Archive for 2022

3/28/22, They’re Back!!!!

Posted on March 28, 2022

 

Hi Everyone,

 

I hope you had a good week last week, and that a good new week is taking off nicely. All the same BIG problems are still with us: Covid and its variants, and the heartbreaking war in Ukraine—with no easy solutions to either of those problems. I hope the war ends soon.

 

Troubling times make distraction a very welcome relief to get our minds off the problems we can do nothing about. My new book High Stakes came out a week ago and it’s a fun book that I hope you’ll love, about 5 women who work at a dramatic and literary agency in New York.  So that’s one distraction!!

 

And I was SOOOO EXCITED to find out that Bridgerton, the Netflix series which I loved and was one of their greatest successes EVER last year, just showed up with Season 2 on Friday, and I dove right in on Saturday and binge watched all 8 episodes!!! I absolutely loved it!! I enjoyed it just as much as the first Season 1. And it took my mind off everything for the eight hours I watched it on Saturday. I got up early on Saturday so I could watch all of it.

 

So tune into Netflix and have a ball!!!! Take some time off, or an evening off, you won’t be sorry you did!!

 

 

Have a great week, lots of love, Danielle

 

3/22/22, Hope

Posted on March 22, 2022

 

Hello Everyone,

 

I hope you’ve had a good week, and that some good things happened to you. Maybe Valentine’s Day got you off to a good start. I hope it went well!!!

 

It’s hard to find a suitable subject these days, with so many serious things going on. Fashion Week, in any city, pales by comparison, or cute shoes, or even my dogs. These are serious times. As we go through our daily lives in our various cities in countries where we are safe, our ordinary lives and problems are in sharp contrast to the horrors of war that we see on the news from Ukraine, where an unthinkable battle/war is being waged, where innocent women and children, and ordinary civilians are losing their lives and their homes and their country is buried under debris from the bombs, the images we see are heartbreaking, and millions are fleeing, while being peppered with bombs. It is more than sobering to watch, and the children break my heart.

 

In England, France and the US, we’ve moved into a new phase with Covid, where tests are no longer required, vaccine passes are no longer necessary, and masks have been dropped—only to be warned on the news that it’s too soon, and that there is a new variant, Ba.2, which is thought to be THIRTY TIMES more contagious than Omicron, which was something like 50 times more contagious than the one before. So how are we supposed to feel relaxed with that lurking? I am keeping my mask on any time I go out, and am feeling squeamish about very public places, and won’t go to indoor restaurants. In France there are still 100,000 cases a day, and in Germany 300,000. That doesn’t sound like it’s over to me.

 

War and Pestilence, it still sounds biblical to me.

 

But even with that going on, I took a card my daughter sent me to be framed, I had publishing and legal and insurance meetings today, seeing my accountant tomorrow, when I’m not writing, I have to do all the grown up very boring stuff that keeps life on track and sure isn’t fun. I dropped by to see a friend today, and bought cute plates for our Easter brunch.

 

Life is a strange mixed bag of ordinary tasks sometimes, with HUGE issues to ponder in the world, like Covid and Ukraine. While I sit quietly at my desk tonight, writing to you, someone is crawling out of the debris of a bombed burned out building, a child is crying, people are hungry and thirsty and freezing cold….the harsh realities of life woven in with the ordinary tasks, and then a brief, fleeting happy tender moment, of friendship, of love, and hope, a smile, a hug from a child, and my dogs snoring next to me when I finally get to bed at night.

 

We have to seize the beauty where we see it, and catch the rays of sunlight and moonbeams when they happen….and always in the midst of tedium, and chaos, and even heartbreak, somehow we have to see a ray of hope, and hang onto that.

 

Be safe, and well, and happy, and careful, with all my love,    Danielle

 

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3/14/22, “When Words Fail”

Posted on March 14, 2022

 

When Words Fail……

 

     When words fail
         when the feelings are too big
             and the message is too strong
                 and the wounds are too deep
                     when my love is too wide
                         to fit into my heart
            when the killing
                      and the chilling
                            is tearing me apart
                  when babies are born
                      wide eyed innocents
                                to die by morn.
                   when my dead children
                                          are yours
                        and yours are mine
                      when i look into your eyes
                             i see courage and fear
                          i see your blood,
                                          my blood
                        i see sisters and brothers
                    amid the sounds of terror,
                            i see you brave.
                                 i see you strong
                                     i see you live
                                              another day
                            we grieve with you,
                                 we cry for you,
                              when hate is only ashes,
                                       and bombs
                            cannot touch your souls
                                  you will live beyond this day
                                            in history
                                                engraved
                                      in our hearts forever
                                             never forgotten
                                            the living symbol
                                                of courage,
                                                     love,
                                                         and hope.
                                                                                  d.s.

