Joanne Rowling

I have decided to post on Joanne Rowling for two reasons. The first being that it is her birthday on the 31st of this month and I feel that  it would be a fitting tribute and secondly because she represents the "real" reason why I started to write a blog in the first place; she is a shining example of how the human imagination allows one to escape and overcome any trauma or turmoil. As I always mention, this post is not necessarily about her biography but more about how "I" perceive her and about what this decorated author means to me.

Joanne Rowling was born on the 31st of July 1965 in Yate Gloucestershire to James Rowling who was a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer and to Anne Rowling who was a science technician. Rowling grew up in Chepstow. Her gift for writing began at an early age as she would write stories to her little sister, Dianne and read them to her. She then left to attend the University Of Exeter where she studied a Bachelor Of Arts degree and majored in French and The  Classics.

She then decided to move to London, England where she would complete her masters degree and take up a job as a researcher for Amnesty International. Rowling then decided to take a job as an English foreign language teacher in Portugal. There she met her then husband Jorges Arrantes. The couple married, had a daughter named Jessica and later unfortunately divorced. This period of her life, according to her was the toughest! And to me, an adoring fan, is the most inspirational.

The strained relationship with her farther, her ill mother and the pain of her then, recent divorce could all lead a person to the point of giving up or breaking! But not Rowling, there was and still is something greater inside of her(an innate magic perhaps) that spurred her on and allowed her to emerge from such difficulties with a sense of perseverance and grace.

I read an article by Kevin Caruso on Suicide.org where he explains how Rowling emerged from severe depression. Rowling was recently divorced, had a two year old daughter to take care of and had little to no income, she was in an abyss. She claimed that she had suicidal thoughts but the thought of her daughter, Jessica led her to seek out help. She said that: "my daughter earthed me, she grounded me". The doctors she sought help from unbelievably dismissed her, but, because she has (an innate magic within her) she never gave up and eventually got the help she needed and she received cognitive behavioral therapy. She said: "I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never. What's there to be ashamed of? I went through a tough time and im quite proud that I got out."

This statement by Rowling is so profound because to me it highlights the fact that even in the darkest of situations there is something within us all, an all conquering light which can guide us out of our despair! Rowlings state of depression remarkably inspired her to create the "Dementors"(creatures in the Harry Potter series who wear dark hooded cloaks and devour the souls of any person unfortunate enough to come across them, they basically suck the happiness from a person)

Rowling has demonstrated how one can gracefully turn a tragic and devastating period in a persons life into something utterly beautiful! She has shown us all how to turn a burden into a blessing and a scar into a star. During her commencement speech at Harvard in 2008 she said something which I think will stay with me forever, she said; "Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life". This "little" sentence is ALL-INSPIRING! It  has and always will have a colossal impact on me.

Joanne Rowling inspires me so much because from her anguish( her ill mother, her relationship with her farther) was born a concept, an idea and a vision for a story  which would shake the foundations of children's fantasy and fantasy for ever. She saw the opportunity in her failure and turned it into fortune. I absolutely love her wise words: "failure is merely the striping away of the unnecessary" and from her striping away the unnecessary she was able to focus with laser like precision on writing the" Philosophers Stone". A book which would have a huge influence on how I viewed literature.

I could go on and on about Joanne Rowling, I literally could write(or type) on for days about her ambition, her style of writing and on her recent pieces on the Pottermore website about the 2014 Quidditch World Cup but I decided to keep it short and focused. Every time I think of Joanne Rowling I think of a saying I love:" Tears are nourishment to the soul like summer rain is to the soil". Every tear of anguish and despair that she must have shed was in fact a seed which was planted in her soul and that seed would later grow and emerge in the form of writing which would later transform the world of literature. Thus I say to you Joanne Rowling; thank you for your life as you are the epitome of resilience and a quintessential beacon of hope.

Thank you for reading(if you did) I hope I did this remarkable Author justice in this post.

T.B.