SM: There is a lot of pressure to have a successful career. Many women find it tough to continue struggling when it's so easy to settle. What do you think about that?
Candace Bushnell: It's really, really tough. That's because we still don't really raise women to have a career: We raise them to have a career and then to opt out. If the going gets tough with your career - if you're bored, if it's not turning out the way that you wanted it to - then give it up, get married and have kids. The message we don't give women is that being successful is tough. There are very few people who have just had a smooth journey to the top. It is about having ups and downs; it's about persevering and not giving up. And there are times where you do wonder if you're ever going to get anywhere.

SM: People who have passion for something difficult to attain often wonder if it would be easier to go through life taking any job, instead of working for something they may never achieve. Having passion yourself, and having struggled to reach your dream, have you ever pondered that?
Candace Bushnell: I ask myself that question all the time [she laughs]. I think it comes down to your approach to life. When you try to do something, there's always a risk that it's not going to work for you - that you aren't going to make it - and that's the chance that one has to take. But I think at the same time, if you have those ambitions, you don't really have a choice. You kind of have to try to pursue them. There are always times when you want to give up, when one does think, "Why am I doing this?" And as you grow up, you answer those questions. That's really what life is about.

Candace Bushnell is a New York Times best-selling author. Her works include Sex and the City, Four Blondes, Trading Up and Lipstick Jungle. Bushnell was born and raised in the small Connecticut town of Glastonbury and currently resides in Manhattan. For more information check out www.candacebushnell.com.