To become as prolific an author as Danielle Steel, you’d need an almost superhuman level of energy and very, very little sleep according to Kerri Anne Renzulli from CNBC… Support our news coverage by subscribing to our Kindle Nation Daily Digest. Joining is free right now!

The 71-year-old romance writer, whose work has earned her a Guinness World Record for spending the most consecutive time on a bestseller list — 390 weeks, or 7.5 years — told Glamour that she works 20 to 22 hours a day.

And when’s she feeling behind, a full 24 hours.

If you’re calculating, yes, that leaves, at most, four hours for sleeping. Steel apparently doesn’t really need it and says she won’t go to bed until she’s so tired she could sleep on the floor.

After these brief snoozes, she rises and heads to her office, just a short walk from her bedroom in her 55-room San Francisco mansion, and begins writing at her desk, which is shaped like three of her best-selling novels stacked atop one another, by 8 a.m.

The only sustenance she needs to maintain these writing streaks? A piece of toast and an iced decaf coffee in the morning and bittersweet chocolate for snacking.

Depending on the day, she may be in a cashmere nightgown or her usual uniform of black jeans, black sweater, black shoes, a long ponytail and no makeup. (If she’s working from her home in Paris, she might try harder with her look by opting for slacks, a great blouse and high heels, according to T Magazine.)

“Dead or alive, rain or shine, I get to my desk and I do my work,” Steel told Glamour.

Such dedication it seems is necessary to sustain the creative outflow that leads to publishing seven new novels a year.

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