What a wonderful piece, Kelly.

Guess every creator goes through the fear of being naked in front of her audience. And people pass snide judgments and act like "critics." They're often the ones who've never stepped in the arena, but who jeer and heckle from the stands. It wrenches my heart.

Yet, as Neil Gaiman said, "The moment that you feel, just possibly, you are walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind, and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself... That is the moment, you might be starting to get it right.” These moments move discussions forward, make the silent majority (or even a portion of it) discover something new, and give people hope because they no longer feel alone.

If creators touch 2 hearts out of a 100, they eventually become okay to live with 98 haters. And your stories touch my heart.