Danielle Steel's Blog, page 69

David and Goliath

Do you ever feel like David facing Goliath?? I sure do. At some times more than others. I think that falls under the heading of "Injustice", sometimes unfair situations happen, and we have no choice but to fight for the truth, to get some sense of justice in a situation. I am reminded too of a French movie star when I was a kid. His name was Jean Marais, and he dressed like Robin Hood in his films, (in tights) and was always swinging off a chandelier, brandishing a sword, and fighting off 52 attackers. And of course he always won, lucky guy. But sometimes I feel like I'm facing the 52 attackers, have no sword, would be terrified to swing off a chandelier, and I would look ridiculous in the costumes he wore. But sometimes it really does feel like we're being attacked from all sides, and the situations we're dealing with aren't fair. I HATE that feeling. Don't we all. And you really only have 2 choices, you can either roll over and let the bus flatten you, or you can stand up and fight, no matter how daunting the odds. I hate injustice and unfair situations, so more often than not, I am inclined to fight for justice and what's fair. It's a lot of work, and sometimes it is daunting to feel like David facing Goliath. No, it's ALWAYS daunting feeling like you're facing Goliath. The odds always appear to be on his side. But sometimes, to my amazement—–right does win, justice is served, and David did slay the giant after all, with a single rock of truth.

It occurred to me this morning that I am currently facing assorted Goliaths. (They usually come in groups. Don't you find that too? If I have one problem, I have five, or ten, or at least two or three. Problems seem to come in bunches, like grapes). I was thinking about the situations I'm dealing with, two people who caused me considerable expense unjustly, through their actions not mine, but so far haven't wanted to help defray the costs. A business situation, and two personal ones. And when I look at them hard, I realize that each situation involves injustice of some kind, an unfair situation, and I am fighting like a dog for some justice in each situation. As I thought about it, I realized that I am in the role of David facing Goliath again. Fame and success often attract difficult situations, where people decide to take a running leap at you and see what they get. Why not? They figure you're not really a person anyway, so off they go, trying to pull some stunt. But it happens to all of us actually, a carpenter who makes you pay for work in advance, and then doesn't do the work and keeps your money. Someone who owes you money and wont pay up. A friend who accuses you of things you know you didn't do. Someone else gets the job that we deserve, and worked so hard for. I think all of us spend a lot of time and energy fighting for justice in our lives, in our relationships, in our work, sometimes even with our families. Things just aren't always fair, and that's hard to swallow. So we fight the good fight to correct the situation, and we feel tiny sometimes (or at least I do), in the face of a bellowing giant who tries to bully us. But right is right. And it's worth fighting for.

I'm sure it sounds corny, but there are some situations in the Bible that I really like, and which inspire me. The three Hebrew boys (who have impossible names, like Shadrach, Abednego and someone else), who were unfairly thrown into the fiery furnace (been there, done that). And there they sat, taking the heat, as it were, for something they didn't do. And the next morning, they were released, and not only were they not burned, (not a hair on their head, as it says), but there was not a hint of the fire on them, not even the smell of smoke—-in other words, not even a trace of the experience—-they were protected by being right, and they were not harmed by the bad experience. I think about that story a lot. And then of course Daniel in the Lion's den, who was locked up with the lion (unfairly again) overnight, and the lion didn't eat him, touch him, or harm him, and Daniel emerged from the experience unscathed. Those stories both encourage me when I am facing difficult situations, but know that I am fighting for principle and justice. And then of course David and Goliath. You can tell yourself that the little guy fired off a lucky shot with a single pebble and brought the big guy down, but on the other hand, he had justice on his side, and was willing to stand up and fight a giant. And lucky shot or not, he won!!! Pretty awesome!!!

Anyway, we all face some giants in our lives, our share of Goliaths, unjust, unfair scary situations, where we are outnumbered and feel as though there is no hope that we'll win. But win or lose, I cannot help but fight for what I believe in, and I always hope that I will come out of the fiery furnace unscathed, without even the smell of smoke, that the lion will not eat me, and that I'll pull off a lucky shot and slay the giant too. Win or lose, live or die, you really have to fight for what's right, and I know how hard that is. But I think that in the end, fighting against the bullies and the giants, and standing up for what's right is always the best choice. And justice is a powerful force.

