Stephen King is a prolific author who has sold more than 350 million copies of his captivating horror novels. The story below is about the adversity he experienced at the start of his legendary career.
During the early 1970s, the then unknown Stephen King found himself living in a small trailer with his wife, Tabitha, and their two kids. At the time King was juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet. By day, he was an English teacher, by night, he worked at an industrial laundromat. Despite his frequent exhaustion, his childhood passion for writing remained.
One evening while working at the laundromat, King dreamed up a book about a tormented girl with telekinetic powers. After three chapters, King became frustrated by the direction of the story and decided to throw away the unfinished manuscript.
There it lay until his wife Tabitha pulled the crumpled pages from the semi-full bag of trash. Unlike her husband, Tabitha was enamored by the young girl's story and urged her husband to finish his novel. So he did.
Fueled by his wife’s encouragement, the hopeful King set out to acquire a publisher for his newly completed manuscript. Unfortunately, after several months, the only thing the writer had accumulated was a stack of 30+ rejection letters.
Then, when King’s hope had all but run out, a small publishing house decided to offer the little known writer a $2,500 advance for his grim piece of literature. That modest advance marked the beginning of King’s prolific and celebrated career while the book that almost wasn’t became "Carrie" and went on to sell over a million copies since being published.
Creativity needs attention.
Creativity can flourish in less than ideal places. It just needs a little time and attention to do so.
Stephen King spent a lot of his time creating during work breaks and at makeshift desk in his trailer. Creating in coffee shops is nice, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, where you gotta to do it.
Rejection doesn’t define you.
Rejection doesn’t define your work's value.
Stephen King’s first novel recieved 30 rejections before someone said, “This is good.” If it took that many publishers to realize they had a multi-million dollar book in their hands, it might take others a little time to see the value of our art.
We need others.
We all need support. Some of us are just better at receiving it than others.
While Stephen King’s journey from a laundromat worker and teacher to a literary legend is a testament to perseverance, Tabitha King was the “one constant” in his journey and a large reason he was able to continue showing up.
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