Books

‘So, are you still writing?’ Danielle Steel addresses dumb question on blog

Do not ask Danielle Steel whether she is still writing.

In a blog post Wednesday, the best-selling novelist, who has sold more than 600 million (!) copies of her books, ranted at men who often ask her “So, are you still writing?”

Of course she is still writing. In fact, Steel’s novel First Sight is currently No. 15 on the New York Times best sellers list. It was No. 3 last week. She’s written 128 books so far, often produces multiple titles in a single year, and shows no signs of slowing down.

However, Steel is annoyed at men who often treat her occupation as a trite hobby.

She writes on her blog:

It goes like this, I run into a man I know or meet at a dinner party for the first time in a long time. After hello, they open with, “So, are you still writing?” Hmmm…..this immediately suggests to me that they have not read the NY Times (bestseller list) in many years, the Wall Street Journal, or maybe they don’t read at all. Yes, I am STILL writing. What this does is that it immediately puts my writing into the category as a hobby. As in, are you still taking piano lessons, doing macrame, have a parrot? I don’t have a huge ego about my work, but let’s face it, for me it is a job. A job I love, and I have been doing it since I was 19 years old. I have been in the Guinness book of world records repeatedly for having a book on the bestseller list for more weeks consecutively than whoever. Yes, for Heaven’s sake, I am still writing. It’s my work, my job, how my family eats and went to college.

It goes on from there, with the entire post at daniellesteel.net. And, if you ever meet Steel at a dinner party, now you know what NOT to ask her.

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