Part 1: My Journey to Becoming a Published Author

Before I get into this, I want to say something I mean genuinely:

Thank you for being here.

Your encouragement, your curiosity, your willingness to show up and engage with this work — it matters more than you know. It's part of what made writing this book possible. You've given me a space to process, to reflect, and to put words to experiences that needed somewhere to land.

So. In the spirit of that — I want to take you behind the curtain.

This is part 1 of my story of becoming a published author. The real version. The one with the false starts, the plot twists, and the moment I had to share news I was embarrassed to share.

I'll warn you now: it ends on a cliffhanger.

It started with a title I couldn't shake

I'd wanted to write a book about my life for a long time. But it wasn't until I was completing my Master's degree that the idea became something I took seriously.

I remember laughing at the contradiction I kept bumping into — I was someone who followed the rules, and yet I deeply resisted being told what to do. I wanted a book that captured that tension. The way I'd had to lead myself through some of life's harder chapters, on my own terms.

I told some of my peers: "I shall call this book The Anxious Anarchist."

The woman I watched from a distance

Years earlier, I had followed someone on social media during the era when everyone was talking about Beachbody. I watched her for a long time — and then I watched her pivot. She became a published author. A bestselling one.

I read her book. And I thought, quietly, to myself: if people read this and made her a bestseller — they will definitely read mine.

A few months later, I attended a mini-series she hosted with the founder of her publishing company, SJ, on how to become a published author. I was interested. I was inspired. Then I saw the price tag. I couldn't afford it. So I filed it away — knowledge is power — and kept moving.

Then life handed me a different story to tell

Fast forward a few years.

I was working more intimately with the justice system through my career. And at the same time, I was navigating one of the most difficult seasons of my life — domestic violence, family court, and eventually criminal court.

What I witnessed through that process — the way I was treated by police services, justices, lawyers, and the system at large — shifted everything. I knew my original book idea needed to change. This was the story I had to tell. Not only to process what I had lived, but to create something that might actually move the needle for others.

One day, the title came to me. Fully formed. And it never left:

I Shouldn't Have to Play the Victim: My Experience with Domestic Violence and the Justice System.

Why I chose Landon Hail Press

When I started looking at publishing options, I knew one thing clearly: I did not want my story shaped by someone else's narrative. I wanted to write in my own voice, with full integrity, without being polished into something unrecognizable.

When I met with the founder of Landon Hail Press, I knew within that conversation that this was the right fit. Their authenticity, their unapologetic approach, their focus on empowerment — it was exactly the energy I wanted to be part of.

The free consult that changed everything

About a year later, I saw SJ post on social media about a free consult for aspiring authors. By this point, I had landed a new job with significantly better pay. I thought — why not try again? We talked for an hour and a half. She ended the call with: "You have to get this story out there."

I was asked to submit a writing sample. I headed to the mountains — because I knew that was where I could write — and I put 800 words of my story on the page.

A few weeks passed. Maybe closer to a month.

Then I heard back.

I had been offered a deal.

I was elated. And then, almost immediately, I was faced with something I hadn't anticipated. The job I had moved into just a few months earlier — the one that had made this financially possible — had let me go (without cause) the week before my publishing offer came through.

I was embarrassed. But I knew I had to be honest with them about where things stood.

What happened next? That's the part of the story I'll be sharing with you next week.

If you know someone who has a story worth telling — share this with them. You never know what might be sitting in someone's back pocket, waiting for the right moment.

Until next week...

Chelsey