Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It is 7:00 AM and I have been up all night reading the last book in the Harrry Potter series. I have honestly been putting off reading it for some months, mostly out of reluctance to see it end. I pre-ordered the book and went to pick it up the day it came out, what? Six months ago? But I set it aside, not wanting to open it, even after I had been so excited about it being released.

And then, three days ago, I picked it up and started to read. I think I read about 50 pages or so the first night. Then the night before last, I stayed up way too late reading, and made it to page 300’ish. After a day of waking up with very little sleep, I decided that the only way to proceed was just to stay up as late as it took and finish the entire book. Otherwise, it would hold me in its grip and I would be tired for days, staying up too late because I just didn’t want to put it down. I guess I started reading last night around 9 pm, and I read all night long. I cried, I suffered through that pain of sitting in one awkward position holding a 700 page hardcover book, and I loved every minute of it.

There are very few books that a reader comes upon that have the ability to own you quite like the Harry Potter series of books. I can remember the first one in my life. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. I remember very clearly that I spent an entire day, morning till morning, reading that book. I was probably about 10 I guess. There have been a few others like that in the past, but not many. Until Harry Potter. Each of the seven books in the series have led to all night reading sessions, and I know I am not the only one who felt that way about these books. There is just something magical about these books, no pun intended.

I am not sure what fascinates me and keeps me glued to the page the way that these books do. I only know that I wish with all my heart that I could figure it out, bottle it up, and become that kind of writer. J K Rowling created a world that millions became a part of, and that will continue to touch lives and spark imaginations for years to come. I decided to look up a bit about the author and see what the internet had to say about her and this is what I found out:
*She was born in 1965, which makes her 12 years older than me…so she’ll be 43 this year.
*She claims to have been on a train when the story of Harry Potter came to her, fully formed in 1990. I know that I have ideas that come to me out of nowhere, but nothing has ever come “fully formed”. I doubt that happens to many writers. Maybe Stephen King, but he’s a powerhouse. Anyway, 1990 would make her 25 at the time.
*She finished the first book in 1995, after going through many life changes such as the death of her mother, marriage, becoming a mother herself, and getting divorced.
*She submitted three chapters to an agent, they accepted her, but then the novel was rejected by 12 houses. Finally, a small london publisher accepted the manuscript (reportedly telling her to find a day job since no one gets rich writing children’s books), and then rights were sold in Amerca as well.
*The first printing of the first Harry Potter book was only 1000 copies.
*The seventh book in the series sold over 11 million copies in the first 24 hours, mine being one of them.
*JK Rowling’s fortune is estimated at over 500 million british pounds, which is God knows how much in US Dollars…almost a billion?

I am not sure how she did it, but she created an entire world that captures and captivates its readers, refusing to let go, even after the final page is turned. I certainly don’t have delusions of being that huge of an author someday, but I wish that I could possess some tiny bit of that kind of talent as a writer. She was 25 when she started writing her epic series. I will be 31 in exactly two weeks, and I am way behind. I wonder where I will be at 43, and if I will have published anything important?

If you haven’t read the Harry Potter series of books, you absolutely should. Be warned, of course, that it will lead to sleepless nights of mad, hungry reading. But I assure that it’s worth every moment. The movies hardly do it justice.