A Letter from Danielle for October ‘19
Hi Everyone,
By now, we’re all well into fall-summer is a dim memory-and we’re heading into winter. I love these crisp autumn days, they give me energy, and I’m usually up to my ears in new projects and books by this time of year. We’re not buried in snow yet, so we can enjoy some real fall weather.
Exciting news!!! After seeing how much my children and many friends and people I know enjoy Instagram, I have leapt in. I’m on Instagram now, to share some glimpses into my life, what I’m doing, where I’ve been and to share with you some of the people and places I love. Photos of my beloved dogs of course: Minnie (the Magnificent, star of my children’s books Pretty Minnie in Paris, Pretty Minnie Goes to Hollywood, and Pure Joy, about the family dogs we love), Blue (her shy younger sister), and Lili (the lovable juvenile delinquent of the dog world). Instagram gives me the opportunity to share some private moments with you-and in October, maybe a photograph of some past unforgettable Halloween costumes. So please take a look, and I hope you enjoy my first adventure with Instagram!! It’s: @officialdaniellesteel.
October will get off to a great start for me, with two new books coming out at the same time on October 8th. My brand-new hardcover Child’s Play-for those of you with grown “children” in their 20’s and 30’s. This book should resonate for you and comfort you that your kids aren’t the only ones on the planet challenging their parents!!! And for those of you who don’t have kids that age, you can be smug and celebrate, knowing how perfect your children are!!! Mine are too-sometimes!!! The book is about a single mother, long widowed, who brought up her three children on her own. She’s a successful attorney herself, a firm believer in a good education and good jobs, and her kids have had both. And her children appear to be perfect, much to her delight!!! But suddenly the planet tilts-and reality hits!!! Her youngest daughter just finished law school and is in her first job at a great law firm as a young attorney-she gets romantically involved with an older man (a client of the firm, so she’s breaking the rules and risking her job), and she makes some very important life decisions that are not at all in keeping with her upbringing or her mother’s ideas of what’s right. Her son, her middle child, is engaged to the “perfect” girl from a very fancy, social family (every mother’s dream for her son). They’re planning their wedding-and he falls madly in love with a girl at his gym, who appears to be a very unsuitable girl (but is actually terrific, although not from a “good” family). By now, their mom is having serious anxiety over her kids, and her oldest daughter tops it all-she has a very important job in fashion-and admits to her mother a very important secret she has kept for 10 years. Poor Mom, chaos reigns (and some major battles) and she learns that she can’t control her kids or even influence them-only to discover that sometimes the unusual outcomes are the right ones, and Mom doesn’t always know best-sometimes the kids get it right too, even if their choices are VERY different from ours. It’s about learning to accept each other as we are, and learning to let our kids fly on their own wings, which is not so easy to do . . . with tears and laughter, and lessons to be learned on all sides!!! A slice of real life!!!
And at the same time, my paperback of Beauchamp Hall is coming out. It’s a fun book about a young woman trapped in a job, life, and relationship she hates, with seemingly no way out. Then everything goes wrong, and she throws caution to the winds. In a brave moment, she leaves everything in pursuit of a more exciting life on the set where her favorite TV series is filmed . . . and the fun begins then!!!
I hope you love both of these books!!! . . . and at the end of the month, we have one of my family’s favorite holidays: Halloween. My family has always gone a little crazy on Halloween, ever since they were kids and even as adults. Great costumes, lots of fun, Trick or Treat, and lots of candy. We’ve seen some pretty wild costumes over the years. (One of my daughter’s boyfriends made a costume to look like her dog), witches, goblins, and a “Pumpkin” with a painted orange face-which took 3 weeks to get off!!! Have a Happy Halloween!!! With lots of Treat and no Trick!!! And I hope you love the new books!!!
Love,
Danielle