 

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3/7/22, Power

Posted on March 7, 2022

 

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, there will be peace”

 

Jimi Hendrix

 

 

 

 

 

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2/28/22, Peace Please!!!

Posted on February 28, 2022

 

Hi Everyone,

 

I hope you’ve had a good week, and that all is well with you.

 

I’ve been very lucky to have two of my daughters visit me for a few days, which is always a special gift, and a time I cherish. I have a little sign on my desk which says “Cherish Every Moment”, which is good advice.

 

I don’t know what to say, given the state of the world at this hour. On the frivolous side, today is the beginning of fashion week in Paris, with the ready to wear shows by mostly French designers. Last week it was Fashion week in Milan. And before that, in New York. Two of my daughters worked on fashion shows for the brands they work for. I used to report to you on the fashion shows I went to, mostly Chanel, and sometimes Hermes, but because of the pandemic, I haven’t been to a fashion show in two years, and don’t feel quite ready to start attending them again yet. I want to wait until Covid is a little further behind us, before I go to live shows, attended by spectators and big crowds.

 

But much as I love fashion, I cant wrap my mind around it just now. After two years of agony over Covid, fear and contagion, masks and vaccines, working remotely, and loved ones lost, and the whole world at a dead stop and on its ear for two years, and just as we are beginning to breathe a little easier and see a light at the end of the Covid tunnel, with a ray of hope…..suddenly our world is rocked again by the war that has erupted between Russia and Ukraine, as we sit glued to our TV’s and hang on every word of the leaders involved, and those who analyze the situation, with the word ‘nuclear’ peppered here and there, and we are terrified all over again. How is it possible that we have to face TWO such life threatening events back to back, over which we, as private citizens, have no control, and our lives are suddenly in other people’s hands?

 

The images of those fleeing Ukraine (nearly 400,000 people) fearing for their lives, while others are willing to fight to the death against an invading army, in a war that is threatening everything they hold dear, country, family, children, freedom. Sanctions are imposed against the invaders, who in turn retaliate with nuclear threats. How is it possible that while we were just beginning to recover from Covid and a brutally hard pandemic for two years, now terror has landed on our doorstep again wearing a different mask: this time war—-in an era when nuclear attack is a potential reality if the leaders involved lose their heads and don’t back down. I have never been to Russia or Ukraine, but what unimaginable terror to leave your home with only a few possessions, taking your children and pets, grabbing the essentials for survival as you leave—-fearing your home will be bombed, or after it was. it is everyone’s worst nightmare, as the world waits with bated breath to see what comes next.

 

It’s hard, actually impossible to focus on anything else. We are battle weary from the pandemic, and now some of us must face real battles with bombs and threats and tanks in the street. And what will that mean for the rest of us, if a peaceful resolution isn’t reached?. Our lives are once again on the line, in hands other than our own. It was destiny as to who got sick and who died of Covid—-and now our fate is in human hands.

 

We need peace, on every front, a time to heal, all around the globe, a time to live and breathe again, a time to put fear behind us, not clutch it with both hands, and hope that we and our loved ones survive.

 

Please, please, please give us peace. We need it so desperately. May you be strong and safe, and may all the leaders of every country be wise, and do everything necessary to grant us peace.

 

May God bless you and keep you safe, and all of us, with my most fervent prayers and all my love and hope,

 

Danielle

 

 

2/22/22, Shoes!!!

Posted on February 22, 2022

 

 

Hi Everyone,

 

I hope you had a lovely Valentine’s Day last week. I had an unexpectedly lovely one with a friend who came to lunch. And I got to use the heart plates that one of my daughters gave me for Christmas, and new napkins I had just bought with embroidered hearts on them—-and the glasses with hearts on them that two of my daughters gave me last year. It was an unexpectedly day. And three of my daughters sent me roses and anemones.

