I'm astonished by my success. I wrote because I needed to and wanted to. It never occurred to me that I'd become famous.

I'm probably the most uptight, conservative person you'll meet. I'm very religious.

I wish I were brave, although I try. I work too hard and don't play enough. Too much work ethic, not enough 'fun'.

I'm surprisingly practical in much of my life, but not when it comes to my shoes.

I'm a terribly irresponsible eater - I love soft-boiled eggs and chocolate. I never met a chocolate I could not eat.

The usual way - through a long series of rejections, revising my manuscripts, and kept trying again and again. Finally I was fortunate enough to find a good agent.

I'm not an aging gracefully type. But I do believe in aging with grace.

You can't have nine children and not be organized. Otherwise it just looks like Appalachia.

In my late teenage years, I developed a real passion for it, and wrote a lot of poetry.

The records of adopted children are sealed in California. That seal is considered inviolable... The judge ruled that, because I was famous, he didn't have the same rights as other kids.

My kids are more precious to me than anything. I'm with them all day, and I write all night.

My early reviews were so bad that I decided I didn't want to read them again.

It's difficult to talk to people... I walk into a room and I'm Danielle Steel, and whatever I say is going to be taken apart.

I've shut myself inside these walls, and I'm going to be a very lonely old lady if I'm not careful.

I'm astonished by my success. I wrote because I needed to and wanted to. It never occurred to me that I'd become famous.

I try to write about the stuff that torments us all.

I studied literature design and fashion design.

I started writing stories as a child.

I move between San Francisco and Paris... I have a wonderful beach house in California.

I did it at night because I loved it. I never did it to make money, as a job. I just did it because I had to.

I decided I would never do interviews again.

I completed my first novel when I was 19 years old.

I am endlessly busy, bringing up five young kids, and trying to keep up with the three older ones. I still spend most of my life driving car pools.

A book begins with an image or character or situation that I care about deeply.

I don't like grand restaurants or kowtowing waiters. I don't need that kind of attention and I don't want it.

I grew up with my father, so I know more about cars than most women.

I wish I were braver, although I try.

I work too hard and don't play enough.

It's been very hard, after being mostly a mom, to develop an adult life of my own. And not being married anymore, I have to come up with challenges.

I once looked like Norman Mailer in a picture with bad lighting.

My relationships were never equitable. My husbands were always older than me, and they made the rules, they ran the show, and I followed them.