I called my friend in a panic.

“I’m so anxious about my book coming out,” I told her. “What if it causes harm? What if I’ve quoted other’s voices too much or I am mistakenly appropriating from other cultures? Or what if I’ve centered my own voice too much and it’s full of egregious implicit biases or misattuned to the world around me? What if I shouldn’t be the one writing a book? I don’t know what I don’t know. How do I put anything out there if I don’t know how it will impact people. How will this book land in different countries when I’m writing from my own cultural lens? And am I inclusive enough? Do you think I’ve been divisive? What if I escalate our divisions instead of bringing us together? Should I take the politics out that will divide us? And all the divisive issues? But I can’t not talk about the big issues we face today, can I? Aren’t these the fractures we need to heal? Am I then being a silent bystander to injustice? Should I have allowed myself to be more radical? Did I regress into people pleasing by toning down my language too much to widen my audience? And how many important issues and voices did I miss? What if the book’s a success and I win capitalism on a book exploring the health risks of the inequities of capitalism? How can I best redistribute those profits? Is it safe to share my

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