 

I have been working non stop for the last two months and have hardly taken any days off. I finished one book in the morning, and started the next one that night. I don’t usually work quite that intensely and normally take a few days or a week off between books, but the weather has been lousy, cold and rainy, and the Covid numbers high, so I decided to stay home and really dig into my work after the holidays. I can go from one book to the next like that (although it is exhausting, because the writing is physically demanding because I work such long hours day after day so as not to interrupt a book) because I spend months working on the outline, and by the time I’m ready to start a book I have all the details lined up, the plot worked out, have written pages and pages about each character, and I outline each chapter in detail. So when I start the book, everything is lined up, although I adjust some details as I go along, and add a few things. So I have been working hard.

 

And one of my favorite things to do when I’m not working, for fun, to unwind and relax, or if I’m down, is to go shopping. I love fashion and pretty clothes, and fun things to wear (when my youngest son was little, he loved little cars (now he likes real cars!!) and I bought a jacket to wear when I went out with him, that had little match book cars sewn all over it. I still have the jacket, it’s amazing). Shopping is not a deep intellectual pursuit, but I really have fun shopping. I try not to buy impulse buys and buy things I will really wear—particularly when Covid is over. I have lived in jeans (particularly my favorite ones with the hole in one knee) and the cashmere nightgowns I wear when I write (with the holes in the elbows) since Covid started. And more so with each lockdown. I feel like I haven’t gotten dressed up in two years. When the first lockdown happened, I tried to look ‘cute’ every day to keep my spirits up. And I didn’t see anyone for 3 months. By the 4th lockdown. I was no longer looking cute, and dressing for myself and my dogs had lost its charm. (My dogs really don’t care what I wear). I haven’t been to a restaurant in two and a half months, in the recent Omicron surge where the numbers were terrifyingly high and the contagion extreme, so I haven’t had a chance to get dressed up since Christmas—but today I went shopping, and my favorite thing to shop for are shoes. My father said that my first word was ‘shoe’. I don’t know if that’s true, but I certainly enjoy them. There are rumors that I have thousands of pairs of shoes. I don’t, but I do have a lot of them, and have so much fun shopping for them.

 

Last week, I bought a super fun pair of summer sandals, and the heel is a bottle of red nail polish. Soooo fun!!! Sometimes I like silly shoes, and sometimes I just like really pretty shoes. I like loafers and ballerinas for comfort. I’m not a huge sneaker fan, although I have a few. I bought some cute red clogs last year and am afraid to wear them, because I’m afraid to step on my dogs’ tiny feet in them. I like heels when I get dressed up, but not crazy high. And I like simple pumps. And I will confess, today I went wild. I bought a pair of loafers, a pair of black patent leather short boots, I bought a pair of dressy black suede flats, and the same ones in white for the summer, and a pair of simple black patent leather high heels. (for some reason, I love black patent leather, maybe because it reminds me of when I was a kid and I loved wearing my black patent leather mary janes, and getting a new pair was always exciting!!) Last week, I had a bad day, and bought the nail polish sandals to cheer myself up, and today I was just celebrating the end of a book, and rewarding myself for working hard. It’s a harmless past time and I work hard…and if it makes me happy, why not??  And shoes are a pretty harmless vice to have!!

 

So that’s my guilty secret—-and I don’t even feel guilty about it. I came home with my loot, and was happy as can be. Sometimes it’s good to indulge yourself, and spoil yourself when you can.

 

I have a sign in my office in California that says “Do what makes you happy”—-I’m a dutiful person and always do my “homework” before I let myself do something fun. I did my homework, and now I had some fun!!

 

Do what makes YOU happy, whatever that is. getting your hair or your nails done, going on a hike, or to the beach. Seeing a friend, reading a book, or spoiling yourself, a hot fudge sundae, shopping. Whatever it is, we all need to spoil ourselves once in a while, when we can. Today was a big treat!!!  Have a great week!!

 

love, Danielle

 

 

2/14/22, Raise the Hearts!!!

