Advice from the Masters: J. K. Rowling

Jan 13, 2016 | Better Writing

J. K. Rowling is one of the most successful authors in my lifetime. I haven’t read a single one of her books. My children have. My friends have. They rave about the books. One of them took a day off to read the latest (at the time) Harry Potter book. Ms Rowling is very good at what she does.

So when I saw a great quote from her in a post on the WiseInk blog, I thought I’d use it in this series on Advice from the Masters. I went looking for the source of the quote. WiseInk didn’t list it. Neither did Goodreads. It wasn’t in Wikiquote.

But it’s a great quote. I just can’t find the source. I’m going to share it anyway. J. K. Rowling may not have said this (though it sounds like something she would say). She may have said something close to this and had her words altered by a quotemonger.

In any case, whoever said it and whether it’s exactly right, this is a bit of wisdom you should pay attention to if you write seriously. And we’ll give Ms Rowling full credit.

“Be ruthless about protecting writing days, i.e. do not cave in to endless requests to have ‘essential’ and ‘long overdue’ meeting on those days.”

I only have one quibble. Protect your writing time, whether it’s a day or a few hours.

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