Tomorrow, Unfinished Melody will have officially been out in the world for six months.

And today, I came to a realization.

Last September. before Unfinished Melody was published, I wrote about why I hesitated to share my story.

At the time, I was terrified of putting something so personal to me into the hands of strangers. Now, almost a year after writing those words—and six months after actually publishing the book—I’m on the other side of that fear.

When I first started writing Unfinished Melody, I figured it would just be another story I kept on my laptop for the rest of my life.

I didn’t think I would ever publish it.

It wasn’t until I fell in love with my characters that I started thinking, I’d love for people to get to know the people I have created and grown to love so much.

So, I worked on it—usually in the evenings after work, during my boyfriend’s gigs, and on my free weekends.

For a while, I was writing, working full time, and taking online classes

If I had a long drive, I’d put myself right into a scene and have conversations between my characters out loud.

If I was in the passenger seat on the way to visit family for the holidays or another trip, I would bring my laptop along and write or edit in the car.

I worked so hard to get that story ready for publishing. Late nights, crazy dreams, and early mornings became a way of life.

Sometimes, I would wake up inspired. Other times I would go to bed inspired—and sometimes I had to get the words down before I could go to sleep because I knew they wouldn’t leave me alone until I did.

It was hard, but it was so worth it.

Eventually, I made the decision to self-publish Unfinished Melody through Kindle Direct Publishing, and then when it was finally time to hit publish… I became terrified.

For one, it was becoming real.

Two, it was going to land in the hands of people I didn’t even know.

And three, it was going to be rated, reviewed, and talked about.

That last one might have been the scariest part.

Not knowing how my story would be received scared me.

I knew the book wasn’t perfect. In fact, when I later sat down and read the paperback front to back, I found errors I had somehow missed despite all the hours I had spent editing.

I was mortified.

So I made note of them, corrected them, learned from them, and kept going. I realized that after spending so much time staring at the same words over and over again, sometimes you simply need to step away from them for a while—even if, in my case, that happened after publication.

But I realized something else, too.

Once you put your story out into the world, you no longer have any control over how someone else will feel about it.

Some people will love it.

Some won’t.

Some will connect with your characters. Some will be frustrated with them. Some might cry with them, laugh with them, get angry with them, or see a little bit of themselves in them.

And some people simply won’t connect with the story at all.

That’s okay.

Unfinished Melody isn’t perfect. It isn’t going to be the right book for every reader. And everything I learn from this book—whether through feedback, mistakes, or simply becoming a more experienced writer—will help me become better at telling the next story.

But no matter how anyone else feels about it, there is one thing no one can take away from me:

I loved writing it.

I had fun creating these characters and their world. I fell in love with them. I finished their story when for years, I was someone who was too afraid to let anyone read what I wrote.

And then I was brave enough to publish it and let complete strangers read it, rate it, review it, love it—or not love it.

So, I guess the point of all of this is for anyone out there who is like me—writing a story but afraid to put it out into the world for a bunch of strangers to read:

Don’t stop chasing your dream.

Your story doesn’t have to be perfect.

Not everyone has to love it.

You just have to be brave enough to let it leave your laptop.

Because someone, somewhere out there, is waiting to read a story just like yours. ❤️