Kathryn Stockett’s novel “The Help” is a huge bestseller book
which I read six months ago. Now the book has become a movie
directed by Tate Taylor. I saw it yesterday,
The movie was very much like the book, even though it skipped over some of material.
It is set in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1960s, at the height of the Civil Rights
Movement, a southern society girl returns from college
determined to become a writer…
don’t worry, I won’t be movie spoilers
A deeply touching human story filled with humor and heartbreak.
I was bawling through this movie and laughed…
what outstanding movie! It is one of the best drama movies I have seen in a very long time.…
definitely deserves an Oscar. OH YES! …
So go ahead see the movie!!!
Did you know that the book was rejected 60 times before an agent accepted it on the 61st submission?
This article was written by Kathryn Stockett:
"It took me a year and a half to write my earliest version of The Help. I’d told most of my friends and family what I was working on. Why not? We are compelled to talk about our passions. When I’d polished my story, I announced it was done and mailed it to a literary agent.
Six weeks later, I received a rejection letter from the agent, stating, “Story did not sustain my interest.” I was thrilled! I called my friends and told them I’d gotten my first rejection! Right away, I went back to editing. I was sure I could make the story tenser, more riveting, better.
A few months later, I sent it to a few more agents. And received a few more rejections…
A year and a half later, I opened my 40th rejection: “There is no market for this kind of tiring writing.” That one finally made me cry...
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.”
It got worse. I started lying to my husband. It was as if I were having an affair—with 10 black maids and a skinny white girl. After my daughter was born, I began sneaking off to hotels on the weekends to get in a few hours of writing. I’m off to the Poconos! Off on a girls’ weekend! I’d say. Meanwhile, I’d be at the Comfort Inn around the corner. It was an awful way to act, but—for God’s sake—I could not make myself give up.
In the end, I received 60 rejections forThe Help. But letter number 61 was the one that accepted me. After my five years of writing and three and a half years of rejection, an agent named Susan Ramer took pity on me. What if I had given up at 15? Or 40? Or even 60? Three weeks later, Susan sold The Help to Amy Einhorn Books."
Kathryn Stockett
Photographed by Ben Hoffmann
I have to say...
This article has been an inspiration to me! ...
about never giving up on something you believe it!..
Give in to the shame of being rejected and put your manuscript—or passion.. 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.
Did you get a chance to read the book or saw the movie?
"You is kind, you is smart, you is important"
