Discipline drives author

KEEDYSVILLE, Md. — Endless reserves of imagination aren't all it takes to write 165 novels. It also requires the discipline of a drill sergeant. Nora Roberts has arranged her life carefully, paring down the clutter and distractions that would threaten to dull her laserlike focus.

It's hard to argue with the results.

Roberts is in the middle of a typically busy year. Her latest romantic suspense book, "Angels Fall," came out July 11. Later this year will bring the release of a futuristic crime novel, written under the pseudonym J.D. Robb, and three romantic-fantasy paperbacks, "The Circle Trilogy," in successive months. There's also a new J.D. Robb novella published as part of an anthology.

How does she do it? Is she some kind of machine?

Roberts laughs. "I often say I'm not a machine. I think I have a really strong work ethic, plus I really love the work. I think if you love what you do, you do a lot of it. I have a lot of discipline . . . and I have a fast pace," the 55-year-old author says.

Roberts, a trim, energetic redhead with a slight smoker's rasp, would rather be writing than sitting for an interview. Still, during a morning visit to her tranquil home in the mountains of western Maryland, she is warm and accommodating, discussing her life and work at length and even providing a tour.

A lifelong Maryland resident, Roberts was born in Silver Spring — the youngest of five children, and the only girl. Her upbringing shaped her work ethic.

"I had nine years of Catholic school, and grew up in an Irish Catholic family, with parents who expected you to do what you were told and do your job," Roberts says. "And while I'm extremely lapsed, I still have the core of Catholic guilt. . . . If I just blew off a day and didn't have a really good reason, I would feel guilty about that. I mean, it would just not be worth it to me."

To stave off the guilt, Roberts treats writing like a regular job. She works Monday through Friday, eight hours a day — sometimes more. And she doesn't sit around waiting to be inspired.

"You're going to be unemployed if you really think you just have to sit around and wait for the muse to land on your shoulder. That's not the way I work. I build a story," she says. "I think the muse would be an awfully fickle character to depend on for your livelihood."