I absolutely agree with your advice in your story. Have the passion to follow your muse. Ignore the naysayers. Before I started on Medium, I wrote and published my first ebook and made it available through most of the major ebook sellers. I was told I was a complete idiot to try it as I was an unknown author. But I didn’t let that stop me, I had a story in me that I wanted to get out. I went ahead and did it, I didn’t care about money, fame or whatever. I was always a fan of Theodore Roosevelt and a quote from one of his speeches was always my guiding principle in my life since childhood. In fact. I had a wooden plaque on my wall of the quote which is: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” I had sold less than 10 books but I didn’t care and it wasn’t for money anyway. Great story and a good read! Thanks, Michelle!