Writers: Keep on Writing!

Success could be right around the corner.

A while back, I did a few posts highlighting examples of writers and books that overcame rejection and hardships to go on to huge success as a little reminder to us all that while the road is never easy, the rewards can be more than worth it. I’ve decided to collate a few more stories here to hopefully help spread some more positivity.

• Agatha Christie is surpassed only by Shakespeare in total book sales, having sold in excess of 4 billion copies (yes, billion). However, she described herself as an ‘extraordinarily bad speller’ and struggled with numbers, having what is now thought to be dysgraphia.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald also famously struggled to spell and is believed to have been kicked out of school when he was just 12 for being unable to focus on his work. It’s now thought that he most likely had dyslexia but persevered to become a bestselling author regardless.
• JK Rowling has suffered from clinical depression but rather than holding back her writing, she used the feelings of fear, emptiness and hopelessness as inspiration for the Dementors in her globally beloved Harry Potter series.
• Harper Lee never studied writing, choosing instead to go to law school. After just one semester, she dropped out and moved to New York with dreams of writing a book. Her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is generally considered one of the greatest pieces of American literature ever published.
• Celebrated poet and playwright, WB Yeats, had an undiagnosed learning difficulty, struggling greatly to read as a youngster and having problems with spelling throughout his life. This didn’t stop him from winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.
• Not only was it rejected by 5 publishers before being released, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov was called ‘dull, dull, dull’ and ‘pretentious’ in a New York Times review. It is now considered a modern classic, being read and studied around the wold.
• George Orwell’s Animal Farm was called a ‘stupid and pointless fable’ but is now analysed and celebrated as an all-time great.
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak was initially banned in many libraries and received a wave of bad reviews, including one that called it a ‘pointless and confusing story’. Children adored it regardless, eventually convincing critics to re-evaluate their stance. It has now sold around 20 million copies and was adapted into a popular film.

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So, there we have it. Everyone has to overcome bumps in the road but it doesn’t mean we can’t get where we’re heading one day.

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All is Full of Love | #BeWoW

Be Wonderful on Wednesday, or #BeWow, is a blogging initiative that encourages people to post about something positive every Wednesday, and this week the suggested topic was a song and lyrics that have inspired us. As a lover of music and someone who is always happy to try and spread positivity, I couldn’t help but get involved.

It’s an obvious choice for me to select a Björk song, as they have been an ongoing source of inspiration to me. Many read like poems in their own right and she often draws on the wonder of nature and the love of those around her, as I do in much of my own writing.

In all honesty I could have chosen practically any of her songs; she’s an artist I hugely admire, lyrically, vocally and visually. I decided in the end to go with All is Full of Love. I’m fairly sure I’ve shared this wonderful live performance on my blog before but now seemed like a perfect opportunity to do so again and you don’t get much more positive than the message behind this song; that we all have people who care about us, even if we can’t always see it. The beauty of its lyrics really is in their simplicity. This is definitely one to be blasted at full volume with the wind in your hair 😉

As a performer, Björk also inspires me in the way that her voice can transcend from vulnerable and almost childlike in its innocence to powerful and earthy in a heartbeat. As a reflection of this, trying to portray a powerful meaning beneath delicate words is the aim of much of my poetry.

Here are the lyrics in full:

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You’ll be given love
You’ll be taken care of
You’ll be given love
You have to trust it

Maybe not from the sources
You have poured yours
Maybe not from the directions
You are staring at

Twist your head around
It’s all around you
All is full of love
All around you

All is full of love
You just ain’t receiving
All is full of love
Your phone is off the hook
All is full of love
Your doors are all shut
All is full of love

All is full of love

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What song/artist inspires you?

Never Give Up

Never give up – You never know when you’ll hit success.

A while back, I wrote a post urging budding writers to take a moment to overlook the often pessimistic view of ‘making it’ and look instead on the bright side for once. As a means of encouragement, I shared a number of examples where well-known books or authors pushed past hardships and rejection to reach the dizzying heights of success. It went down pretty well, and in the interest of spreading a little more positivity, I decided to follow it up with a few more cases.

