Danielle Steel writes 22 hours a day

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Susan Breen

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Anyone see that recent interview with Danielle Steel? It was on Yahoo and also Publisher's Lunch. Anyway, she said that when she is working on a first draft, she will write 22 hours a day, for as long as a month, and she is always working on 3 or 4 things at the same time. I just cannot imagine that level of productivity. If I work four hours straight, I'm wiped out.
 

Esopha

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Does Danielle Steel want to die young or something? I understand being caught up in the excitement of a first draft and all, but oh. my. god.

If I were a friend of hers, I'd stage an intervention.
 

juneafternoon

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Four-five hours a day is my max. And I'm a pretty hands-on person.

I love writing and all, but dude, I have other stuff to do.
 

Bufty

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Sorry -I just don't believe anyone writes or works for 22 hours a day for up to a month.

There will almost certainly be an eventual virtually vertical drop in productivity.
 

Forbidden Snowflake

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Speed? Try acid!

Seriously people gotta sleep, eat, go to the bathroom and that takes more than 2 hours. So either in her world the day has 30 hours or she'll be dead soon.
 

GeorgieB

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Sorry -I just don't believe anyone writes or works for 22 hours a day for up to a month.

Same here.

Somewhere along line I have: to cook, eat, buy groceries (trip to town), help with housework, work on a wood-strip canoe, visit with a neighbor or two who might stop by, watch the news (@$@()!~!! terrorists!), read, have a glass of wine with my wife, talk with my wife, visit my wife;) ...

In short, if I had the number of servants and go-fers that she must have, perhaps I could find more time than the two or so hours I have now.

I don't believe her at all.
 
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Marian Perera

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Speed? Try acid!

Seriously people gotta sleep, eat, go to the bathroom

That reminds me of the ad for the game Civilization III. It shows a bunch of people gathered for an AA-type meeting and one guy gets up to say, "I'm a Civ III addict. When I got the game, I played it non-stop for three days. I didn't even get up to go to the bathroom."

Someone else asks, "Uh, you didn't go to the bathroom for three days?"

"I said I didn't get up."
 

Hillary

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Guys, she clearly has hoards of servants to shop and clean and answer the phone and her mail, a nurse to sponge bathe her right at the computer, a g-tube for meals and/or drugs, a catheter, and adult diapers. That's what makes a great writer, so take note.

What's so hard to believe? She totally does that for a month at a time.

Besides, when you've got a catheter and diapers, I doubt you get many visitors to distract you.
 

chartreuse

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Anyone see that recent interview with Danielle Steel? It was on Yahoo and also Publisher's Lunch. Anyway, she said that when she is working on a first draft, she will write 22 hours a day, for as long as a month, and she is always working on 3 or 4 things at the same time. I just cannot imagine that level of productivity. If I work four hours straight, I'm wiped out.

I seriously doubt that most of us would consider her ouput during hours, say, 11-22, productive. IF she is telling the truth in the first place.

Personally, I call BS. The human body has needs that it will not allow to be denied, sleep chief amongst those. Lack of sleep will derail you faster than lack of WATER. From personal experience, I can tell you that missing even a few hours of sleep over one night has a negative impact, and the first things to go? Language, memory, creativity.
 

WendyNYC

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To me, that sounds very OCD, but maybe she has a balanced life when she's not writing. Who knows. Even if I could physically do that, which I couldn't, no way would my husband and kids leave me alone for that long. Not to mention how horribly grouchy I am when I don't get my 7 hours of sleep.

But hey, she's published what? A zillion books?
 

Chumplet

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I hate to say it, but it's starting to show in the quality of her work. You keep churning out stuff at that pace and the quality suffers. The last book I picked up (on the bargain table) was very disappointing.
 

Menyanthana

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Twelve hours...okay. I think that could happen to me. If there is an idea and I have to write it down...

But 22 hours? I am not even awake so long.
Someone should do something about it. Cannot be good for her health.
 

ishtar'sgate

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Anyone see that recent interview with Danielle Steel? It was on Yahoo and also Publisher's Lunch. Anyway, she said that when she is working on a first draft, she will write 22 hours a day, for as long as a month
I don't see how she can sustain that level without drugs. I did it once and only once when I participated in a 3 day novel writing contest. It was murder. I drank gallons of coffeee, the house fell into ruin, my family was whining for my attention and I was wasted. If she can do it for real I'd sure like to know her secret.
Linnea
 

donroc

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According to Pliptin's interview in the PARIS REVIEW, ca. 1958-9, Georges Simonen would lock himself in a room for two weeks, with food left outside his door, and create a Maigret novel. Ah, French hygeine.
 

JennaGlatzer

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Hmm. Here's the interview: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080222/people_nm/books_steel_dc;_ylt=Ai8ZzX14el9_NgsuFuSkLa5REhkF

The quote is...

"I work about a 20 to 22-hour day, those are very long days, and then I sleep about three hours and then work another 22 hour day and I pretty much do that for a month and then that's the first draft," she said of her writing, which is mainly done during the winter months.

"After that I hone it for a couple of years," she said.

I've certainly done that for a few days at a time (when working on a new screenplay, I would often stay up for 3-4 days without sleeping at all), but I'd think sustaining that for a month would just make you nuts.
 

Sean D. Schaffer

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I wonder if Ms. Steele might just be joking. :) It could simply be an issue of not wanting to discuss how she goes about the business of writing. Flat-out saying, "None of your business", is considered rude by some people, and it could be her polite way of saying, "I don't want to talk about it".

Just a thought. :)


--Sean
 

maxmordon

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According to Scientologists, L. Ron Hubbard wrote Dianetics on a month; of course, according to them when you die you soul goes around floating to Mars; so I wouldn't believe on that affirmation
 

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I guess it depends on how you define "work."
 

Soccer Mom

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My idea of an all day writing jag is around 5-6 hours. After that my brain is a crispy noodle. I have trouble believing anyone can do that for a month straight.
 
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