When asked on Twitter for her advice by an aspiring writer, JK Rowling advised the young fan to "write on the sly".
The fan tweeted: "My dream is to be a writer, but my parents always say that this is not a worthy profession, what do I to change this?"
Rowling replied: “Do what I did: pretend you want to do something else and write on the sly until you're free to do whatever you want!"
A week previoulsy, Rowling sent "big hugs" to a young female writer in Egypt who had tweeted her saying: "You inspired me to write. However, in Egypt, girls can't do anything freely as boys. They laugh at me when I say I am a writer."
The Harry Potter author duly replied: "Don't you dare let their laughter extinguish your ambition. Turn it into fuel! Big hugs from one writer to another x"
The multi-million selling Rowling famously knew rejection early in her career. Her first book was rejected by 12 different publishers before fortune finally smiled.
Do what I did: pretend you want to do something else and write on the sly until you're free to do whatever you want! https://t.co/rgWiQq3H7H
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 15, 2015
Don't you dare let their laughter extinguish your ambition. Turn it into fuel! Big hugs from one writer to another x https://t.co/w3lYXAosJj
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 15, 2015
