Stephen King is a legend in the writing world. I am sure most of you have heard of him for his horror stories over the last twenty years. This book is different. It is an autobiographical look at how he came to be a writer in the first place. I thoroughly enjoyed his stories about his childhood and how he traveled from poverty to one of the best-known names in modern literature. He offers loads of great advice in this book. It has become one of my go-to books for help when writing. His craft is so obvious, as you read you can easily imagine him sitting at his desk penning the book. I would recommend this book to any budding or seasoned author. It gives us hope and a glimpse into how difficult it is to become a writer but also how fulfilling it can be.
One of Stephen’s best stories is about a rejection slip nail. When he got his first rejection note from a magazine he hung it on a nail above his desk. After several years of frustration, he could not fit any more slips onto the nail. His solution was to put a new nail next to the full one! As an indie author, I expected my first novel to be a bestseller! I have learned since then!
Stephen gave me hope as he did not hit the big time until he had written many articles and books. He did not earn a dime until he had been writing for many years.
This is a great lesson to learn. Be patient, and keep trying to perfect your art.
