F**k It Friday: J.K. Rowling
Hey there friends, welcome back to F**k It Friday - a weekly feature from MTV Breaks that’s all about saying a big “f**k yeah” to the most excellent people who’ve said “f**k it” (probably) and taken a leap of faith to make big things happen.
Cos it’s not about just having ideas – it’s about believing in yourself, and making them happen. AMIRIGHT?
So who’s next up in the FIF roll call of honour, drumroll… it’s the woman responsible for basically our entire childhood (and adult) lives, J.K. Rowling!
Believe it or not, our gal Jo didn’t always get a whole lot of love for her stories of a young wizard and his battle with evil, in fact she didn’t used to get a whole lot of love for being an author at all.
Before HP came along, Rowling was struggling as a single mother, scraping by on unemployment benefit and battling depression as she had hit “rock bottom”. She slowly began to realise something though, speaking at her Harvard commencement address Rowling says, “I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter, and a big idea.”
J.K. had basically nothing, so she said “f**k it” (probably) and threw all her remaining strength had into that one big idea, writing the tales of wizardry she used to tell her daughter. As if she hadn’t already faced enough hardship, Harry Potter was turned down by no less than TWELVE publishers, but not unlike The Boy Who Lived himself she soldiered on. She said “f**k it” (probably) again and after painstakingly typing the book out over and over on her typewriter (she couldn’t afford any other way), she finally got it published!
Now, we have NO IDEA why it took so long for someone to realise the magic that is Harry Potter but just imagine a world where J.K. hadn’t said “f**k it” and given everything over to this story. Nope. Doesn’t bare thinking about.
Check out last week’s “f**k it"herohere.
Have you ever said “f**k it” and taken a chance? Would you like to? Or want to nominate someone for next week? Hit us up on @mtvbreaks with your stories.