Candace Bushnell

I wish I was one of those persnickety types who buys guidebooks and studies them, but I don't have the inclination or time. I'm more of a 'get on the plane, arrive at the destination and see what happens' kind of traveler.

I have a house in the Connecticut countryside where you'll always find me, summer or winter.

I was a freelancer all through my twenties. I did about one story a month and I wanted to write fiction, so the stories that I would do were precursors to 'Sex and the City.'

Even as a kid, I never liked breakfast. I just don't like to eat then. I like to get up and work. I think sticking a whole bunch of carbohydrates in your stomach in the morning is probably the worst way to begin the day.

Growing up, nobody I knew even knew a writer. So it was a big adventure and something that I've wrestled with my whole life. I think it's a journey worth taking, really finding out who you are and what you do well.

The women I know who have children and have careers, they seem to be very happy. They love their children and they love their jobs. But happiness comes out of being willing to do your work in your twenties to find out who you are, what you love.

I'm looking forward to writing more novels for young adults.

You need characters who want things. They want love, they want recognition, they want happiness.

I think a young woman's relationship with her father is really important.

'Lipstick Jungle' was on the air for 20 episodes - I loved 'Lipstick Jungle.'

My parents had a great marriage. Interestingly, it made it harder for me in relationships because I knew what a good relationship looked like.

I'm really enjoying being single. I'm not even looking to meet anybody, which is so freeing.

I always thought that there was a really good chance that I wasn't going to get married.

What I have yet to see is a real woman choose a younger man because he spent six hours a day at the gym trying to sculpt his abs.

The fact that a man is open to being with an older woman suggests that he doesn't give a hang what other people think of him. More likely, he's confident, open-minded and willing to make his own rules.

Sometimes I want to be on 'The Real Housewives of New York.' I want to remind them to figure out how to get along and support each other.

Like it or not, in the end, it's one's body. It's literally what carries you through life. There's a reason for the saying, 'If you have your health, you have everything,' and it's true. Old age, disease - these are the great equalizers.

Ever since I can remember I was telling stories and had a huge interest in other people and what made them tick.

The '80s was all about this idea that women could have it all. You could have a career, and you could have a husband, and you could have children.

I started writing about New York as soon as I arrived. I was 19. I used to write short stories and send them out.