Love, Danielle

Many Thanks and Art Show

Dear Everyone,

Thank you for all the lovely responses to my blogs. I really appreciate it, and the chance to share my thoughts with you, and hear yours about them. I was particularly touched by the many people in their 20′s who responded to what I had to say about those years. I really respect the challenges you face, and I know that it's not an easy time. Everyone thinks it's 'so cool' and 'easy breezy' to be young, but I know just how challenging, hard, and even scary it can be!!! Thank you for writing to me!!!

I wanted to tell you about an art show I did in San Francisco in August. As many of you may remember, I had a contemporary art gallery for four years, which I absolutely loved. I focused mainly on emerging and mid-career artists, and it was an enormous blessing in my life. I said it then, and not just now, I did not have a single day while I had the gallery that I regretted doing it, felt like it was a headache, or was sorry that I had done it. It was pure joy every single day. I represented 22 artists and had two people working there with me, in a beautiful space in a lovely residential neighbourhood, and it broke my heart when we closed our doors. Very sadly, the gallery was a casualty to the embezzlement I experienced, and the embezzler convinced me to close my doors. It was a tremendous lesson, retrospectively, not to follow someone else's advice, who in this case did not have good intentions toward me. I should have trusted myself and my own instincts and stayed open, but I trusted that person implicitly and followed her advice. I still miss the gallery every day, but am grateful for those wonderful four years and the terrific people I met and worked with, and the opportunity to represent 22 very talented artists!!! What an honor and a joy that was!!!

Tank staring at John Kuzich's "Escape"

When I closed the gallery, I didn't want to leave my artists in the lurch, so I tried to find other galleries for as many of them as I could. And one gallery which took on several of my artists was the Andrea Schwartz Gallery in San Francisco, run by a woman of the same name. She has a beautiful gallery and is an absolutely wonderful person, represents some terrific artists and runs the business with her husband Steve. Under the close supervision of an adorable golden retriever named Tank!!!

We had lunch together one day, several months after I closed, and I was mourning about how much I missed the gallery and the art business, and she made me the irresistible offer of curating one or two art shows for her per year. I couldn't believe my good luck when she asked me to do it. Curating means that you select the artists to be in a show, pick the work to be shown, and then hang it in the gallery for the show. Curating is something I thoroughly enjoy, and she offered to give me carte blanche, let me select the artists and the work, and hang them however I liked. I leapt at the offer, and I have done three shows for her so far. And I hope to do many more, if she'll let me!!! We have had an absolute ball working together, and have produced some very good looking shows that people liked.

"Love Denim" by Gordon Smedt

And I just did a show for her in August. There were 9 artists in the show, 3 of my old artists whom I represented at my gallery (2 of whom Andrea now represents), 3 of the artists she currently represents that I never did, and 3 artists we borrowed from other galleries. And we showed 20 paintings in the show. And they were just terrific, I absolutely loved them, and the pieces worked well together. I selected the artists in January, and the work in May, and we hung the show the day before the show opened.

And it is soooooooo exciting to be part of the artistic process. (And I will confess that I liked the work so much that I bought three of the pieces myself.) One of my goals at my gallery (it was called steel gallery) was to show work at reasonable prices, so that people could buy art at accessible prices. The work Andrea shows is also in a very reasonable range, and we showed paintings in this recent show from $1,500 to $15,000. And we chose work that would be fun and appealing that people would enjoy owning. I love 'happy' art, and lean to bright colors and subjects.

