Posted on October 14, 2019
Hi Everyone,
I hope that all is well with you and that you’re busy and happy and things are going well.
I recently did this Q and A for Barnes and Noble, about my work, and my new hardcover “Child’s Play” which came out last week. I hope you’ll enjoy this interview too!!! Click here to read the interview.
Have a great week!!! love, Danielle
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Posted on September 3, 2019
Hi Everyone,
I hope you had a good week and are enjoying the Labor Day Holiday. It’s always a little bit of a bittersweet day, because it marks the end of summer. So no more vacation for a while, the warmer weather will end soon, and we all go back to work or school, and will have a long winter to get through before we can enjoy our summer holidays again!!! I hope you had a chance to enjoy a long weekend, for these final days of summer.
I thought of an odd topic the other day. My agent mentioned it to me recently, and I’ve seen the subject brought up on the Internet once or twice, about me. So I thought I’d answer you directly, and let you in a little more on how I work. The question is “How do I write so many books?” and Does someone help me write them, or many someones??? The fast answer is that No, No one writes them for me or with me or helps me. I do all the work and all the writing myself.
Amazingly, many very famous writers get help with their books now. I can think of two very well-known authors who literally have a “group” of writers they assign the work to, to write the story with them, or for them. I guess they give them directions. I’m not sure how it works, because I’ve never done it. I’ve heard that one of those authors assigns one chapter to each person, and they write it for that writer. Personally, I don’t see how you can call yourself a writer, if someone else writes the books. Also, if you know the author of a book (or maybe even if you don’t), when you read the book, you hear that author’s voice in your head, almost as if they are reading it to you. Every writer has a distinctive voice, and you “hear” them when you read their work. So how does that work if 3 or 4, or 10 different writers have created the book? I would think that it creates a jumble of voices telling the story. And every writer’s style is different, so that’s a lot of styles in one book. And many authors now aren’t embarrassed to admit that they don’t write the books themselves. I think that’s kind of sad. (And I would hate having anyone co-write a book with me. I want to do all the writing, and the concept myself. I am not a collaborative writer. I work alone. I have a researcher who helps me dig out research and facts on a subject, and an editor who corrects my work when I finish a book, to make sure I haven’t made some glaring mistake. But I write the entire story, and the entire book myself. ALL by myself!!!
My process is that I get an idea, sometimes just a little piece of an idea, a theme, or something I’ve seen or heard about or read in the news. I then begin to make notes, and jot down ideas for a book. That part can go on for months, and often does. And eventually I write an outline for a book, with all the details. I outline it chapter by chapter. And I make a list of research I need (about an industry, or an illness, or historically, like a war or a famous battle.) After my editor reads it and tells me if the idea makes sense and sounds good to her, then I sit down and prepare to write it. It’s always a very anxious moment when I start a book, wanting to do it justice, hoping I will get it right. I continue to make notes on the outline while I write the book, to fine tune some of the details. While I’m writing, I don’t see or talk to anyone (except my kids), I don’t go out, I don’t see friends. I work 20 or 22 hour days, sleep for a few hours and go back to work, so I don’t lose the thread of the book. It’s a long, hard, slow, intense process. (Most of my outlines are 35 to 40 pages, and the first draft of a novel is 300 to 400 pages. When I finish the first draft, then the book goes to my editor, who eventually sends it back to me, with notes all over the manuscript, with suggestions of things she doesn’t like or I need to change, because it’s too confusing, or too fast or too slow, or the emotions between characters aren’t clear. When I get the manuscript back with her list of suggestions and polite critiques, I then correct the manuscript, add whatever research is needed, and it becomes the Final Draft, and I send it to the publisher. I see it one more time about a year later, which is my last chance to make corrections before it goes to the printer to become a book. (It takes about 2 years from when I write it to when it comes out as a finished book.) It’s a slow process in writing and in publishing.
