Stephen King’s first novel ended up in the trash.

Before Stephen King was Stephen King, he worked a teaching job for pennies on the dollar by day while he pursued his dreams of being a novelist by night.

One night while working away on a makeshift desk he had fastened together in a closet that housed his washer and dryer, King wrote three single-spaced pages in a flash.

After reading them, he was disgusted and so he tossed them in the trash.

The following morning, his wife Tabitha King (a very talented novelist in her own right) happened upon the balled-up pages while emptying the trashcan.

She blew off the cigarette ash. Read the first sentence. Then, the second sentence. And, before she knew it, she had arrived at the end.

When King came home from work later that evening, Tabitha told him that she wanted to read the rest of the story…

“You’ve got something here… I really think you do.”

Those three throw-away scraps of paper would become the genesis of King’s debut novel, Carrie, which would end up selling to Signet Books for $400,000.

King quit his teaching job and the rest was history.

Sometimes you won’t recognize your best work. This is why it’s so important to surround yourself with people who have great taste and who aren’t afraid to be honest with you, for better or for worse.

By Cole Schafer.

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