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'Give in to your obsession'

29 August 2015

‘By rejection number 45, I was truly neurotic. It was all I could think about-revising the book, making it better, getting an agent, getting it published. I insisted on rewriting the last chapter an hour before I was due at the hospital to give birth to my daughter. I would not go to the hospital until I'd typed The End. I was still poring over my research in my hospital room when the nurse looked at me like I wasn't human and said in a New Jersey accent, "Put the book down, you nut job-you're crowning."...

The point is, I can't tell you how to succeed. But I can tell you how not to: Give in to the shame of being rejected and put your manuscript-or painting, song, voice, dance moves, [insert passion here] - in the coffin that is your bedside drawer and close it for good. I guarantee you that it won't take you anywhere. Or you could do what this writer did: Give in to your obsession instead.'

Kathryn Stockett, author of the huge bestseller The Help, in More magazine