Dannielle Steel, the Romance Novelist, and Her Love Affair with Olympia.

Anyone who loves reading romances and quite a few who do not know who Dannielle Steel is or at least a few of her books. She has sold close to a billion copies of her over 190 books written and published. She has had a not-so-secret love affair with a German.

Olympia is the name of the lover she spends an average of 20 hours a day with. Born in 1946, this lover can be heard clomping, clickity, and clackety at all hours of the day and night. Dannielle knows how to push his buttons and has been since the very beginning of her career.

Yet the story gets more scandalous! She now has a second lover that Olympia knows nothing about! Olympia is left waiting patiently for Dannielle's fingers to press on his keys, sometimes for months, all alone in San Francisco.

Meanwhile, a new manual typewriter is feeling the pressure of those tireless fingers in Paris! While the Olympia shows its German heritage by being very fancy, it is rumored that the new typewriter could be the twin of her original.

She has written all of her novels on one of these two Olympia typewriters. Her editor, Betty Kelly Sargent, has commented on the faded letters that inevitably occur from time to time in the typed drafts of Dannielle's novels.

Dannielle has apologized to her very patient editor and explains that this is the result of getting so into her novels that she forgets to change the ribbons on her Olympia typewriters. She has also sent her heartfelt condolences for the "sea of hand notes, asterisks, arrows" that inevitably appear on the typed drafts before they reach her editor’s desk.

When asked several times over the years why she chooses to write on her vintage manual typewriters and not a computer, one of the first reasons is that computers usually do not make the same sounds as she types.

Anyone who has experienced the exhilaration of typing on a manual typewriter can completely understand! While I am typing on my Clunky Smith Corona, the sound of the keys striking is like the sound of the engine of a race car at the Indie 500.

As the clickity clackety speeds up as I fall into the writing trance, my heart keeps pace! By the time the scene slows down, my heart and the sound of the keys are beating/striking in tandem. Or that is how it seems to me. At times, I wonder if I were to stop writing for too long, my heart would falter. I have no intention of finding out! Since Dannielle writes for 20 hours a day, I have a feeling she will not be finding out any time soon, either.

Betty Kelly Sargent asked Dannielle in an interview once how she was able to find replacement ribbons for her vintage typewriters since they are no longer made. Dannielle assured her editor that a few typewriter replacement ribbons were still manufactured today, just not very many.

Dannielle went on to lament the fact that not very many repair technicians exist today to repair vintage manual typewriters. She then added with the undeniable sound of relief in her voice that she had only needed to have one of her Olympia typewriters repaired twice.  

The fact that these vintage manual typewriters are over 70 plus years old and she only paid $30 for the first at a junk shop speaks of the quality and pride companies took in their products back in the day. After all, she has been typing on one or the other an average of 20 hours a day since her kids left for college and as often as possible while her kids were still at home.

Dannielle has also mentioned her terror of hitting the wrong button on a typewriter and deleting an entire draft if she were to write on a computer. As someone who has forgotten to click save as often as I should and had the power cut out, I completely understand!

One question we at Classic Typewriter are asked all the time is how can you make corrections on a draft typed on a manual typewriter. Dannielle has a unique take on how to do just that. She says that by the time she sends a draft to her editor it has asterisks all over it and things crossed out.

This is probably as good an answer as any writer could hope for. After all, most writers and dreamers write on the manual typewriter to avoid the distractions of the modern computer. When we are writing, we are writing, and only when that draft is complete do we edit and proofread the manuscript.

Oh, there are whiteout and correction pens that can be helpful once in a while, but for the writers I know, and myself included, they are not used very often. Speaking of the role of writer and editor brings me to one more facet of wisdom the inestimable Dannielle Steel has for all of us writers and dreamers out there.

She describes her writing and her beloved editor, Betty Kelly Sargent, as dance partners. In fact, she says that her past editors would always try to interfere with her writing, asking her to write scenes that have her characters doing or saying things that were not in Dannielle's draft.

Betty Kelly Sargent, on the other hand, asks questions that occur to her as a reader of great romance novels. I wonder this or that about the character or what background that character has. This, in turn, allows Dannielle the freedom to go with her gut in her revisions.

Dannielle Steel and her editor, Betty Kelly Sargent, create wonderful books that millions and millions of adoring fans love the work they create. We all hope these two continue their amazing dance for many decades to come.

For anyone who loves writing, dreaming, or just wants to take a stab at making their heart race with the clickity clackity of manual typewriters, subscribe to our Classic Typewriter newsletter. Where we share tips, ideas, and inspirational bios about authors writing on manual vintage typewriters all the time.