The Creator of Hogwarts Did Not Live a Very Magical Life Herself
J.K. Rowling’s life before and after Harry Potter — The billionaire writer who rose up from poverty to unmatchable power in the literary world
Adults and children alike enjoy the Harry Potter series. Those not into reading books have definitely watched all parts of the movie. The magical world of Hogwarts, with wizards and witches flying about, was everyone’s dream life.
The person who brought this magic to our lives was J.K. Rowling, a brilliant writer, creator, mother of three, and a strong survivor of devastating tragedies.
From rags-to-riches, we will be looking at life through the eyes of one of the most read and famous authors the world has seen.
The Battle through Thick and Thins of Life
Like Voldemort’s obsession with Nagini, because she gives him hugs and “hisses,” our obsession with Harry Potter has been going honest and robust forever. From magic spells to mighty cauldrons of potion, everything in the series persisted in being magical. But it is a shame that not many people know about the struggles that the creator of the perfect fantasy world had to bear to give the world a remarkable contribution to literacy.
Joanne Kathleen Rowling aka., J.K. Rowling, is more powerful than her interpretation of our favorite childhood series. Her whole life is built on her childhood dream of becoming a writer one day.
But it did not come without a cost.
She struggled to be where she is today, known by the world. Her journey from a secretary to a billionaire author is genuinely inspiring and gives the lesson of not giving up in life at any cost.
A Childhood Passion to be a Star Writer
Rowling was born in July 1965 in Gloucestershire, South-West England. She has been crazy about writing since she was a kid and recalls writing her first story about a rabbit named Rabbit as a preschooler.
As she grew up, writing became a significant part of her life. At 11, she wrote her first novel about people who owned seven cursed diamonds but had yet to get it published.
She went to Wyedean Comprehensive School and then the University of Exeter to learn French and Classics. While pursuing her dreams, her life became overshadowed by devastation and trauma.
Rowling’s parents did not attend college, and they did not have very good money while she was growing up, but she had a close relationship with them. When she was 15, her mother developed Multiple Sclerosis, which would also impact her life.
Irrespective of the troubles, she focused on herself and got a job at the Amnesty International Office in London as a bilingual secretary and researcher.
A Devastating Turn of Events That Changed Everything
Rowling later moved to Manchester and then to London again, aspiring to get her dream job. While moving to London, her train got delayed at the station, where she instantly got the idea to write Harry Potter. She had numerous ideas going through her mind and penned them down whenever she had the time.
Unfortunately, at the same time, her mother died. She recalls it to be the worst time of her life, but little did she know there was so much more on the way to her success.
Rowling decided to move to Portugal to have a fresh start in life and cope with the loss of her mother. She started working as a teacher there and soon met an aspiring journalist, Jorge Arantes. Her friends never really liked Arantes, but Rowling got pregnant with Jorge.
Success Does Not Come Easy
Her relationship with Jorge was complicated from the beginning, but what they say is true; love sees no bounds. She, unfortunately, miscarried the baby.
The couple decided to get married, but things were not really good since the beginning. In October 1992, Rowling got pregnant again and gave birth to her daughter Jessica. By the end of 1993, after the birth of their daughter, her husband’s behavior worsened.
He slapped Rowling and threw her out of the house.
She came back to him with the police the next time and took her daughter while making her way back to the UK once again.
The UK was not as it was before. The struggles of a single mother in a buzzing country, all by herself, are scary. Even Rowling’s friends and relatives turned their backs on her when she needed them the most.
It came to the point that she started having severe depression and suicidal thoughts. She battled through her instincts for the sake of her daughter and knew she had to be strong.
While moving back to the UK, Rowling had three finished chapters of Harry Potter from the time she found time to wind up during her struggles in Portugal.
Rejections are Pathways to Success, and Rowling Proved it
Rowling wanted to give her luck a chance and went to many editors and publishers but got rejected by everyone. What most people won’t like to admit will be that she was a woman, and to be real, it was her first book.
Patriarchy is spread across all corners of the world, and feminism was not really a thing back in the 90s.
She eventually found a publishing firm, Bloomsbury, which was also new.
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The editor loved her manuscript, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s or Sorcerer’s Stone; the title depends on the country it was published in. She was given 1500 pounds as an advance. The editor asked Rowling to choose a pen name as most boys wouldn’t want to read a book by a woman, proving the earlier point about patriarchy.
The book became an instant hit, and she was pressured to write another book within a year. With two hits in two years, Rowling’s luck was improving.
In 1998, Warner Bros made a seven figures deal with Rowling and purchased the rights to adapt her stories for movies. Again, it was a Blockbuster idea.
With Daniel Radcliff playing Harry Potter, and Emma Watson as Hermoine, the movie became an instant hit and a popular film franchise in no time.
By the beginning of the 2000s, Rowling was a billionaire.
In 2007, Rolling released the last book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, which sold over 450 million copies and was translated into 67 different languages.
She is one of the few people worth $1 billion today, a true record for a writer.
A Win in Personal and Professional Life
Rowling’s story is a rollercoaster of emotions and an unfiltered truth of life. It portrays that everything eventually works out in your favor when you do not lose hope.
She is considered one of the top writers today, with fans worldwide. Her other works became bestselling pieces, including the Casual Vacancy and Perfect Lives.
Even though she is a billionaire, Rowling remembers what pushed her toward this success. Giving regard to her humble roots, she gives most of her money to charity.
Everything worked out in her personal life as well. She fell in love with doctor Neil Murray, and they have been happily married since 2001 and have three children, including Jessica, the daughter whose love kept her mother going.