One thing is unusual about my work is that I often work on 4 or 5 books at the same time, at different stages of the work. I work on a whole book and then move on to the next one (I don’t do a chapter here in one book and a chapter there). It’s a great advantage being able to keep track of several books at once, and I can work on several books at the same time, to finish for you.
I LOVE doing what I do, and I work hard. I love writing, it’s rewarding and fun and exciting at times, and drudgery at other times. And if you hit a dull spot, or a dead spot, you just have to keep on going until you find a way to make the “dull” spot better and more exciting.
My kids and my writing are my life, and fill my nights and days. And I can promise you that I am the ONLY person who writes my books, or even edits them. I can’t even begin to imagine how I would share the work, or collaborate on a story/book/ or manuscript. Writing is so ENTIRELY personal. It’s what comes out of your head or your heart, it’s what you want to say to your readers, and what your soul wants to say. I talk to you through the books, and I can’t imagine letting someone else share that conversation with you or “mess with” my books. My books are sacred to me. And I hope that they are meaningful to you. And it’s just me sitting here 20 or 22 hours a day, No elves. No gnomes. No little fairies with pens poised over the page.
I just wanted to clear that up with you. Rest assured, I am totally dedicated to the work, and as long as I have breath, the books will be as good as I can make them, and I will be here all by myself, pounding away on New Books to show you!!! Happy Reading!!!
Have a Great Week! love, Danielle
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Posted on July 3, 2019
…catch you next week
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Posted on May 21, 2019
Busy writing… See you next week!
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Posted on May 13, 2019
Hi Everyone,
I hope you had a good week and a lovely mother’s day, whether you’re a mother, or a son or daughter, a grandchild, or just a good motherly friend to someone who looks up to you.
Sometimes I have something I can’t wait to share with you, something I’ve seen or done or a pet peeve or immense joy. At other times, I grope around and can’t think of a single interesting thing I’ve done all week that might entertain you. There are always the fashion shows at certain times of year, the holidays, or a new book out. And I DO have a new book out, “Blessing in Disguise”, which came out last week, about a woman with three adult daughters, each one with a different father, and how very different they are, and how separate and distinct the mother’s relationship is with each of them. I hope you love it!!!
But since I spend about 95% of my time writing, there are times that I just haven’t seen or done anything except work, which gets boring for you to hear about. Sometimes I don’t leave my house (or office) for weeks at a time if I am working intensely on a book. And at other times something I want to share with you just leaps onto the page. I was travelling this week, which gets more and more complicated with increased security measures, and less and less fun, and there isn’t much to say about it. I didn’t do anything exciting this week, and then yesterday I got an email updating me about my incredible, remarkable, wonderful niece, Bea. And there it was, real life, staring me right in the eye, putting everything else I do or worry about into perspective.
Except for rare instances, we all share the same problems and deal with the same challenges to varying degrees in daily life. Worrying about our kids, the petty aggravations of daily life, (I am currently dealing with 2 winter leaks, hardly fascinating for you to hear), or we have a falling out with someone, or get irritated with our kids (the same ones we worry about!!), or just when you get your budget in semi-control you get a whopping bill from the plumber, or for your car, or from your dentist, and it blows your budget all over again. Whatever it is always seems monumental at the time (or really is with health or job or money or kid worries). And then suddenly you hear of something, or see it, which puts it all into perspective and reminds us of how small our problems are compared to that.
