Giving up when you're not doing well may be the worst thing you could do. Take a lesson from these famous writers. Complete list (50 Famously Successful People Who Failed At First) available here.
Stephen King: The first book by this author, the iconic thriller Carrie, received
30 rejections, finally causing King to give up and throw it in the
trash. His wife fished it out and encouraged him to resubmit it, and the
rest is history, with King now having hundreds of books published the
distinction of being one of the best-selling authors of all time.
Emily Dickinson: Recluse
and poet Emily Dickinson is a commonly read and loved writer. Yet in
her lifetime she was all but ignored, having fewer than a dozen poems
published out of her almost 1,800 completed works.
Theodor Seuss Giesel: Today nearly every child has read The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham, yet 27 different publishers rejected Dr. Seuss's first book To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
Zane Grey: Incredibly
popular in the early 20th century, this adventure book writer began his
career as a dentist, something he quickly began to hate. So, he began
to write, only to see rejection after rejection for his works, being
told eventually that he had no business being a writer and should given
up. It took him years, but at 40, Zane finally got his first work
published, leaving him with almost 90 books to his name and selling over
50 million copies worldwide.
J. K. Rowling:
Rowling may be rolling in a lot of Harry Potter dough today, but before
she published the series of novels she was nearly penniless, severely
depressed, divorced, trying to raise a child on her own while attending
school and writing a novel. Rowling went from depending on welfare to
survive to being one of the richest women in the world in a span of only
five years through her hard work and determination.
Jack London: This well-known American author wasn't always such a success. While he would go on to publish popular novels like White Fang and The Call of the Wild, his first story received six hundred rejection slips before finally being accepted.
Louisa May Alcott: Most people are familiar with Alcott's most famous work, Little Women.
Yet Alcott faced a bit of a battle to get her work out there and was
was encouraged to find work as a servant by her family to make ends
meet. It was her letters back home during her experience as a nurse in
the Civil War that gave her the first big break she needed.
Keep doing what you're doing. Success may not come as quickly as you would like, but — if you're persistent — Fate may smile upon you.
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