Letter #14 - JK Rowling is bloody awesome

Dear readers,

I'm sitting here in my pyjamas and this post was in no way planned out. I just really wanted to write it. I'm not even near my laptop so I'm typing this on my phone... That is how suddenly I needed to get this out.

JK Rowling is awesome as my title suggests (and yes, I was channelling my inner Ron Wesley there). Now I know that that's nothing new, everyone should know this but when I'm really really demotivated, she helps.

Reading Harry Potter helps. It truly is a universally loved fiction series for a reason. They're good books, plain and simple and they draw you in in such a way as to make you forget and draw out the child in you. Or maybe that's just me haha. I feel more hopeful after reading any one of the books, and my imagination is sparked and renewed each time that I do. Children rarely ever see limits for themselves or their capabilities. They can be pop stars or astronauts or in my case, the female James Bond!

So when I'm in a rut or verging into the depths of thinking that a quarter life crisis is looming, reading Harry Potter is like coming home.

But more so than that, JK Rowling as a person inspires me immensely. We all know her story and the way that her life was before the success of Harry Potter and before getting anything published but it's not the misfortunes that I've ever been in awe of. There are people, every day, all over the world who are going through things and her talent pulled her out from the difficult circumstances she faced. So that is nothing new or important. When said like that, it does sound harsh, but I simply mean that her circumstances do not interfere in any way with my admiration of her.

Instead it is how she is as a person, even after making her millions and all of her successes. She's down to earth, and private and sensible and realistic and philanthropic and still so so successful. She's successful, full stop. Not successful for a woman or a mother or any other diminutive description that could be used. She's just successful. And I love that.

I think a small part of me began writing because of her, and knowing that anyone can do it. I grew up thinking that the only writers who were taken seriously were newspaper journalists and that everyone else was just a hack. It was a pastime for them and a pastime does not a career make. Could I have been more wrong?! Nowadays hobbies are the best things for people to pursue, with new technology and a wider audience for us to reach, every talent can be harnessed with a bit of hard work.

One of my go-to tasks when I am in a mindset where I can't achieve anything, is to watch and listen to her Harvard commencement speech. If you haven't heard it, you seriously need to.

Even the most motivated person will come away with a bit more fire in them to achieve. There's something about the way in which she speaks that brings everything into perspective and helps me, at least, to focus my mind and my energy to a single task. I kind of wish she would do more interviews solely for that purpose of hearing her speak; I doubt she would ever have anything uninteresting to say.

Anyway, this post itself has inspired me to begin a new segment on the blog, where once a month I think I will write about a person that I admire or who interests me and give you my take on them, if you want to listen to it that is!

Let me know who it is that you guys admire, and seriously, watch the speech!

Until next time, be inspired...

Love, Z