ON MY BEHALF was never meant to be published. It was merely a journal for my venting. Nothing formal. My intent was to bring my life to light to myself and hopefully band-aid some old gaping wounds.

As I was writing, however, I had an epiphany. I thought ever-so-reluctantly: What if my story mattered to someone, even helped them to realize things about themselves that would have otherwise been swept under the rug and ignored? Wouldn’t that be worth publishing? It suddenl...