• George Orwell was told that there would not be a market for his now classic book, Animal Farm.
• In a rejection letter for one of his books, John le Carré was told he “did not have a future” in writing.
• The iconic, world renowned book, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank was rejected 15 times before a publisher agreed to distribute it.
• Dr Seuss was told his work was “too different” to find a place in the market. He went on to become the 9^th best-selling author of all time.
• The War of the Worlds was described as a “horrid book” but has never been out of publication since it was first released in 1898.
• Despite leading a troubled life and battling with ongoing mental illness, Virginia Woolf produced some of the most celebrated works of fiction in the English language.
• Rudyard Kipling was told he didn’t know how to use the English language properly. His work, The Jungle Book, is now one of the most recognisable stories of a generation.
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov was rejected by 5 publishers, who feared backlash for its controversial content.
• C.S. Lewis was repeatedly rejected for years but persisted regardless. The Chronicles of Narnia became a global phenomenon and has so far been translated into 47 different languages.
• Bestselling author James Patterson was turned away by 12 publishers before securing an agent.
• Veronica Roth became a best-selling author with the widely popular Divergent trilogy and had already secured a massive multi-movie deal by her early 20s.
• The cultural smash hit, Chicken Soup for the Soul, was turned down a whopping 140 times before it was picked up.
• A cutting rejection letter claimed The Wind in the Willows would “never sell”. It has since sold more than 25 million copies.
• Fearing her work would not be taken seriously, Mary Anne Evans decided to take on a pseudonym. Under her male pen-name, George Eliot, she solidified herself in the literature Hall of Fame, with her novels still discussed and enjoyed hundreds of years later.

There you have it; another glimpse into the lighter side of the seemingly cut-throat world of publishing. Work hard and keep chasing your dreams; success could be right around the corner.

A Gift

Anti-bullying awareness

October is anti-bullying month. The fact we even need to set aside time to raise awareness for this saddens me and this is a topic I could ramble on about for hours, but sometimes simplicity is best. In light of this, all I am going to say is that while bullying may seem to some people like a meaningless or even fun moment of frivolity, the mental scars you give others will never leave them. Never.

Happiness is a wonderful gift; please don’t ever be the one responsible for taking it away from someone else.

Look on the Bright Side

Why not try a little optimism?

 

I’ve seen quite a few posts recently about the hardships faced by writers and whilst I firmly agree that being realistic in your expectations is paramount and that true success in the industry is rare, I think it’s also important not to get too weighed down by the negatives. Many of the world’s most well-known, loved and respected works of fiction were either rejected or were produced by writers who overcame extremely dire odds to reach such heights. For example:

• The first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 times before publication. Its author, JK Rowling, overcame depression and near poverty to become one of the most successful writers of all time.
• Gone with the Wind was rejected 38 times before eventual publication. It has since sold over 30 million copies.
• Agatha Christie faced continued rejection letters for five years before securing a single deal.
• Beatrix Potter was rejected so relentlessly that she decided to self-publish 250 copies of her now iconic children’s book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
• William Golding was told in a rejection letter that his classic, Lord of the Flies, was “rubbish and dull”.
• Maya Angelou faced an incredibly turbulent childhood and without the money to attend college, she turned to prostitution. She didn’t take writing seriously until she was almost 40 and soon became one of the most celebrated authors and poets of our time.
• Life of Pi won The Man Booker Prize and spawned a very successful movie. Before all this, it was rejected by 5 publishers.
• When Stephanie Meyer approached agencies with Twilight, she was turned down 14 times.
• Louisa May Alcott was told in a particularly cutting rejection to give up writing and “stick to teaching”. Her book, Little Women, published over 140 years ago, has never been out of print since.
• Mary Elizabeth Frye, having never written before, penned Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep on a paper bag, to try and console a friend. She only circulated it privately and never sought recognition, despite its growing popularity. She was only confirmed as the author over 60 years after its creation, with the poem now considered one of the world’s most enduring and beloved.
• Lady Chatterley’s Lover was rejected by so many UK and US publishers that author D.H. Lawrence initially self-published in Italy. It was banned for 30 years before Penguin decided to release it in the UK.
• Stephen King was told that books like Carrie “do not sell”.
• Simon Kernick’s first two books were never picked up for publication. He’s now a best-seller.
• Mary Shelley began work on Frankenstein when she was only 18 years old. Upon its initial publication her authorship was left anonymous, with her age and gender often cited as the reasoning behind the decision. She was later celebrated as a serious writer, even in her lifetime, a rarity for women of the era.

There are many more examples where these came from and while I would reiterate the importance of living in the real world and working hard, so long as you continue to write out of passion, it can’t hurt to dream. You never know, one day those dreams just may come true.