Finding yourself is agony & other reasons why I'm starting my Instagram from scratch
New Author & Substack Updates and reflections on my creative writing journey so far.
This is not a bid for followers. I feel like this is the only place I can start this conversation. I have had my fill of followers. I permanently deleted my TikTok account at 400K followers for the same reason I’m carving out a new digital space for myself now. The number of followers someone has on platforms like Instagram and TikTok is a vanity metric. And not just because I said so. 1The CEO of Instagram said that the algorithm is built to show our content to people who don’t follow us first— it’s a marketing app and well— my soft hearted lover girl cry baby ass is built for community not stan culture.
Instagram can be a great place to find your community through discovery and tell them where the real connection is happening (places like substack or patreon or discord) but it’s not a solid place to build that community, especially when you have a legacy page like mine.
I’ve had my Instagram for 6 years now. In that time, I have been many versions of myself. I’ve always wished I had a green thumb so I could have a house full of plants. But I’m a millennial who barely remembers to drink water and probably will never be able to own a house to put the dehydrated plants in—so I watch other people repot their plants all the time online.
This is what that feels like to me. My roots are still my roots. They’ve just outgrown the space I’m currently in. I want a space online that captures my passion for writing with a blossoming community of people who join me for that specific journey. This feels like magic for a neurospicy person who has never wanted to niche down in my life. But my passion for stories—for creating worlds and crafting my chaotic characters— it’s the LOML! I deserve to give myself the chance to use my one life to bask in that.
So I’m repotting myself on a brand new page: DivinityRae_Writes (hello new pen name!) Of course this is a Reylo nod because who am I if not a void for Adam Driver memes?
In addition to updating my IG home for all things author journey for me, I will also be updating my publication from Div’s Book Crumbs to Divinity Rae Writes—just to keep things a little more cohesive across platforms. I labored over this decision afraid it would have a negative impact on all that I've already built, but here’s the truth:
I’m not starting over, I’m showing up fully.
I have written and performed my spoken word pieces offline for years. I’ve sat in bed with friends and read them passages of my writing, I privately published my short stories in Discord servers far away from the algorithms’ eyes. I am a writer. I’ve been a writer for a long time. I’m just not afraid to share this part of myself anymore and I deserve to honor that— to celebrate it.
So many people take their potential with them to the grave because they’re afraid of how people will perceive their audacity to affirm who they truly are or want to grow into being.
I will not be one of those people.
Substack has played a huge role in giving me this confidence. I am not just a bookish girlie who loves stories, I am a storyteller as well. I don’t have to stay in the boxes others have tried to place me in. Transition is hard. For someone like me, it’s been destabilizing. But I’ve got this one life—this one chance to be, do, and try all of the things life still has to offer.
Taking the leap might feel scary in the moment, but facing your last moments never having leaped is an irreversible heartbreak…
Nothing else changes; this is just me doing the internal growing and finding ways to express that. I’ll be keeping the same Publication schedule and posting the same Book Crumbs and serialized fiction content, I’m just owning who I am and who I want to become while I’m doing it.
And I am so serious about the followers thing, I fear…. I don’t want followers for the sake of followers. I'm hoping (optimistically) that I can be intentional about having an engaging reader audience there, not just a big one.
If you’re already here on Substack, that’s more than enough! This is my preferred platform and a space I cherish so much. I am sharing this with you because you are already a part of the community I am expanding.
So if you see some aesthetic upgrades around here, just know it’s just me taking you on the journey of what it looks like for someone like me to step fully into their power hoping it inspires others to do the same!
With so much love! -Div
https://www.instagram.com/mosseri/reel/C6JSc_FrIxf/?hl=en