The launch of Legacy, containing my first published story, has been a humbling thing. My story is only 6 pages in the entire book, and it’s not something I had to go through a submission and selection process for, so I certainly couldn’t attest to the quality of it. I expected my mother would buy a copy, maybe one or two friends. Instead, the support shown by my family and friends has been so wonderfully overwhelming, I’ve spent the last two weeks in a daze of gratitude.

I’ve received messages and pictures from my uncles who’ve bought the book, a cousin I’ve barely seen in 10 years shared my post about it on Facebook, I’ve done my first book signing for a friend, and another friend signed up for Amazon for the sole purpose of getting a copy. I never expected this at all, and I am just so ridiculously thankful. I have such amazing people in my life.

I very much want to thank anyone and everyone who reads this for supporting me, whether or not you got a copy of Legacy. I had so much fear around sharing my writing, but it’s been such a completely positive and rewarding experience. My writing has gotten so much better for the feedback I’ve opened myself up to, and I can’t describe how impactful it’s been to have people reacting to my stories. Hearing people say they can relate to my writing, or that they want to know more about these worlds and characters just fills me with joy in a way I never expected.

So beyond thank you, I also want to say this: please keep encouraging the people in your life, whoever they are, and whatever they’re working on. It means so much, probably more than you know. It’s what makes the creative struggles worth fighting through.