Strategies of a Successful Woman
Many people would assume that Joanne Rowling is a woman who has it all, after all, she was once ranked the 13th wealthiest woman in Britain surpassing even the Queen of England on the list of Britain’s wealthiest women. It is easy to see a person’s success and just assume they were born with the luxury, but Joanne was not so lucky. Rowling struggled to deal with death, mental illness, and rejection before overcoming the obstacles thrown her way and becoming who we now know as JK Rowling. Through hard work and persistence, Rowling was finally able to publish the first Harry Potter book of the series which lead to her overnight success. The idea for the Harry Potter series was conceived in 1990 as Joanne’s train had been delayed. Although she was too shy to ask for a pen to write down her ideas, she spent the entirety of the wait making up characters and brainstorming scenarios for them to get into. Once Rowling made it to her home she wrote down her ideas but was unmotivated to continue writing due to the tragedy that struck soon after. Joanne had been six months into the writing process when her mother passed away after battling multiple sclerosis for many years. The death of her mother struck her greatly and according to Venture Lab, Rowling often describes it as the most traumatizing moment of her life. It did not do Joanne any good that after her mother’s death, as a way to deal with the grief she went to Portugal on impulse and experienced a marriage that made her unhappy and resulted in divorce. From the unsuccessful marriage, Rowling had a daughter who she would struggle to take care of as a single mother. While it was hard for her to make ends meet she relied on unemployment benefits and felt like she had no way to make a better life …show more content…
She referenced the death of her mother by making the lead character, Harry Potter, an orphan that comes to terms with his parents' death throughout the series. Joanne also referenced her depression in her book by embodying depression as a large masked creature called a dementor. In 1995 Rowling finally finished her first book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. While the process of writing the book helped Rowling get out of her funk, there was also another obstacle that she would have to overcome. The biopic of Joanne’s life Magic Beyond Words showed as she wrapped up her writing Joanne sent her manuscripts to 12 different publishers, all of which returned the manuscripts to her unread. The publishers would decline her work saying it was either ‘too long’, ‘difficult for children to read’, or ‘children won’t take an interest’ but she was determined to get her book published and in the end she did. The publisher that accepted her work requested that she use a pen name in order to appeal to the young boy audience who wouldn’t want to read a book about magic written by a woman, which is why she is known as JK Rowling - she doesn’t have a middle name so she used her grandmother’s name ‘Kathleen” instead. He also told her she would need to get another job because writing children’s books would not make her any money. Ironically she didn’t end up needing that
Many people would assume that Joanne Rowling is a woman who has it all, after all, she was once ranked the 13th wealthiest woman in Britain surpassing even the Queen of England on the list of Britain’s wealthiest women. It is easy to see a person’s success and just assume they were born with the luxury, but Joanne was not so lucky. Rowling struggled to deal with death, mental illness, and rejection before overcoming the obstacles thrown her way and becoming who we now know as JK Rowling. Through hard work and persistence, Rowling was finally able to publish the first Harry Potter book of the series which lead to her overnight success. The idea for the Harry Potter series was conceived in 1990 as Joanne’s train had been delayed. Although she was too shy to ask for a pen to write down her ideas, she spent the entirety of the wait making up characters and brainstorming scenarios for them to get into. Once Rowling made it to her home she wrote down her ideas but was unmotivated to continue writing due to the tragedy that struck soon after. Joanne had been six months into the writing process when her mother passed away after battling multiple sclerosis for many years. The death of her mother struck her greatly and according to Venture Lab, Rowling often describes it as the most traumatizing moment of her life. It did not do Joanne any good that after her mother’s death, as a way to deal with the grief she went to Portugal on impulse and experienced a marriage that made her unhappy and resulted in divorce. From the unsuccessful marriage, Rowling had a daughter who she would struggle to take care of as a single mother. While it was hard for her to make ends meet she relied on unemployment benefits and felt like she had no way to make a better life …show more content…
She referenced the death of her mother by making the lead character, Harry Potter, an orphan that comes to terms with his parents' death throughout the series. Joanne also referenced her depression in her book by embodying depression as a large masked creature called a dementor. In 1995 Rowling finally finished her first book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. While the process of writing the book helped Rowling get out of her funk, there was also another obstacle that she would have to overcome. The biopic of Joanne’s life Magic Beyond Words showed as she wrapped up her writing Joanne sent her manuscripts to 12 different publishers, all of which returned the manuscripts to her unread. The publishers would decline her work saying it was either ‘too long’, ‘difficult for children to read’, or ‘children won’t take an interest’ but she was determined to get her book published and in the end she did. The publisher that accepted her work requested that she use a pen name in order to appeal to the young boy audience who wouldn’t want to read a book about magic written by a woman, which is why she is known as JK Rowling - she doesn’t have a middle name so she used her grandmother’s name ‘Kathleen” instead. He also told her she would need to get another job because writing children’s books would not make her any money. Ironically she didn’t end up needing that