elanoftroy
1870
Rowlings creativity is awesome
Steve,
After enjoying your post I read her bio on Wikipedia; it's truly an inspirational rags to riches story. Here are a few exerpts.
As a child, Rowling enjoyed writing fantasy stories, which she often read to her sister.
In 1990, while she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip from Manchester to London, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry "came fully formed" into her mind. "I really don't know where the idea came from", she told the Boston Globe, "It started with Harry, then all these characters and situations came flooding into my head."When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began to write immediately.
In December 1994, Rowling and her (baby) daughter moved to be near her sister in Edinburgh, Scotland. Unemployed and living on state benefits, she completed her first novel. She did her work in numerous cafés, whenever she could get Jessica to fall asleep
In 1995, Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual typewriter. Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evans, a reader who had been asked to review the book’s first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was submitted to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the manuscript. A year later she was finally given the green light (and a £1500 advance) by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, a small British publishing house in London, England. The decision to publish Rowling's book apparently owes much to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury’s chairman, who was given the first chapter to review by her father and immediately demanded the next.
Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, Cunningham says that he advised Rowling to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children’s books. Soon after, Rowling received an £8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing. The following spring, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc., for $105,000. Rowling has said she “nearly died” when she heard the news.
Rowling is a member of the Church of Scotland. She said, "I believe in God, not magic."
The 2007 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at £545 million, ranking her as the 136th richest person and the 13th richest woman in Britain. Forbes has named Rowling the second-richest female entertainer in the world and ranked her as the 48th most powerful celebrity of 2007.
Much appreciated,
Helen
