing from my understanding of how all of this actually works?"

Because sometimes the gap isn't in your prose. Sometimes it's in your positioning. Sometimes it's in your process. And recognising which one you're actually dealing with can save you years. Genuinely — years.

And I think God cares about this. I think He cares about us working wisely, not just working hard. Proverbs 13:4 says that the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied — and diligence isn't just effort. Diligence is the right effort, applied in the right direction. Your gift deserves to be taken care of wisely, not just worked tirelessly.

BELIEF 3 — "The most visible Kingdom writers must have it all figured out."

Okay. This one is the sneakiest of the three because it doesn't always introduce itself as comparison. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like comparison. It just feels like quiet discouragement. A vague, background hum of "everyone else seems further along than me." A low-level sense that you must be missing something, because look at her — she seems so certain. Look at him — he seems so put together. Look at that launch, that platform, that email list, that confidence.

And I want to be so careful here because I am not throwing anyone under the bus. The authors who are showing up consistently and visibly in this space are doing something legitimately courageous. I have deep respect for every single person who puts their work into the world and keeps showing up. This is not about them. This is about what we do in our own heads when we look at them.

Because what we see from the outside is a very curated, edited, facebook-friendly version of someone else's journey. And what we compare it to is our own full, unedited, behind-the-scenes reality. Every doubt, every slow month, every moment of wondering if we're doing this right. And we hold those two things up next to each other and wonder why we come up short every single time.

I have sat in rooms — actual physical rooms and virtual ones — feeling profoundly out of place. Like everyone else had received a memo I somehow missed. Like their polish and their certainty and their put-together energy meant they had access to something I didn't. And I remember going home from those rooms feeling smaller than when I walked in.

And then, over time, I started having more honest conversations. One-on-one conversations. Off-the-record conversations. And what I found — almost universally, across the board — is this: what looks like confidence from the outside is almost always just chosen courage. The author you most admire is choosing to move forward despite doubt. They are figuring it out in real time. They are winging more than they would probably admit. And they are scared sometimes too.

Visibility is not the same as certainty. A large platform doesn't mean you have a clear map. And someone's polished presence tells you very little — nothing, actually — about what's happening behind closed doors.

Now here's the theological piece of this that I think matters for us as Kingdom writers. We serve a God who does not call the qualified — He qualifies the called. We established that beautifully a couple of weeks ago when we talked about Bezalel and Oholiab in Exodus — two ordinary men, no special credentials, no training, no reason on paper to be chosen. And God took them and filled them with exactly what the assignment required. Not in advance, not before the calling came — in response to it.

So when you look at someone who seems further ahead and you think "they must have something I don't" — the truth is probably simpler and kinder than that. They've just been walking their path a little longer. Or they're in a different season. Or God's equipping for their assignment looks different than His equipping for yours — because the assignments are different.

You are not behind. Let me say that again because I think some of you really need to hear it today. You are not behind. You are exactly where you are supposed to be on the path God has you on. Your journey has a pace, and that pace is not measured against anyone else's timeline. It is measured against His.

And here's what I know to be absolutely true: comparison will never once tell you something useful about your own path. Not once. All it will ever do is distort your view of both yourself and the person you're comparing yourself to. It makes them seem more infallible than they are and makes you seem less capable than you are. And neither of those things is real.

The most liberating moment for me as an author was the moment I stopped trying to figure out how to catch up to where someone else was and started asking God, what does the next faithful step look like for me, specifically, in this season? That question changed everything. Not because it produced instant results, but because it reoriented me toward my own lane. My own assignment. My own calling — which was always the only one I was equipped to walk.

So, three beliefs. Three things that are quietly circulating among Kingdom writers — things that come from genuinely good hearts, genuine love for God, genuine desire to honour Him with this called writing life.

And I want to say again what I said at the beginning of this episode: if one of those beliefs landed somewhere tender today, that tenderness is not condemnation. It's not God pointing a finger. I really believe it's the Holy Spirit doing what He does — gently, kindly, lovingly bringing something into the light so that it can be dealt with. Because He is not in the business of leaving us stuck. He is always, always moving us forward.

You can't shift something you can't see.

So if today gave you a clearer view of something — even just a small thing, even just the beginning of a question — that is a gift. Sit with it. Pray about it. Ask God what He wants to do with what you've recognised.

And friend, one more thing before I let you go. Next week I have something coming that I have been working on for a long time — something I truly believe is going to be a significant moment for those of you who are ready for it. I'm not going to spill the beans, but if today's episode stirred something in you — if something resonated and you found yourself thinking "yes, that's me, I need something to shift" — I really, really don't want you to miss next week.

Make sure you're subscribed. Tell a Kingdom writer friend about this episode. And if this podcast has been encouraging you, even a one-line review on Apple Podcasts makes such a real difference in helping other writers find their way here.

Okay, friend, thanks for being here. I'll see you next week. Keep writing. Stay rooted. And remember — for such a time as this, you have been called to thrive as God's anointed scribe.

KEY SCRIPTURES

• Matthew 25:14–29 — Parable of the Talents
• Proverbs 13:4 — Desires of the diligent are fully satisfied
• Ephesians 2:10 — Created for good works prepared beforehand
• 1 Corinthians 1:27 — God chose the foolish to shame the wise
• Proverbs 3:5–6 — Trust in the Lord and acknowledge Him in all your ways