This Little Lady Impressed Me

This morning I had just returned from working out at the gym and was sitting in my recliner waiting for the sweating to stop (don’t worry, it’s leather and cleans quiet easily) before taking a shower and caching up on my emails (tens of them had poured in) and reading my daily blog reads when off to the side of my lap top I could see the television and The View was on. It was a rerun of a show I saw a couple of weeks ago. The Self-absorbed Bitches were interviewing Danielle Steele (you know her - the writer of a gazillion books) and I have to say she really impressed me.

I’m not a fan of ‘chick books’ or romantic novels. But I have read a few of her books, my favorite being Santiago Blue - about the women who flew for the Army in WWII.

She is a lady of slight build, very soft spoken and, from her body language, very shy and withdrawn. Not that she didn’t answer every question with clarity and grace, but that she set with her arms tight against the body and her hands folded in her lap. Like a frighten mouse. But a frighten mouse who was very intelligent and spoke in a soft but clear voice. I wanted to hug her.

One thing that really impressed me is that she has 9 children and spent twenty seven years at home raising her kids and doing her writing at night. She only traveled when she absolutely had to for her books. The rest of her time she spent being a mom and raising her kids. Probably one of the richest authors in the world yet she lived a humble life (compared to what her wealth could have brought her).

In answer to one question, she never writes about steamy sex exploits. She said it was more exciting to just let the bedroom door shut on the reader and leave the rest to the readers imagination.

She had a bad childhood. Her father taught her to be ‘ugly’ as that helped a girl be more intelligent and that her mother, a former beautiful model, gave her grief, too. She was raised in wealth but felt ugly all her life.

Asked about how she writes, she is afraid of computers and still types out her books on a 1949 typewriter she is trying to keep together. Imagine!?!? Where do they even sell typewriter ribbons, much less one for a 1949 typewriter?

One of her funniest moments to me was when she said that she couldn’t use an electric typewriter because when she rested her hands on the keyboard to think she would type out two chapters in Polish.

All the money, all the fame, and she is still a gracious and sweet woman. Makes me wonder how many other famous people are just as genuine. Do you know of any?
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