For those of you who don’t know, 3 years ago, my then 17 year old niece Bea was at the Brussels airport during the terrorist attack. You read about those events in the papers, and you never expect them to come close to home. She lost both her legs, was badly burned, her body filled with shrapnel. She was one of two survivors of one terminal, and was thought to be dead when they found her. She spent 7 months in a military hospital, and underwent more than 40 surgeries, and she will always have shrapnel in her body from the bombing. Unimaginable. She is an astoundingly brave and remarkable girl, with wonderful parents who got her through it. And she has more courage and guts than anyone I know. When she got out of the hospital, she finished high school and graduated. She did over a year of rehab with the Navy Seals. (She is half French and half American). She is now in college in the States. Her passion was horseback riding, and she was hoping to be in the Olympics. She is now training for the Paralympics, and sat on her beloved horse Deedee before she was even out of the hospital. The reunion of her and her horse was heart wrenching. Her horse Deedee was led out of its trailer, as a surprise for her, on the first day Bea was allowed to go out to the hospital garden. Deedee raced across the parking lot, and into the garden, went straight to Bea in her wheel chair, put her head on Bea’s shoulder, and licked her face. Bea began making a strong recovery from then on, and the love affair continues, as Bea now attends college and trains daily for the pre-Paralympic qualifying competitions. She had a recent setback for two months, which required more surgery for an infection. She’s on the mend now, and will be back in training again soon.
When I got the family update on her yesterday, it woke me up again. What Bea deals with every day is unthinkable to the rest of us, to come through something that immense and turn it into a positive life, and refuse to be defeated by a catastrophic, cataclysmic event so huge we can’t really even imagine it. It makes all my daily problems ridiculous by comparison: the suitcase that didn’t make it onto the plane with me 3 days ago (but eventually did turn up), the car repair, the bills that seem to multiply before they get to me, the harsh words exchanged with someone when I was tired, some minor disappointments. It shrinks to nothing when I am reminded of what Bea faces every day, and how brilliantly and bravely she has dealt with it, and her determination to lead an amazing life, and she surely will with her positive attitude. She is 20 now, and truly an extraordinary person.
So I’m sharing the wakeup call with you. Some people are dealing with such enormous things, and so successfully, that it shrinks my ‘problems’ to nothing. Bea is an inspiration to all who know her, and many who don’t. It makes me grateful for every waking moment. She is a blessing to us all. She didn’t just survive the attack, she met the challenge positively with immeasurable strength in every possible way, and still is. She is the definition of courage, in one totally amazing young girl.
Have a fantastic week—–and may all your challenges be small, and easily overcome!!!
with much love, Danielle
Bea’s Website: https://www.beaparathlete.org/
Ps. And to Mary Dixon, who asked if I’ve written any short books. The answer is yes. About 20 or 25 years ago, short books became fashionable for a short time (under 200 pages). They were VERY challenging to write, much more so than longer books, because in short books you have about half the time and space to tell the entire story in depth. During that time, I wrote a number of them: among them, “The Gift”, “Five Days in Paris”, “Second Chance”, and “Special Delivery”, and a few others. You might want to check them out. love, D.
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Posted on March 18, 2019
Hi Everyone,
I hope that all is well with you. Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, which I can lay no claim to, having no Irish relatives at all. But if it’s your holiday, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!
The riots in Paris are continuing and getting worse again, with stores destroyed, vandalized and looted—innocent stores like women and children’s clothing stores and the Disney store on the Champs Elysees. The city continues to live in fear on Saturdays, and the destruction continues. Violence is never the answer to anything and is disheartening to see.
I have done nothing but write for the last 10 days, and I’m happy with what I’m working on. I was working very closely on two books, and have really had fun with them. I hope you’ll love them too once they’re out.
My new book, Silent Night, is out and doing well, about Brain Injury. I hope you’ll read it and love it too, there’s some very good research in that book.
And when I work this hard writing, I work straight through most nights until 5 and 6 am, then I don’t do much else and am just on a constant cycle of writing, a few hours’ sleep, and then more writing—-so I’m not very interesting when I come up for air, and am a little dazed.
I saw my God children last night, which is always fun for me. And I hope to see some friends for lunch and dinner this week—-and to catch up on some fun things to tell you. In the meantime, take care, stay safe, work hard and have some fun!!!
much love, Danielle
Filed Under Books, Current Events, Paris, Uncategorized, Writing | 4 Comments
Posted on February 18, 2019
Hi Everyone,
I hope you’ve had a great week and Valentine’s Day turned out just the way you wanted it to!!!
