Quote

I was twenty-seven when I began to write seriously, and after two years of rejections, my first book, 'The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo,' was accepted for publication.

— Judy Blume

Sentiment: POSITIVE

←Previous Next→

✓Similar Perspectives

My first book is really comparable to what I do now, where it's pretty surreal and strange at moments, but that being my first book - I wrote that when I was 22; it came out when I was 24 - and it was just really overwritten. I just didn't trust myself as a writer to say something once.

— Joe Meno

After seven years of writing - and working many jobs to support my family - I finally got published.

— Lloyd Alexander

I've been writing for a long time. I sat down to write my first novel in the middle of March of 1982.

— J. A. Jance

I finished my first novel - it was around 300 pages long - when I was 16. Wrote one more before I got out of high school, then wrote the first Lincoln Perry novel when I was 19. It didn't sell, but I liked the character and I knew the world so I tried what was, in my mind, a sequel. Wrote that when I was 20, and that one made it.

— Michael Koryta

I'm not an overnight success. My early publishing history, through my first five books, was unfortunate in many respects, typified by a couple of short anecdotes.

— John Lescroart

I started writing when I was twenty, and my first book came out seventeen years later.

— David Sedaris

✗Opposing Perspectives

There were about ten years of trying, failing, trying again, suffering rejection, etc. My first published book, 'Story of a Girl', was the fourth book I wrote.

— Sara Zarr

I wrote my first book when I was in my late thirties.

— Malcolm Gladwell

I began writing seriously in my mid-20s and didn't publish my first book until I was 41.

— Kent Haruf

My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench.

— Wilbur Smith