People have asked me why it took more than twenty years to write this book.
The answer is simple.
I wasn’t ready.
I hadn’t lived enough. I hadn’t healed enough. I hadn’t learned that some of the hardest chapters in our lives eventually become the very stories we’re supposed to tell.
When I finally hit “Publish,” I expected to feel nothing but excitement.
Instead, I felt vulnerable.
I wondered if I’d shared too much. I wondered what people would think. I wondered if anyone would understand why I chose to tell my story.
Then the messages started coming in.
Readers told me they cried. They told me they saw themselves in certain chapters. They told me they finally felt understood.
That’s when I knew I had made the right decision.
Beyond the Velvet Ropes was never about reliving my past.
It was about proving that your past doesn’t get the final word.
Thank you to everyone who has read the book, shared it with a friend, sent me a message, or simply believed in me.
This is only the beginning.
— Jen
