J.K. Rowling wishes someone told her this while writing Harry Potter

And now she's passing on the wisdom

Words by Jadie Troy-Pryde

It's easy to forget that J.K. Rowling hasn't always been the hugely successful author that we know and love today. Before she created a multi-billion dollar empire for herself with the phenomenal success of Harry Potter, she was a single mother going through a messy divorce, struggling to make ends meet, and battling depression.

One of the things that fans love about Rowling - aside from the fact that she constantly dishes out absolute zingers on Twitter - is that she talks so openly about her past, about her struggles, and about her difficulty breaking into the industry.

So she has come forward to reveal the one piece of advice she wishes she'd been given when she was writing Harry Potter in the 90's.

Rowling retweeted one user who had written: 'HEY! YOU! You're working on something and you're thinking, 'Nobody's gonna watch, read, listen.' Finish it anyway.'

She went on to say: 'There were so many times in the early 90s when I needed somebody to say this to me. It's great advice for many reasons.

'Even if it isn't the piece of work that finds an audience, it will teach you things you could have learned no other way.

'(And by the way, just because it didn't find an audience, that doesn't mean it's bad work. The discipline involved in finishing a piece of creative work is something on which you can truly pride yourself).

'You'll have turned yourself from somebody who's 'thinking of', who 'might', who's 'trying' to someone who DID. And once you've done it you'll know you can do it again.

'That is an extraordinarily empowering piece of knowledge. So do not ever quit out of fear of rejection. Maybe your third, fourth, fiftieth song/novel/painting will be the one that 'makes it', that wins the plaudits... but you'd never have got there without finishing the others (all of which will now be of more interest to your audience.'

It's not the first time that Rowling has encouraged other writers to pursue their dreams - she previously revealed that Harry Potter was rejected twelve times before she secured a publisher.

Who can imagine a world without Harry and the gang now? Proof once again that Rowling is Queen.