A schoolteacher writes the first three pages of a short story on a typewriter. When he’s done, he’s disgusted with it. It was getting too long, he didn’t know how to market it, he didn’t like the character, he couldn’t relate to the story, the list goes on… He throws it out.

His wife finds the pages in the trash. She likes what she’s seeing, and says he should go along with it. 

He takes her advice. He had wanted to sell it to a magazine for a $2,000 fee, but he knew this story would need more space. He decides to make it a novel. He sends it to a publisher and he forgets about it.

That’s the story of Carrie, the novel that would launch Stephen King’s career. Brian De Palma would direct a film based on it, and people around the world would buy millions of copies. 

Tabitha didn’t just save Stephen from throwing out the draft; she encouraged and advised him throughout the creative process. But even she wouldn’t have had anything to respond to if he didn’t write something to throw out in the first place.