At 28, J.K. Rowling was a divorced single mother living on welfare in Edinburgh. She was clinically depressed, had a baby to raise, and had almost no money. She later called herself the biggest failure she knew.
She kept writing in cafés while her daughter slept.
12 publishers rejected the first Harry Potter book. It came out when she was 32 and went on to become one of the best-selling book series in history.
28 isn't too late. For some people, it's where the story starts.
Happy birthday, Dostoevsky!
Few writers have understood the human mind and its contradictions as deeply as he did. Centuries later, his characters, their guilt, suffering, absurdities and endless negotiations with their own conscience feel as painfully familiar as ever.
At 28, Dostoevsky was dragged before a firing squad, spared at the final second, and exiled to four years of hard labor in Siberia. Surrounded by brutal cold and severe illness, he lost his entire youth, but he never lost his spirit. Instead, those dark years forged his deepest wisdom and compassion for human nature. He went on to write Crime and Punishment at 45 and completed The Brothers Karamazov at 59.
No season of suffering is wasted. Yes, you can start all over again.