Ever Busy, He’s His Own Worst Boss

In Whatever Works, we feature an interesting person discussing some aspect of his or her career or special project. Today’s guest is author Sidney Sheldon, who has also written for the movies and Broadway and created television shows.

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Question: What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

Answer: Selling ladies’ shoes in a department store. I had no experience and had no idea what I was doing. When a customer asked for a size 7B, I ransacked our stockroom, and when I couldn’t find one, I gave her an 8A and lied to her. She had me fired. Rightly so.

Q: What is your fantasy job?

A: Ruling the world; stopping wars, crime, poverty, disease, children dying, hatred. Wouldn’t that be loverly?

Q: Who’s the worst boss you ever had?

A: I was, and still am. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Shouldn’t there be some kind of law?

Q: What’s the most fun you’ve had at work?

A: Creating new characters for my novels . . . directing Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr and Cecil B. DeMille in a movie . . . listening to Fred Astaire and Judy Garland reading my lines . . . working with Irving Berlin in Hollywood, and George Balanchine and Bob Fosse on Broadway. The list is long, and the memories are unforgettable.

Q: What was your first job?

A: I had a magazine route when I was 8. I was 15 when I started to work in hotel checkrooms in Chicago after school as a hang boy.

Q: Most people probably don’t know you once worked as a . . .

A: Delivery boy, theater usher, barker, hatcheck boy, salesman, switchboard operator, factory worker, driving instructor, script reader . . .

Q: What do you love about your work?

A: Touching lives around the world.

Q: What do you hate about it?

A: Absolutely nothing. The act of creating, whether it is in music, painting or writing, is as close as anyone can come to reaching up and touching the stars.

Q: What’s the hardest part of what you do?

A: Letting the characters go when I finish a novel. I spend from a year to a year and a half rewriting before my publisher sees a word. In the end, they usually have to tear the manuscript away from me.

Q: What is your current project?

A: I’m working on an autobiography, a novel and a Broadway show.

Q: How do you deal with the stress you must feel?

A: My wife, Alexandra, and I travel a great deal. Meeting new and interesting people and seeing new places is a wonderful way to recharge the creative batteries.

Q: When did you know you wanted to write?

A: From the time I was 10 and sold my first poem to a children’s magazine.

Q: What drives you to keep going?

A: Ideas. They refuse to be ignored. They can come unbidden in the small hours of the night or in the blazing noonday sun, but they refuse to go away until they are taken care of.

Q: What’s something most people don’t know about what you do?

A: When “The Naked Face” was published, I was sure that it was going to break every known publishing record--that it would not sell one single copy! In order to avoid that embarrassment, I went into a bookstore and bought one. It has since become a superstition. The day a new novel of mine comes out, I always go into a bookstore and buy one copy.

Sidney Sheldon’s new novel, “Tell Me Your Dreams” (William Morrow), is now in bookstores.