The Lark Theater Gets Sexy: Author Candace Bushnell Comes to Larkspur
By Megan Richcreek-
Last Friday, Candace Bushnell, author of Sex and the City and the new book One Fifth Avenue, strode onto the stage of the Lark Theater to bring her brand of fantasy, fun and fashion to Marin, courtesy of Book Passage and the Lark Theater.
Women in their 30s and 40s made up most of the audience, and some even dragged their spouses along. The women were dressed fashionably, yet no one topped the woman of the hour as she strutted up the stage to read from her newest novel, One Fifth Avenue. The tall blonde sported sky-high black Valentino heels with white polka-dots, which- she joked- “always get more applause than I do”. She was dressed in a jewel-toned blue knee length dress with a beige sweater. And she claimed she’s “not a big shopper”.
Bushnell began the event by reading the first few pages of her newest novel. She read with gusto, as her glasses slid down her nose, acting out each of the characters in varying tones. As 
she read, the words from the page become a performance, and the scene of New York City came alive with each detail. After her reading, Bushnell sat down to a glass of champagne with interviewer Jennifer Solo, another author. They started off with a small tangent on the importance of a good glass of champagne or wine, and then got down to business.
Bushnell says One Fifth Avenue is about “how young people replace the old”. The novel is also about neighbors and friends. In Bushnell’s writing, there is a clear theme of the importance of girlfriends. She said in her own life, girlfriends have her back during emotional times and also in business.
On the city she loves to write about- New York- Bushnell says it is a true landmark-
“When people come to New York, they’re coming to a place where people were 100 years ago.”
Not just to gain favor with the audience, she proclaimed her love for San Francisco as well, calling it a “fantasy city”. In Bushnell's eyes, New York and San Francisco are both “sophisticated cities”.
Surprisingly, Bushnell does not hail from New York, but from a farm town in Connecticut.
Bushnell has had many influences in her writing, but from a young age, she says she was influenced by the children’s book Eloise at the Plaza. She called it the “bee’s knees,” and got a nostalgic laugh from the audience. Bushnell recalled ever since she was a child, she wanted to live in New York City. She finally moved to Big Apple at 19 with $200 in her pocket, determined to make it. In her own writing, Bushnell admits there is a “voyeuristic aspect” to her work, but there is also a “storytelling aspect.” She says that “in New York, you have to stand out…because there’s so many people”. And stand out she does, especially in the Lark Theater, with her outrageous high heels and bright blue dress.
Bushnell recently signed a deal with Harper Collins to do a young adult book about Carrie Bradshaw’s teenage years. Bushnell, now nearly 50, talked about her 20s and the writing process during those years. The beginnings of a novel she was writing at the time, landed her a job at the New York Observer. Admits Bushnell, when you’re in your 20s, it’s “you against the world.” She also challenged all young writers, exhorting them to be ambitious; to try and change the world. Her big break did not come until later, when she was 34 years old with the “Sex and the City” column, which she called one of the best moments of her life. This year, Bushnell is executive producer for the NBC television series Lipstick Jungle.
“You have to be happy where you are in life at that moment…make the most of your life wherever you are.”
That is Bushnell describing her writing process. First she develops her characters. The beginning of each book is “rewritten again and again and again.” Bushnell writes alone and says, "you really have to sit down 
and put in on a page."
Working with young writers brings out the editor in her. For young women writers trying to make it, she gives plenty of advice, urging writers to make it a priority as it was for her-
"Writing was number one in my life."
Bushnell also added something that aspiring writers may not want to hear-
“Writing is not something to do if you think you’re gonna make money at it.”
And it must be a priority. “Writing was number one in my life," she said.
As a child, she was not encouraged by her parents to be a novelist, but she was ambitious. Though she encountered many nay-sayers and “huge amounts of self-doubt and fear”, she encourages other writers to persevere-
"If someone has that kind of passion, they really don’t need any advice."
Bushnell’s passion has led her to great success with her writing.
The Lark Theater just got a little sexier.
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