Nora Roberts' happily-ever-after life
(CBS News) Nora Roberts is an author who never can be counted out. The stories she's written fill many a bookstore shelf. And, as Rita Braver is about to show us, they've found a place on TV screens as well:
"You know, not everything's life and death . . . sometimes it's just fun."
And there's plenty of romantic fun to be had - not only in "Angels Fall," the TV movie based on the novel by Nora Roberts, but in all of her books.
"I think love matters most - it's the most powerful emotion that we have," Roberts said. "And I like writing books that celebrate that between two really interesting strong people."
Interesting and strong, a description that fits Nora Roberts herself. She's one of the top-selling authors in the world, with more than 400 million books in print and legions of devoted fans who can't seem to get enough of her strong, independent heroines.
"They always seem to have an interesting career," said Britteny Devicq. "They can take care of themselves or they get through adversity."
In fact, Roberts is credited with being one of the first romance writers to steer away from young, helpless and hapless women. "Yeah, an orphan virgin raised by an aunt and was a secretary of the hero who's the richest man in the free world, which can be a really fun story - what's wrong with that?" Roberts said. "But you don't want to tell that every time."
And she doesn't just write pure romance. In 1995 she created a science fiction detective series using the pseudonym J.D. Robb, to make it clear that this a departure from her usual fare:
"I had this idea for the main character of Eve Dallas, a homicide lieutenant in the near future with a very dark past, a difficult woman," she said.
But no matter what name she's writing under, her heroes and heroines are bound to be fabulous looking.
"Why do I want to write about ugly people? You know, it's my book - they can all be pretty."
"I think we have to say this: You write great sex scenes," said Braver.
"Oh, I hope so," replied Roberts. "Again, if you're writing a relationship book and you don't write a good sex scene then it's kind of disappointing, isn't it? You want these characters to have fabulous sex. And either very romantic sex, or fun sex, or hot sex, whatever fits those two characters in that situation or that time."
"Do people always ask you if these experiences come from your own life?"
"Oh, yeah, all the time. And I say, 'Oh yeah. I've had all the great sex, with many, many different men. And I've solved crimes. I've committed them. You know I've traveled in space. I've, you know, climbed mountains. Done it all!"
She's done it all - all the writing, that is - from her home in rural Maryland, where she's lived since 1972.
"It's my place - I recognized it immediately, when there was nothing here, that this is where I want to be. It's where I want to raise my children."
She was a young mom, marooned here during a snowstorm in 1979, when she decided to start writing.
"Two children - two boys - for days," Roberts said. "And I thought, I'm going insane. Murder/suicide could happen. That's how far gone I was, And I said, I'm going to write one of these stories down that was always playing around in my head just for fun, just for something to do for sanity. And the minute I started that was it. In a notebook with a pencil."
But publishers were not immediately impressed; she was rejected many times.
"You still kept at it?" asked Braver.
"Oh yeah. I wanted it. I really wanted it."
Her first novel was published in 1981, and in just over three decades she's turned out more than 200 books, many of them number one bestsellers.
She says she spends 6 to 8 hours a day working in her home office, and (we were surprised to learn) she finds writing a struggle.
"Because I think people hear, 'Gosh, she's written 200 books, it must be so easy for her . . . ' No. Writing is never easy. If it wasn't hard, everybody would do it. You know, like baseball."
The work has won her 19 Romance Writers of America Awards, and reportedly a whopping $60 million a year. So if you're wondering what she could possibly spend it all on? How about an old inn built in the 1790s in the town of Boonsboro, Md., just a few miles from her home?
"I would see this building, just falling apart, and I kept thinking, I could save this building," Roberts said. "All of the windows were broken. Pigeons were living inside, the floors, you know, we basically had to gut it and start from there."
It is now up and running, after a multi-million dollar renovation - the original brick and arches still there. "It was really important to me to respect the integrity of the building and its history."
Roberts personally designed each of the inn's guest rooms in honor of a famous couple in literature. There's one dedicated to Elizabeth and Darcy from "Pride and Prejudice"; Jane and Rochester from "Jane Eyre"; and even Eve and Roarke from her J.D. Robb science fiction series.
"I mean, if I can't name a room after my own characters in my own inn, who can?" Roberts said. "This is much more contemporary - or a little bit futuristic with touches like, you know, the Louis XVI ghost chairs and the pop of orange in the antique-y looking dresser."
Roberts used the renovation of the inn as the basis for a fictional trilogy about Boonsboro, and the town is something of a family preoccupation. Her son owns the local pizza joint, and her second husband, Bruce Wilder, owns the bookstore.
Braver asked him, "What's fun about being married to Nora Roberts?"
"Oh, it's all good. She's very creative, and I love her."
Loves her so much he's got a whole section devoted to his wife's amazing career.
Braver asked Roberts if she is like one of her heroines, having a "happily ever after" life.
"Yeah, yeah, that's a pretty good deal," she replied.
But at age 61, don't expect Roberts to ride off into the sunset any time soon.
"What would I do with all those stories? They'd be crowding in my head, driving me crazy - Let me out of here!"
For more info:
- noraroberts.com
- "The Perfect Hope: Book Three of the Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy" by Nora Roberts (Putnam)