I’m always fascinated by new forms of our social phenomena and culture. And since I spend time in California, I’m never sure if some new form of entertainment or behaviour is particular to California—which is not the norm!!—-or if a trend has spread to the rest of the country. California has a culture all its own.
The last new ‘wave’ I heard about were “Gender Reveal Parties”, where the couple discovers their unborn baby’s sex at the same time as their friends. Apparently that’s a common thing now, although I’d never heard of it before. That was news to me!!! Personally, it seems to me that it lacks intimacy, and turns a very private moment into a major social event. Learning a baby’s sex with your entire bowling team somehow lacks intimacy to me, but it seems to be a major trend!!
Now I’ve heard of another new trend—- Break Rooms or Destruction Rooms—- It’s apparently new but common in California—I have no idea if the rest of the country is setting them up too. It’s a form of ‘entertainment’ or stress release where the people who run them set up a room with old out of date computers and large television sets, plates, bottles, and assorted breakable objects. You rent the room for an hour for somewhere around $100.00. They are supposed to give you protective clothing, like some kind of protective cover all, goggles (gloves might be a good idea), they hand you a sledgehammer and some other form of ‘weapon’, like a baseball bat, and tell you to have a ball, and you can destroy whatever/everything that is in the room. Everything!!! There’s lots of broken glass, so you need to be protected. And you get to take out all your hostilities and aggressions, and your frustrations, and get to break everything in sight. My youngest son is very adventuresome and loves doing new things—he recently went to feed a giraffe and loved it—-so he drove an hour to where several of these Break Rooms were set up, and he thought it was an amazing way to let off steam. He’s normally not a destructive person, and he said it was kind of daunting at first, and then he decided to get into it and slammed away. He took his girlfriend who cautiously broke a few CD’s at first, and then got into it, and hammered a TV to bits. It’s certainly a novel and different form of entertainment and relaxation than swimming or taking a painting or yoga class or roller blading. But whatever works!!
In these days of high stress jobs, high pressure corporate life—no matter where you are on the ladder, or what kind of job you have, we all have daily stresses—just calling the phone company to report your phone out of order, or being put on hold for an hour when you try to call your insurance company—–this is certainly one way to deal with your frustration and hostilities. And you can channel it all in one safe room, break everything in sight, and go home to relax and watch TV. So that’s the latest trend I’ve heard about. As a business enterprise, it’s intriguing too. All you have to do is get a bunch of old non-functional equipment, a sledgehammer, a baseball bat, set up a safe room, and collect a hundred dollars for people to come for an hour and break everything. Amazing.
A while back, laser tag was new, and I gave a couple of really fun parties taking over a laser tag place, with my friends on teams, and they went nuts playing war, and ‘killing each other’ for a couple of hours. It always fascinated me that the meekest people became the most intense and the fiercest in laser wars. It was really fun though.
So if you’ve had a tough week, and you’ve had it with your kids and your boss, stood on line for two hours at the DMV or the post office, or couldn’t get anything done that you wanted to do…..head for a Break Room, and hammer away.
I occasionally have slow or hard days writing, where it just doesn’t go the way I want it to, or I get interrupted all day, or the words just won’t come….but I will NOT be taking a hammer to my typewriter!!! The Break Rooms provide controlled destruction—–definitely a novel idea.
Have a great week—-and some fun!!! love, Danielle
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Posted on January 14, 2019
Buried under work this week,, see you next week!
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Posted on December 17, 2018
Hi Everyone,
I hope that things are going well for you. The demonstrations and riots are continuing in Paris, but are thinning out, and were less violent this past Saturday. The government made some concessions, and I think people are just worn out from the strain of weekly violence, and so much destruction. Businesses are sufferring, and thus the economy, and all merchants, with shops and restaurants closed every weekend for the past five weeks, so close to Christmas. And hotels are empty. People don’t want to come to Paris with so much unrest in the country. I hope the New Year brings some peace to all!!
