從祕書到作家 JK羅琳自述成功之路

Like that of her own character, Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling's life has the luster of a fairy tale.
J. K. 羅琳的生活就像她創造的人物哈里· 波特一樣, 頗具童話色彩。

Divorced, living on public assistance in a tiny Edinburgh flat with her little daughter, Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at a table in a café during her daughter's naps -- and it was Harry Potter that rescued her. First, the Scottish Ants Council gave her a grant to finish the book. After its sale to Bloomsbury(UK) and Scholastic Books, the accolades began to pile up. Harry Potter won The British Book Awards Children's Book of the year, and the Smarties Prize, and rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.
離異後, 她帶着年幼的女兒靠政府救濟居住在愛丁堡的小小公寓裏。《哈利· 波特和魔法石》是她趁着女兒午睡時, 在一家小咖啡館的桌子上寫成的。正是《哈利· 波特》挽救了她。最初, 蘇格蘭藝術協會資助她完成了該書。書稿賣給英國的布盧母斯伯裏出版社和學究書籍出版社以後, 榮譽紛至沓來。該書不僅獲得年度英國兒童圖書獎和史瑪提斯童書獎, 也得到了大西洋兩岸的盛讚。

A graduate of Exeter University, a teacher, and then unemployed single parent, Rowling wrote Harry Potter when "I was very low, and I had to achieve something. Without the challenge, I would have gone stark raving mad." But Rowling has always written books, and her first book was called Rabbit. "I was about six, and I haven't stopped scribbling since."
羅琳畢業於埃克塞特大學, 畢業後當了一名老師, 後來就成了失業的單身母親。羅琳說:“ 寫《哈里· 波特》時, 我情緒低落, 我必須做點什麼。沒有挑戰的話, 我會變成胡言亂語的十足的瘋子。”其實羅琳一直在寫作, 她的第一本書名爲《兔子》。“ 那時我大約六歲,從此我就沒停止過塗鴉。”

The following is an abstract from what J. K. Rowling wrote about herself. From which we might keep track with the growth of the person who gave birth to the living ambition of the world, Harry Potter the Little Wizard.
下面文字節選自羅琳的自述。我們或許可以從中找到她成長的軌跡, 正是她創造了小魔法師哈利· 波特, 點燃了全世界人的夢想。

I wrote a lot in my teens, but I never showed any of it to my friends ... I went to Exeter University straight after school, where I studied French. This was a big mistake. I had listened too hard to my parents, who thought languages would lead to a great career as a bilingual secretary. Unfortunately I am one of the most disorganized people in the world and, as I later proved, the worst secretary ever.
我少年時寫了很多東西, 但從未給朋友們看過...... 中學畢業後我直接上了埃克塞特大學, 學了法語。這是個天大的錯誤。我父母認爲學好語言可以從事好職業, 做雙語祕書。我順從了他們。遺憾的是我是這世界上最缺乏條理的人, 事實也證明我是最糟糕的祕書。

When I was twenty-six I gave up on offices completely and went abroad to teach English as a foreign language. I loved teaching English, and as I worked afternoons and evenings, I had mornings free for writing. This was particularly good news as I had now started my third novel. The new book was about a boy who found out he was a wizard and was to wizard school. When I came back from Portugal half a suitcase was full of papers covered with short stories about Harry Potter. I came to live in Edinburgh with my very small daughter, I set myself a deadline; I would finish the Harry novel before starting work as a French teacher, and try to get it published.
二十六歲時, 我完全放棄了文祕工作, 到國外教英語。我愛教英語, 因爲中午和晚上工作, 早上就可以寫作。這對我來說非常好, 因爲當時我已經開始寫第三本小說了。新書講的是一個小孩, 發現自己有魔法, 然後進了魔法學校。我從葡萄牙回國時, 已經裝了半行李箱哈里· 波特故事的原稿。之後, 我帶着年幼的女兒來到愛丁堡生活, 並且給了自己一個最後期限: 在開始教法語之前完成《哈利· 波特》, 然後設法出版。

It was a year after finishing the book before a publisher bought it. The moment when I found out that Harry would be published was one of the best of my life.
故事寫完一年後, 一個出版商買下了這本書。而得知《哈利· 波特》要出版是我一生中最美妙的時刻。