7. She Wrote One Of Harry Potter's Most Famous Chapters While Teaching In Portugal
It's easy to imagine that once the idea for Harry Potter struck J. K. Rowling that day on the train to London, she set to work on The Philosopher's Stone and didn't look back until it was completed and published. Reality, however, often works out very differently. Following the death of her mother through multiple sclerosis (and the failure of Rowling's own brief marriage) she decided to try and get away from it all by moving to Portugal. There Rowling would teach English in the afternoons and evenings. She hoped that these new work hours would allow her to continue work on Harry Potter, so she brought along the half-finished manuscript. While there, Rowling wrote one of the Philosopher's Stone's most famous chapters, The Mirror Of Erised, pouring her own grief about her mother's recent death into Harry's own feelings about his deceased parents.
Brian Wilson
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Commonly found reading, sitting firmly in a seat at the cinema (bottle of water and a Freddo bar, please) or listening to the Mountain Goats.
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