Other than that, my new book is out, Beauchamp Hall. I hope you’ve had time to read it, or will over the holidays, and I hope you gave it as a gift to someone. And my paperback, Accidental Heroes, is doing really well, and is an exciting read.
It’s been a checkered week with some good and bad things thrown in. A friend came to visit and stayed with me for a week, which was fun (except for the lockdown weekends due to the demonstrations and riots). But other than that, we had a good time. A close best friend lost his adorable little dog, hit by a car, which was heart breaking and we all felt terrible for him. And on the happy side, I had my Christmas party, with 28 good friends. People stay much later than they do in the states, so they stayed till about 1:30 am, on a school night, which was really fun. I gave a Christmas ladies’ lunch too, and had some women friends for a pasta dinner in my kitchen. So I saw a lot of friends this past week, which is fun in this season. And I’ll be seeing my children soon, which is the best part of the holidays for me.
I’m still trying to catch up on work, and I’ll be back at work, deep in new books when the holidays are over. I can’t believe Christmas is only 8 days away. I’m still scrambling for the last few special presents.
I hope these are happy days for you, that you are finding something to celebrate, and the time and opportunity to spend time with family or friends. The one thing I realize every year is how fast time flies, and how fleeting the precious moments are, they fly through our fingers like angels and bless us as they rush past. My hope for you is that you are enjoying special times with people you love, and who love you. I hope that the days leading up to the holidays will be happy ones for you, and that the holiday will be a memory you cherish. Thank you for the blessings you share with me all year round, reading my books, and enjoying my work.
Thank you, and much love to you, Danielle
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Posted on December 10, 2018
Hi Everyone,
I hope that all is well with you. 14 more shopping days till Christmas!!! Holey Moley and I haven’t finished shopping yet—-and I started in August!! But I have to admit, Paris being under lock-down every weekend, as the riots continue, and have for four weeks now, with shops and restaurants closed, and many stores being vandalized, burned and looted every weekend—–is not exactly conducive to Christmas shopping, as we all stay home (by police order) to be safe.
The riots have continued since last week, with even greater damage last weekend, with stores burned, flaming barricades in some streets, cars burning and some exploding, and in some cases whole streets virtually destroyed, and some monuments, and tear gas heavy in the air. It has been an impressive and saddening experience to see the violence in the city (and several other French cities), and so much destruction. Rumor is that it will continue this weekend. The city licks its wounds for 6 days, and then explodes again on Saturday. The atmosphere is heavy and people are serious. I hope it will be resolved soon, so peace can return to France.
Other than that, I am looking forward to Christmas with my children, am enjoying small gatherings with friends, a women’s lunch I give before Christmas every year, and a small dinner for others who can’t make the lunch, a wonderful early Christmas celebration with my God children yesterday, with a pasta dinner in my kitchen, and the warmth of sharing the beginning of the holidays with friends and people I love. And another gathering of friends, in the Christmas spirit. I love Christmas, and can’t wait to spend it with my kids soon, although divided in two cities this year.
I’ve been working on several books recently, and am hoping to take a couple of weeks off now, to enjoy the holidays, and see friends and family. It’s nice to take a break!!! And as always, I worked hard this year.
I hope that all is well with you!!! I hope you’ve had time to read my new book, Beauchamp Hall, it seems like the right kind of book for the holidays, and would make a great gift if you have people on your list who love a good story!!! I hope you really enjoy it, and will have time to read it before or after the holidays.
I hope too that your holiday plans are taking shape the way you want them to, that you’ll make it home if that’s where you want to be, or that others come to your home, people you enjoy spending time with. It can be a stressful time too, and I hope it won’t be for you. I hope it will be a happy, fun, blessed, warm, loving holiday and that everyone in your world is good to you!!!
Have a great week!!!
much love, Danielle.
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