"Super" by Gordon Smedt

It's really fun for me to keep my hand in, and participate in a field I love so much. It's a happy business filled with fresh ideas and inspiration, and a wonderful balance to my writing. Writing is a very solitary process, you spend weeks and months alone in a room, working on the story, and the art business gets me out in the world, meeting people, exchanging ideas, and watching how other people express the artistic process. It is sooooooooo much fun for me. And I hope to do another show, or maybe even two, next year!!!! I just love it!!!!!  Love, Danielle

Paris Fun

I just had a very fun time at a party in Paris. It was an anniversary party (20 years) given by friends, and I had a ball. She's a journalist; he's an editor, so it was an interesting crowd. But better yet, it was given at the MOST trendy/in/chic nightclub in Paris: Le Baron. I've heard about it for years, since my kids go there, but I've never had an excuse to go. (My kids love me, but let's face it, the last thing they want when they go to a trendy nightclub is their mother tagging along—-although I LOVE to dance, and usually they are very sweet to include me in things. But I guess taking me to Le Baron with them would really be pushing it!!). But tonight I got to go, since it was taken over for a private party. It's a small, cozy little club, in a good residential neighborhood, with a slightly shabby look to it, very dark and intimate, with velvet banquettes, and the music was fun, and LOUD!!! Lots of people danced, and everyone had fun. A point of history was that the popular nightclub used to be a strip joint in another life, and several of the men remembered going there when they were younger. No sign of that tonight!!! Just a lot of relatively jazzy looking people at the party.

Better yet, I got to do something outrageous. I had no idea what people wear at Le Baron, so I winged it. Normally, if my fashionista daughters were in town I would have consulted them, but they weren't so I had to figure it out on my own. I wore a long black satin shirt with a white front (like a man's shirt), with skinny black pants, high heels, and a rhinestone necklace. As those things go, I think it looked okay…..but then, I happened to be in a store this week and saw a black satin headband, with rhinestone mouse ears on it (Kind of like Minnie Mouse goes to nightclub in Paris…..), and I couldn't resist. They also had cat ears, which looked even sillier, and rabbit ears which would have been truly absurd. So I settled on the rhinestone mouse ears. They probably would have been a lot cuter if I were l6 years old. But one of the (few) nice things about getting older is it no longer seems like a life crushing event if you have a sense of humor, laugh at yourself, or even make a fool of yourself once in a while. So I bought the mouse ears—–and I had this wicked/naughty sense when I did, knowing that my daughters would kill me for going out in something like that. (But let's not forget that I wore a whoopee cushion costume on Halloween 2 years ago, so my sense of humor does occasionally get out of control). So off I went to the party in the black satin shirt—-AND the rhinestone mouse ears. I thought they were hysterically funny, and yes I was the only one at the party in mouse ears. I forgot I had them on, and they caused considerable comment!!! (Of course, who else would be silly enough to wear mouse ears to a chic nightclub?) Well, I did it. So I got to go to a fun place I've never been, see friends, meet new people, and dance myself silly—-while wearing rhinestone mouse ears. It shows that you can be ridiculous at any age. I know I will be scolded soundly when my daughters find out—-You Wore WHAT??? ARE YOU KIDDING??? Do you know how ridiculous you looked??? Are you crazy??? What did people think? MOUSE EARS??????? Yeah, mouse ears. Then of course I'll be sent to my room, put on restriction, have my allowance taken away, not be allowed to go shopping without supervision for a year, my mouse ears will probably be confiscated, and I'll be put in the Hall of (Fashion) Shame. But I got away with it tonight…..and I got to go to Le Baron….in mouse ears…..it was wayyyyyyyyy cool, and I had a ball!!!

Love, Danielle

Summer in Paris

When I came back to Paris in June, it was very, very chilly, kind of gray and rained a lot. And it looked like we were going to miss Spring entirely. Sometimes that happens here, and you can have a cold June, or even July. But then, overnight, literally, the warm weather hit. We went from wearing a coat in the daytime one day, to sweltering the next. And it is hot!!! In early July, it was in the 90′s and had been for days. And people don't have air conditioning in their homes here the way they do in the states (buildings are old, windows don't lend themselves to air conditioners), and it is HOOOOOOTTTTTT!!! I kind of like it, although by the end of the day, I feel as though I'm melting.

