Dan DaranciangCadenza reporter Marla Friedman recently sat down with Candace Bushnell, author of the real “Sex and the City” columns that inspired the popular television series, in order to discuss her new book, “Lipstick Jungle.” The interview follows:
Cadenza: What is the message you want to send to readers with “Lipstick Jungle”?
Bushnell: There probably are a couple of different messages. I think the book is about female power and female friendship, and I think the message is to not be afraid of yourself, don’t be afraid of your own desires. We always think of desires as just being sexual; that’s pretty much all women are allowed, but we have other desires as well. We have desires for accomplishment and empowerment and maybe even for power over our own lives. It’s really about not being afraid to acknowledge your desires for yourself in the world. It’s also about supporting other women; it’s really important for women to validate each other and to validate each other’s dreams.
C: Who has inspired you most as a woman and as an author?
B: I’m inspired a lot by women athletes. I find the idea of going for the gold medal so fascinating, and I find it really inspiring. Gosh, last night I watched someone win the gold medal at the World and I thought: that is just such an amazing thing, to see somebody go for something and achieve it. To see a women going for something is always moving to me.
C: Was there someone as you were growing up that inspired you to be a writer?
B: I always wanted to be a writer. I had never met a writer probably until I was 20 years old, and I moved to New York. So I just had it as a dream, as something I always wanted to do and I just never gave it up.
C: Any tips for aspiring women writers in college?
B: Getting your life experience is only a small part of it. The biggest part of it is practice, practice, practice. It’s like playing an instrument, like playing the violin. You cannot bypass the fact that you have to sit down and put in ours of work sitting at the computer, rewriting. When I first started out, I wrote short stories. But I had jobs-I was staff writer for Self magazine, I did an internship for a PR company when I was in college and I begged them to let me write their press releases. It’s putting in the hours of just correcting the sentences, and that’s the hard part, that’s the part that people don’t really want to do.
C: What is your favorite book that you’ve written?
B: You know, they’re all favorites to me in a way. I love “Trading Up” and “Lipstick Jungle,” and I love “4 Blondes.” “4 Blondes” is meant to be kind of experimental, and I think it was. It has different styles in it, and there are things about it that I love. Like I love when James Dieke does the cocaine and has to go to the hospital. There’s a lot of black humor in “4 Blondes,” but I do love them all. And I’m proud of all of them.