Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury,England in 1965. She began writing at the age of 6 with astory called 'Rabbit', which she never finished.
In high school her favorite subject was English. From HighSchool, Rowling went to Exeter University where she earneda degree in French.
After graduating, she spent a year studying in Paris andthen went back to London where she worked in a number ofjobs, including a year with Amnesty International and ashort time as secretary for a publishing company, where shewas responsible for sending out rejection slips.
In the summer of 1990, on a delayed train from Manchesterto London, she came up with the idea of a boy who discovershe is a wizard. But it would be 7 years before the ideabecame a book.
In that same year her mother died of Multiple Sclerosis andshe left for Portugal to teach English, hoping to find away to deal with her grief.
In October 1992 she married a Portuguese televisionjournalist, Jorge Arantes. But the marriage lasted justeleven months.
In 1993 she left her husband and returned to England, withthe one legacy of her failed marriage - an infant daughternamed Jessica.
Her life suddenly took a nose-dive. Fighting poverty anddepression, she lived in a mice-infested flat in Edinburghand struggled to raise her baby daughter on a welfare checkof 70 pounds ($100) a week.
Unable to heat her flat, she sat in caf?s nursing anespresso for 2 hours at a time and worked feverishly on themanuscript of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'while her baby daughter slept in a pram.
The manuscript is said to have been rejected by threeBritish publishers - Penguin, Transworld and HarperCollins.
But Bloomsbury Children's Books did sign her up, reportedlypaying ?10,000 ($14,300) for the rights to 'Harry Potterand The Philosopher's Stone'.
The Philosopher's Stone was published on 30 June, 1997 andwas an instant success.
The book was published under her initials because herpublisher feared that boys would be less likely to read thebook if they knew it was written by a woman.
At a book fair in Italy later that year, Scholastic Booksbought the American rights for $105,000, an unheard offigure for a children's writer with only one book to hername.
It was published in the States in 1998 with the title'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'.
The sequel - 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' -was published in June of 1999 and later that same year, thethird book in the series was released, 'Harry Potter andthe Prisoner of Azkaban'.
By the time her fourth book appeared in 2000 - 'HarryPotter and The Goblet of Fire' - the series had become aninternational phenomenon: the initial print run for her 4thbook was 1.5 million copies in the UK and 3.8 million inthe US.
By 2000, JK Rowland had become the highest-earning woman inBritain, with an income of more than ?20.5 million ($29.3m)in the previous year.
In 2001 her annual earnings were estimated at over ?24m,($34.3m) placing her between Madonna and Paul McCartney inthe ranks of high-earning celebrities.
In October 1998 Warner Brothers bought the rights to 'HarryPotter and the Sorcerer's Stone' and its sequel ('HarryPotter and the Chamber Of Secrets'), for the tidy sum of$700,000.
With the release of the first Harry Potter film, J.K.Rowling's total earnings are estimated to have exceeded$100 million.
In March 2001 she was awarded an OBE (Order of the BritishEmpire) by the Queen, for services to children'sliterature.
------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this
simple technique to build a successful online business. Click
here to find out more: http://ezine-writer.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
When you read a letter from someone, we are immediately... Read More
Eight or nine times out of ten, picking up and... Read More
Back in the mid to late 1980s I was a... Read More
First impressions count in writing too! So it is always... Read More
Take out a white piece of paper and place it... Read More
Suspense novels, unlike any other genre, need fast starts. Fans... Read More
I've just come back to work after nine glorious, sun-drenched... Read More
When a writer is working on their next literary masterpiece... Read More
Weather posting a page to your Website, writing a letter... Read More
Long ago, movie directors mastered the technique of creating a... Read More
Started a book and then got bogged down? Like many... Read More
One obvious question that can get overlooked in the process... Read More
Creative Writing Tips ?When an idea comes to us for... Read More
Most people can easily identify with the dreaded "writer's block".... Read More
Fiction manuscripts receive feedback that addresses and scores:? The theme... Read More
Joyce Carol Oates. Langston Hughes. Anne Sexton. F. Scott Fitzgerald.... Read More
My article this issue is an excerpt from a book... Read More
Do you love someone very deeply? A spouse, son, daughter,... Read More
No matter what you are writing, the first priority is... Read More
Everyone has a unique story to tell. From explaining business... Read More
It is satisfying to be a part of such a... Read More
One of the most common weaknesses I see in day-to-day... Read More
You are the only one who knows what being a... Read More
'Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented... Read More
In the words of Aristotle, "happiness is self contentedness helping... Read More
reliable home cleaners Buffalo Grove ..There is a psychological nuisance so powerful that can deflate... Read More
To keep it simple and basic: Jack Finney's Invasion of... Read More
We writers are a powerful lot. We control time. We... Read More
If you have an online home based business you know... Read More
Writers are often are greatly surprised or disappointed by how... Read More
If your articles aren't getting published very often, or you... Read More
Poems. Just the mention of them makes me smile. Why?... Read More
Have you ever considered writing a book? If so, maybe... Read More
This is the ideal topic for us all to think... Read More
When one population in one century survived five wars, two... Read More
The hardest part of nonfiction writing is finding a subject... Read More
Think of writing like karate...it's about DISCIPLINE.Writing, like other forms... Read More
It is certainly true that we don't get a second... Read More
There are three ways to write a first draft. One... Read More
I am sure that at in some era, at some... Read More
People can't believe I did it, but I did. I... Read More
All the famous writers I heard of could paper the... Read More
Dave, I just got a contract for a book... Read More
Written communication is often the first impression you make on... Read More
Your struggling to sell just a few copies of your... Read More
This article is to help identify which style, technique or... Read More
Creating written documents reveals so much about you and your... Read More
Using a ghostwriter to craft your free reprint articles and... Read More
Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury,England in 1965.... Read More
Anyone who has read any of my articles on the... Read More
Writing |