The tourists line up at the Eiffel Tower, and walk along the Champs Elysees, eating ice cream, sitting in cafes, and probably swarming through the Louvre, and at Euro Disney. French tourists from the provinces crowd Paris too. The government orders all stores to have sales twice a year, in June and July, for an entire month. Prices are usually cut by about 50%, sometimes 70%, so people come from all over France to check out the Paris shops and get a bargain. As a result, there is a ton of traffic and you can hardly move in the city. But there are some great deals to be had, and the tourists love them too!!! So Paris is chock a block in summer.

There are wonderful things to do, walks in the parks and the Bois de Boulogne, sit at an outdoor cafe, wander through the streets of Paris by day or night. The bicycles you can rent at stands everywhere, called Velibres, allow people to get around the city in an easy way, and not by car. It is an irresistible city, at any time of year, in any weather, and the beauty of it shines in the good weather. I spend most of my time seeing friends, but I am always aware of and in love with the beauty of the city. And there are lots of exotic visitors here this time of year. I still go to the auctions I love, but at this time of year, they are slowing down. My favorite auction house closes for two months in late July. And the entire country is starting to go on vacation.

In France, it is the law that everyone gets at least 5 weeks of vacation a year. And it's usually not spread out throughout the year. People either take July off, or August. So by mid July, the whole country pretty much shuts down. Factories are closed, businesses, industries, and in August most restaurants and stores in Paris are closed too. The city is empty in August. And in some ways, the July or August vacations give the country kind of a holiday atmosphere, because everyone is going on vacation somewhere, even if only to visit their families in the hinterlands of France, or more exciting locations. And it's great having a whole month off. The whole country is off playing somewhere. It makes it hard to get things done in July and August, but everyone here expects it, so they plan around it.

Favorite vacation spots in summer for the French are the South of France, which is mostly beach towns, and jammed in summer. Famous St. Tropez, Cannes, Nice, Antibes, the fancier St. Jean Cap Ferrat. Deauville is also a popular beach town, in Normandy. People also love going to Brittany (Bretagne), where people do a lot of sailing, it's more rugged, and the weather is cooler (a little like Maine). And then there are the interior spots like Provence, famous for its wonderful food and herbs.

It's great to be here in the summer…..and in a little while, I am going to take a peek at the sales. It's hard to resist a bargain, especially at half price, in Paris!!! I hope you're having a good summer too. 

Love, Danielle

San Francisco 'Summer'?

I think I've mentioned to you before Mark Twain's comment about San Francisco. He said that the coldest winter he ever spent was summer in San Francisco. And he wasn't kidding.

I've just come home from a wonderful summer trip with my kids in France and Italy. The summer started out cool in June, even chilly in Paris, and then overnight in late June or early July, the summer burst forth in full bloom, and we had a heat wave in Paris. Ninety degrees most of the time, hot nights, and it hit l00 degrees for a few days in mid-July. We went to the South of France then, and spent a few days in Italy, and the weather was close to l00 on many days, but being at the beach and on the water, we didn't mind the heat. And it cooled down, but only a little bit, when we got back to Paris in late July. And it was very tolerable, when I stopped in New York for a night, on the way back to San Francisco on the last day of July.

When you mention California to people in Europe, or even other parts of the U.S., their faces light up with envy, and they instantly think "ahhh….warm weather'. Tourists who come to San Francisco in the summer assume that LA and SF enjoy the same climate, and you see them shivering in shorts and tank tops, waiting for the cable car, while they turn to icebergs. Actually, the chilliest months in San Francisco are July and August, when the city is swathed in fog, with a chill wind off the Bay. If we get hot days at all, they are in September, and not for long, or an occasionally lucky day in June, but San Francisco is basically chilly all year long, with permanent 'autumn'. You can get by wearing fall and winter clothes all year, except for those few rare warm days in September. I never get to wear summer clothes in SF, and don't buy them anymore, or if I do, I wear them in Europe or New York. What you want to do in SF is bundle up in the summer!!! The temperature is in the 50′s in the daytime, during San Francisco 'summer'. And the only way you know it's summer is by looking at the calendar. If you look out the window, or step out the door, it looks and feels like November.

