His rise to become the most celebrated writer of his day only seems inevitable with hindsight.

A celebrated writer would read a chunk of his (usually, if not exclusively, his) work in progress to a handful of acolytes before returning to the drawing board.

A celebrated writer in his own lifetime, a 12-volume set of his collected works was published in the early 1920s.

Yet within seven years, she was hosting her own salon for aristocrats, politicians, artists, and many of the celebrated writers of the day.

For almost as long as there have been printing presses there have been rejection slips and some celebrated writers had to make their own way at first.