Posted on February 14, 2022

 

Hello Everyone,

 

I hope you had a good week last week. I was working full tilt on three books in different stages, which was intense. Sometimes I work that way when the ideas are flowing. A few weeks ago, I finished the second draft of one book in the morning, and moved on to another book in first draft that night. I’ve always found that when I’m working, more ideas come, sometimes in a flood, and when I’m not working (and being lazy), nothing comes. I prefer the flood of ideas to the drought. And inspiration is harder to come by these days while staying home a lot, not going out much, and having little or no social life because of Covid. The Covid worries provide a backdrop of anxiety, and staying home keeps one from seeing the little and big things that spark a book when you have a full life out in the world. So in these sparser times, I grab the inspiration when it grabs me and go with it, gratefully!!

 

So I’ve had a very busy month writing, with a third book percolating on the back burner as I work on the outline. And today is one of those days that can be wonderful or disappointing, Valentine’s Day. I’ve had some great ones and some real lemons in my lifetime. I’ve had two marriage proposals on Valentine’s Day, and both came as a (wonderful)surprise!! One led to eighteen mostly happy years and 8 children, and the other resulted in 8 years together, stormy but exciting, to a fascinating person, and no children. Both husbands were much older than I (decades) and were very interesting men, and both are gone now, I stayed close to both of them until the end of their lives. And I do miss them and having them to talk to. My husband John, the father of 8 of my 9 children was incredibly elegant, gracious, handsome, and the other, Tom, was brilliant and a genius, with an extraordinary mind. Both marriages ended in divorce before they died, we had a good run, and stayed close. Both were father figures for me since they were so much older. And both Valentine’s Day proposals were very romantic. (My first marriage was in my teens–my teens were a busy time. I went to college at 15, married in my teens, became a mother for the first time in my teens, and wrote my first book in my teens, at 19—-I started life early!!!)

 

And in contrast to my two Valentine’s Day proposals, I’ve had some really dreary, disappointing Valentine’s Days—haven’t we all!!!—-when nothing at all seemed to be happening. Some years, romance in one’s life is just not happening. And it can be REALLY discouraging if you haven’t met “The One” yet, or you’re between relationships, or if a relationship didn’t work out. I’ve found that (some) men aren’t very good about dates, not as good as women are about them, and some holidays mean a lot to us as women, and just don’t mean as much to them. So a man who really loves you may not come through on Valentine’s day with chocolates, flowers, or a great piece of jewelry, or a proposal, or even remember what day it is!!! (My husband Tom hated most holidays, and particularly didn’t like Christmas (and I LOVE Christmas) and won the prize one year when he asked me on December 23rd—“When is Christmas this year??”—Soon!!!) So your true love may not make the brilliant showing you hope for on Valentine’s Day, although I hope he (or she) does!!! Some men aren’t dazzlers on birthdays either….there is something about dates that eludes them. And if you have the perfect love who showers you with kisses and gifts on Valentine’s Day—–Lucky You!!! Hang on to him (or her).

 

I came across something in the writings of Joel Osteen this week. It is religious, so won’t appeal to those who aren’t, and I love his writings. They always give me hope and strength:  “God has prepared a set time for His promises to come to pass in your life. While you wait, you can trust that behind the scenes, He is working all things in your favor”. I really like that.

 

And there is a lovely saying in French, “Haut les coeurs!!” when you need encouragement, the rough translation is “Raise the Hearts!!!”

 

So, whether religious or not, I hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day, and a great week. And May Love be showered on you abundantly by those you love today and every day. You deserve it!!!

 

with so much love, Danielle

 

 

2/7/22, Working…

Posted on February 7, 2022

Hello!

I am busy working on a book, see you here next week!

Love, Danielle

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1/31/22, Still Hibernating

Posted on January 31, 2022

 

Hi Everyone,

 

Well, I hope you’ve had a good week, maybe even a great one, with good news or some fun.

 

January is always a hard working month for me, I always use the dreary winter months to hibernate and write a lot. I’m working on three books right now, in first draft, final draft, and outline. It makes the cold winter days pass more quickly.  January has drifted by, and tomorrow it will be February.