So if you're planning a trip to San Francisco, bring your woolies, your heaviest sweaters and bring a warm coat!!! I'm serious!!! I wore a big wooly shearling coat the other day, in the daytime, in August. The hardest thing about San Francisco summers is that they get so depressing, the gray days really get to you, and the fog all day or every afternoon. People here talk constantly about how depressing the weather is in summer, and I cant disagree. After weeks of it, your spirits really plummet, and you know it will be just as cold the next day and all the weeks after. The odd thing is that if you travel just a short distance, you find yourself back in summer weather. Drive an hour South down the Peninsula, and it's in the 80′s or 90′s. An hour and a half North, into the Napa Valley, and the temperatures are close to l00 degrees. And just across the Bay, toward the East, in Berkeley, it is easily 70 or 80 degrees, while it's 50 in the city at high noon. But in the city by the Bay, with the cable cars and the quaint houses, the legend of Nob Hill with its fancy hotels (The Fairmont, Huntington, and Mark Hopkins) and reputation for sophistication, and the Golden Gate Bridge swathed in fog in the summer, it's just plain freezing…..so if you're coming out to see us, especially in summer, button up, wrap up, and once you're here, try to cheer up despite the gray weather and fog, and icy blasts of wind. It's a pretty city, there's no doubt, but just as Mark Twain said, it is freeeeeeeeeeezzzzzing in the summer!!!! I hope you're spending the summer someplace warm and sunny!!! (And now that I'm back, I wish I were too!!!).

Love, Danielle

Family Ties

I don't usually talk about my books here, and use it more as a forum for sharing with you what I think or how I feel, or to tell you what I'm doing, or something exciting I've seen. But I do write the books after all, and I guess that's worth talking about too. I have a new book out, in hardcover, called "Family Ties", and I love the book. (It has a turquoise cover, with three eggs in a nest). It's about a young woman (26 years old), in her first job as an architect, fresh out of school, with a brand new apartment she loves, and a terrific new boyfriend she is crazy about, and he is crazy about her too!!. Her life is on a roll!!! She has a married sister ten years older, with a great husband and three kids.The older sister and her husband die in a plane crash in the first chapter, and the younger sister inherits the three kids (who are 5, 8, and 11). Her life is instantly changed. She cant stay in the new apartment, has to work twice as hard at her job since she's an overnight single parent, and of course the boyfriend takes a look at what she's dealing with, and instantly takes a hike. Bye. The young architect loved her sister, loves her kids, and is totally stunned by what has happened to her life.

In the second chapter, you fast forward 16 years. The kids are pretty much grown up, the oldest is the jewelry editor of a fashion magazine and leads a high powered very stressful life (afraid to attach to anyone since her parents died). The middle child, a boy, is a law student, and the youngest child is an art student and a very independent kid (tattoos, piercings, and very much her own person). The aunt who brought them up adores them, and they love her. And she is now adjusting to their having grown up and moved out, and the void they have left in her life. For 16 years, her whole life has centered around them, so now what does she do? She has a successful business, but an empty nest, and hasn't had the time or inclination to have a serious man in her life for 16 years, she was too busy bringing up the kids.

The book is about everything that happens after that, to the 3 young people, to the aunt, their relationship with each other, and with other people. The people they get involved with, the situations they face. There are a lot of touching things in it, and some funny ones (a series of terrible blind dates set up by friends who insist she has to find a guy, and she really doesn't want to—particularly after those dates.). I love the book, and I hope you will too. It's about 4 people, facing real life and the real world, and the situations that some of us face, with kids, and just trying to cope, particularly as single parents—-and in this case, the kids aren't even hers, but they might as well be, she has been a wonderful stand-in single parent for them. And of course there is some excitement and adventure and a few hairy scary moments.

Anyway, I wanted to share with you that the book is out. I hope that you'll buy it and love it. I have a paperback out right now too, "Matters of the Heart", about the very unnerving story of a woman who gets involved with a charming sociopath. Parts of that are terrifying, and experiences like that must happen to a lot of people, because I got an enormous amount of mail from people who had survived similar situations. I try to write about the things that happen to real people, and affect us all. If you have time for summer reading, I hope you'll buy the books!!! Love, Danielle