JK Rowling – success story
Today JK Rowling is one of the richest women in the world. Her inspiring story is like a fairy tale, only she created this fairy tale herself. Her story began with complete poverty, when she, divorced, raised a child alone.
Her path was not easy. J.K. Rowling went through a series of downfalls before she succeeded. There was a period in JK Rowling's life when she was so poor that she didn't even have the money to print the Harry Potter manuscript. So she typed all 9,000+ words on an old typewriter by hand to submit to a publisher.
Joanne Rowling
But let's talk about everything in order.
Joanna Kate Rowling was born on July 31, 1965 in the UK, Waite.
The history of the acquaintance of the parents of the future writer is very romantic. The two Londoners, Peter James Rowling and Anne Volant, met in 1964 on a train from King's Cross to Scotland. It is this station that will become key in Rowling's books. It is here that the gates to the world of magic open.
Her parents were not rich, but they knew how to give warmth and care to Joan and her younger sister Diana.
It was her parents who instilled in her a love of literature when they read bedtime stories to children and acted out such cozy home performances.
Already at the age of 6, Joan wrote her first short story for her little sister.
The family liked the story so much that she began to compose without ceasing.
Joan with family
When Joan was 15, her mother became seriously ill. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The disease proceeded rapidly and soon the mother died. It was a serious blow for the young girl. After her mother's funeral, she could no longer be in a house where everything reminded her of her, and moved to live in London.
In 1982, Joan decided to become an Oxford student, but failed her exams.
But she managed to pass the exams at the University of Exeter, from which she graduated with a bachelor's degree in French and classical philology.
After graduating from university, she was hired as a secretary by Amnesty International. It was in this company that she met her first love, and soon settled in Manchester with her boyfriend.
She had to commute from Manchester to London to work every day. And somehow she spent 4 hours on the train due to problems on the road. And it was on this train, according to Joan, that she first saw Harry Potter in her imagination. The boy who drastically changed her life.
Harry Potter
She broke up with her first love, and working as a secretary was not the limit of her dreams. Therefore, she decides to move to Portugal, where she finds a job as an English teacher.
But in addition to a new job, Portugal gives her an acquaintance with her future husband, journalist Jorge Arantes. Already in 1992 they got married, and in 1993 they had a daughter, Jessica Isabelle Rowling Arantes.
JK Rowling with her daughter
During this period of happiness, she begins her first Harry Potter book.
But happiness did not last long. The husband turned out to be quick-tempered, jealous and aggressive. Mutual understanding in the family quickly disappeared, living with her husband became increasingly unbearable. And when her daughter was only a few months old, her husband beat Joan and kicked her out of the house with her daughter.
In December 1993, Joan moved to London with her little daughter and 3 chapters of the first Harry Potter book.
In London, she receives the status of a single mother and can count on an allowance from the state of 70 pounds. But despite life's difficulties, Joan does not stop writing about Harry Potter.
This black period of life evokes the image of Joan Dementors, terrible creatures that feed on bright memories and suck out the soul.
She believed so much in the success of the story about the boy with round glasses that she decided to finish the book about him by all means. It took 4 whole years. All these 4 years she and her daughter lived on the verge of poverty, despite the support from the family.
JK Rowling printed her first book on an old typewriter.
When the book was finished, it became clear that it was not enough just to print the book, it still needed to be sold.
And then she chooses a literary agent, Christopher Little. She didn't know anything about him, and chose him simply because his name sounds like a character from a fairy tale. And she's lucky! It is he who will become her agent and help sell millions of books.
Joanne Rowling
So, at the age of 30, JK Rowling fulfilled her dream – she told the world about a wonderful boy who survived.
Well, then there were other books, adaptations, awards and fees. And that's a completely different story.
But the most important thing is that, despite all the difficulties, she did not stop believing in herself and her dream.
Never give up, and luck will surely smile!