 

Covid is still forefront in our thought, and the number of daily cases has been pretty terrible everywhere. And while we all try to make the best of this long playing situation, I notice that it does take a toll. With fewer social contacts, and most people being more careful, we don’t have the social lives we used to, the distractions, or opportunities for relaxed encounters with family and friends. I miss seeing my friends, and seeing my children as often and as easily as I did before the Pandemic. Travel is really challenging, and even dangerous. My airport experiences have been harrowing recently, with all the conditions I try to avoid: crowds, people squeezed in together, long lines, and on domestic flights people don’t have to test, so the plane could be full of sick people and you don’t know how much risk you’re taking, or if the person you’re sitting next to has Covid (and they may not even know it either if they’re asymptomatic). International flights require a test, which is more reassuring. International flights seem safer and are more likely to be Covid-free, but airports are scary everywhere, more so in recent months as more people are travelling.   I’m also finding people crabbier, more impatient and short tempered. As we approach the two year mark of the pandemic, I think everyone is tired of the stresses of the pandemic. It has lasted a lot longer than anyone guessed. They say that the variants are a sign that the end of the pandemic could be growing near, but in the meantime, contagion is sky high. In my own family, five of my eight children have had it, even though several of them are extremely careful. Some countries are reducing their barrier measures, which seems premature to me. The experts keep saying that we’re not out of the woods yet, and I believe them. And the rules about contagion, and exposure, periods of incubation, and isolation keep changing which is VERY confusing. And the endless back and forth about masks, no masks, etc.

 

Last week was Haute Couture week in Paris. Where the Haute Couture (made to order, not ready to wear) designers show their collections. This is the third year I haven’t gone. Once again, sitting in crowds and arriving and leaving in crushing masses of people just seems too soon to me. I haven’t had the courage to go back yet, and watch the shows afterwards on line, since I still enjoy them. Although as much as I love clothes and fashion, I don’t have much opportunity to wear anything exciting at the moment, since I’m not going anywhere all dressed up. You see a lot of ‘comfort clothes’ in public now. I think all of California is wearing yoga pants at the moment. I’m living in jeans and old sweaters, when I’m not at home writing in one of my old cashmere nightgowns. And I miss getting dressed up, and having a reason to!!!

 

I think we’ll all feel better when Spring rolls around, the sun is shining, and the weather warms up. Somehow life always seems better on a sunny day. We have a way to go until then!!!

 

I think most of us are still hibernating, winter isn’t over yet. And hopefully by Spring, Covid will be receding, and life will be more fun again. I think we have to seize the happy moments now, the fun, enjoy them to the fullest, see our friends and family when we can, be as careful as we can, and the good times will come again!!!

 

Have a wonderful week, stay as safe as you can, and I’ll keep writing the books to distract and entertain you in the meantime!!!

 

love, Danielle

 

1/25/22, Bounce Back!!!

Posted on January 25, 2022

 

Hi Everyone,

 

I hope you’re having a good week—-and that the January weather is less dreary where you are than where I am!!! I’ve had dreary cold weather everywhere for the last month. That’s why I always hibernate in January, and hunker down with my typewriter. It’s a great time to get a lot of writing done, because it’s no fun to go out in freezing rainy weather. It’s a great time to do projects at home, and all the things you’ve been putting off and were too busy to do during the holidays and months before. I took a day off from writing yesterday and did all those nasty, boring chores, but I felt very virtuous when I got a lot done!!

 

It’s amazing how easy it is to give advice, and so much harder to take it. But my agent said something the other day which really struck a chord with me: “No matter how wounded you are, you should stay in the game.” He was referring to horse back riding, but it really resonated for me about life….about love….about hard times, hard bosses and jobs, hard circumstances and relationships. Most of the time when I have ‘stayed in the game’, it was the right decision, and win or lose, it paid off. Sometimes when we’re wounded, we think we cant stand another day, but sometimes that little bit of extra time can turn things around, and you find strength you didn’t know you had.

 

I have a saying framed on my wall in the same vein, a quote from Joel Osteen that I really love. It says “Bounce Back”. I love seeing that quote and it reminds me that you cant or shouldn’t languish, and just lie there feeling sorry for yourself and not trying to get up—when you’ve taken a hard hit, are disappointed or hurt or lost something you care about, you HAVE to get up and bounce back, and get back in the game, or back on the horse, and get moving again. I know how hard that is to do, especially after a big disappointment, or a loss—but you have to bounce back. I think Joel Osteen is so right about that. It’s a very simple message, but a great piece of advice!!!

 

So now it’s back to work for me. And I hope you are cozy somewhere, staying warm, and using the dreary month of January to get some long postponed things done.

 

Have a great week!!!

 

love, Danielle

 

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