The Sex and the City movie is almost here.  A few years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Candace Bushnell after her book signing at a local Borders.  At her reading, she strutted to the podium in her pink Prada pumps, and read an excerpt from Trading Up.  My boyfriend (at the time) and I glanced at each other with raised eyebrows because her voice sounded exactly like Sarah Jessica Parker’s.  During Q&A, I had to pull down my boyfriend’s arm to prevent him from saying, “Do you know your voice sounds exactly like Carrie’s?”

Candace answered many questions about writing.  I really found her advice to be helpful for people at square one  — often times at book signings an author’s advice seems vague and run-of-the-mill.  I felt she kept it pretty real.  She said something that may spark some protest, but I feel I agreed with her deep in my heart.  She said that if you want to be a writer, you have to really immerse yourself in writing.  If you want to be a doctor, go ahead and be a doctor, but you will be a doctor who writes, not a writer.  She said that you just have to write and write and write, and you’ll probably get rejected a bunch of times.  But when you get a chance, you have to take that chance and give it everything you’ve got.  She said that sometimes all you’ll have is two dollars to your name.  And that’s all you’ll have while you stand in line at a hot dog stand.

My interview with her involved questions about writing and fashion.  It was not the highlight of my career, but she was pretty awesome and newly married and I could not believe how amazing and happy she seemed at forty.  She told me she liked wearing cut up socks on her hands when she wrote and throwing on oversized LL Bean.  I remember being somewhat shocked that she didn’t put on some sort of Balenciaga frock while at her laptop.  I also remember feeling sort of embarrassed for asking her that question because of what I considered a boring response at the time.  What the hell did I know.

But as I sit here, writing this, with my son tucked in and in deep sleep, I don’t find her answer boring at all.  I can picture her lounging and comfortable and writing from the heart.

Photo courtesy of Lisa Nunez.