Last week, I sold out my book launch event in New York City in just two days. With less than a month of release, I reached the mark of 100 books sold. Those aren’t just numbers. They are part of the story I’m building.

A year ago, still living under the restrictions of the pandemic, I had written half a book and had a big dream. At that time, the uncertainties about the future were many. I woke and slept on contagiously anxious days. My family lived under a visa that restricted our travel freedom and my work permit.

I see friends who have been through the same situation as me. We often hear idealizations about our lives from people tired of their choices. I want to tell you that you don’t have to feel guilty for wanting more. It’s hard to live with the status of a wife.

Wives also have achievements of their own

I always wanted to be independent of everything. An island in the ocean. I didn’t realize that the cost of my independence was not following the path that made me happy. “Everything I learned in New York is a book about all the times I left home,” I say to anyone who asks me what I wrote. It is, but it’s also a story about how I ran away from my dreams and tried to skip steps.

Artists are people who put their voices into the world. Being an artist is a privilege with the high price of giving up hours of rest, financial independence, or any other aspect that is dear to you.

I never fantasized about having a routine of intellectual creation at home. My goal was to leave. Bring happiness, dragged by the hair, from the outside in. My status forced me to stop. The pandemic told me to stay home. Anxiety made me write. Now, I’m part of that select group of people who know that you can’t launch an artistic work without the support of those who accompany you.

We are sold out, but we still have a lot of work!

I’m not an island. I have the privilege of being a wife and having the best friends in the world. There is much more to literary entrepreneurship than the number of copies sold. Today, I receive messages from the most varied people about the impacts of my writing on their lives.

I couldn’t imagine my work’s range, and I’m glad to know this is just the beginning.