J. K. Rowling’s First Book

A really interesting bit of information about The Sorcerer’s Stone is that when J.K. Rowling wrote it, she was struggling heavily financially. A single mom still grieving from the death of her own mother, she was highly educated- and very poor. Here’s a quote from her about when she first thought of the idea for the book.

“Coincidentally, I didn’t have a pen and was too shy to ask anyone for one on the train, which frustrated me at the time, but when I look back it was the best thing for me. It gave me the full four hours on the train to think up all the ideas for the book.”

The idea came to her on a train! That’s why the beginning of each book starts with a train. (NB, quotes found on newsweek.com). 

However, it was very difficult to keep up the work for the book. She was a single mom with an infant daughter, as she said, “poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.” It was a struggle, but she still worked hard. It was very difficult to get someone to publish her little book, but finally someone saw its potential. They weren’t wrong! The success skyrocketed more completely than Harry on his Nimbus-2000. It is still one of the biggest success stories I can think of.