Before they were famous: JK Rowling

Reading on the life of JK Rowling was inspiring.  Her life spins a story of an ordinary woman with all the same weaknesses, foibles and fears that plague the most basic elements of our human nature, but one who has risen above all its pettiness to attain the purest expression of what our humanness is capable of achieving, i.e., the power to imagine, create, and persevere in the face of adversity.

In front of the camera, the public mostly sees the glamorous, perfect lives of the rich and famous, but in truth, many famous people had to suffer years of failures and hardships to achieve their dreams, in Rowling's case, it was seven years of it!

The Seven Dark Years of JK Rowling 

The first Harry Potter book took 7 years to complete, from its inception to actually getting it published. And in those long years, Rowling would suffer poverty, death of a loved one, a failed marriage, emotional trauma, rejection and depression.  But ultimately, there was light at the end of that long tunnel, where she found her own voice and inner strength to emerge, perhaps battle worn, but triumphant in overcoming her life's adversities.


Adversity 1--Financial insecurity.  Financial insecurity plagued Rowling throughout her life; she was born into a poor family, and continued to be poor for most of her early life.  In fact, when she divorced her first husband, Rowling really hit rock-bottom. She was jobless with a baby to raise and living on the fringes of poverty.  She claimed that they were living by a thread, and that life was so bad that they were "poor as it is possible in modern Britain without being homeless." 

Adversity 2--Relationship failures.  Rowling's life was also haunted by relationship problems and emotional turmoil.  Her mother died of multiple sclerosis when Rowling was 25.  Having been close to her mother, her death, and moreover, seeing her mother succumbing to the disease, scarred Rowling permanently.  She has stated that her one greatest regret in life was not seeing her mother's body before her funeral.

Rowling thought she found love in Portugal where she met and married a Portuguese journalist. But that marriage lasted for only 13 months before it imploded, whereby Rowling left her husband, returned to England with her new baby girl.   Rowling has rarely talked about her first marriage in public, but she would later describe it as "short and catastrophic." And that "I had to get my baby back to Britain and rebuild us a life and adrenaline kept me going."

Adversity 3--Battle with Depression.  Returning to England, Rowling's life was at its darkest.  She was penniless, jobless, living on welfare, suffering from the aftermath of a broken marriage, and struggling to raise a child.  She was in a terrible state, whereby the financial hardships and emotional strains drove her into a deep depression.  Rowling confessed that she had long suffered from bouts of depression, especially since the death of her mother, but she would describe that period in her life after her divorce as truly a dark hole, where her life was "characterized by a numbness, a coldness and an inability to believe you will feel happy again. All the color drained out of life."  She was diagnosed for clinical depression and even contemplated suicide.

But yet, Rowling's life is a story of perseverance, courage, and faith.  Ironically, Rowling used all the "bad" things that happened in her life to help her succeed.  Even the idea for the dementors was created out of her depression.  She described the darkest period in her life as "liberating", that "I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized and I was still alive.  Rock-bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

And all the heartbreaking events in Rowling's life, especially the death of her mother, would be described by Rowling as the reason she was able to create the Harry Potter series, that the death of her mother was "everywhere" on the pages of Harry Potter.

When Rowling completed the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, she had a clairvoyant flash of insight that getting it published would be the hardest part, but if she succeeded, then the book would be huge.  And that is exactly what happened.  Her literary agent warned her that she would never make any money writing children's book, and to almost confirm his prediction, the book was rejected by 12 different publishers.  But Rowling persevered and on the 13th try, the book was finally accepted. And the rest, shall we say is history!