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.

Sometimes, if you aren`t sure about something, you have to just jump off the bridge and grow wings on your way down.

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 like summer. I like warmer weather and long days. I`m one of those silly people who still enjoy lying in the sun - my children are horrified!

I started writing stories as a child.

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.

I wrote because I needed to and wanted to. It never occurred to me that I`d become famous.

My early reviews were so bad that I decided I didn`t want to read them again.

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

I think I`m very real as a person, and that comes across in my work.

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 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 try to give people hope. Even though life is bleak, there`s hope out there.

A bad review is like baking a cake with all the best ingredients and having someone sit on it.

I decided I would never do interviews again.

People are much more inclined to believe and say bad things about you if you`re famous.

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

Sometimes, if you aren`t sure about something, you just have to jump off the bridge and grow your wings on the way down.

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

I have these wonderful homes, and no one to share them with.

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.

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

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

I studied literature design and fashion design.

It`s hard being visible, so I`ve made myself invisible.

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

At the moment, I`m enjoying John Grisham quite a bit.

If you see the magic in a fairy tale, you can face the future.