Candace Bushnell is the author of nine books, but she is best known as the creative force behind “Sex and the City,” the hit HBO series that was based on her New York Observer column from the 1990s. The writer moved to New York City in 1978 at age 19, and didn’t leave until her divorce in 2012. She then returned to Connecticut, her home state, for several years. But now she’s back, living with her standard poodles, Pepper and Prancer, in a one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. “It’s a single woman’s apartment, which feels great,” she said. “I’m in the same building where Dorothy Parker lived.” The title of her new novel, which will be published this month, asks the question, “Is There Still Sex in the City?” According to Ms. Bushnell, 60, the answer is ‘yes.’
POODLE PRIORITIES I wake up at 7:30 without an alarm, and think about the day and what I have to do while I play with the dogs who sleep with me. I have to get them out by 8. I spend the next 45 minutes in the park. The Ramble is great as it has all these paths, which can be tricky since the dogs want to go squirrel hunting.
NEWS BINGE I’m back home by 9. I make Earl Grey tea, I don’t drink coffee because it revs me up, and read the Times, The Daily Mail, the Post, and Slate or Salon online. I go through Twitter to see what the latest terrible headline is. That can last 30 minutes to two hours. I read all kinds of stories, from political to anything scientific, to something about a new beauty treatment.
CreditMichelle V. Agins/The New York Times
BOUNCE I have a mini trampoline and 10-foot-high ceilings and jump on that for 30 minutes. I made up my own routine that includes stretching, yoga and calisthenics. I don’t know if I’m doing any of them right. Five years ago I fell off a horse and cracked my pelvis. They gave me exercises to do. I add those for 30 minutes as well.
SITTING WITH HERSELF At 11ish I write for the next hour. I get creative and problem solve. I make little videos and songs on GarageBand. It’s good for your brain. When I moved back to Connecticut, I wrote a lot, and I gained a lot of confidence in myself. I learned to sit and be with myself without needing distractions. That gives me a lot of strength.
GIVING STRUCTURE TO THE SCREAMING I’ll walk around my apartment and write essays in my head about worldly problems like climate change, politics or abortion. Everything is so disturbing and frustrating and that inspires me to write. The essay writing in my mind is soothing. Inside I’m screaming. You can’t walk around screaming, you have to find a way to process all this information and go on with your day. During this time I shower and I fix myself up, as my mother would say. On the Upper East Side there’s pressure to look a certain way.
LEISURE, ERRANDS, CHER I walk the dogs again and run errands; it’s a day for going to the drugstore, Duane Reade for paper towels and hooks for the pictures I haven’t put up yet, drop off dry cleaning and maybe go to Valery Joseph for a blowout or single process. My boyfriend is a member of Town Tennis and if he’s in town we do that. Sometimes I go to a matinee. I’ve seen the Cher show three times.
SUSTENANCE, CORRESPONDENCE I don’t eat until 4. I’ll go to Marche Madison or E.A.T. and get a salami and cheese sandwich. I feed the dogs. I’ll talk to friends, catch up on emails, and take the dogs out, again. It wouldn’t be unusual to do 16,000 or 17,000 steps a day.
FOOD AND REALITY If my boyfriend is here, we’ll do an early dinner at 6 or 7 at Bar Italia or J.G. Melon. If not, I’ll order in Chinese or Indian, have a big feast of food and watch reality shows like “The Real Housewives” or “Below Deck.”
THE SHIFT As I’ve gotten older I’ve become more solitary. This routine isn’t the routine I had 20 years ago. I wouldn’t have exercised. I would have had a boozy brunch with friends. There’s a shift I went through in my mid-50s where I made lots of changes. There’s less neediness. I feel more settled. I’m hearing my own voice as opposed to hearing everybody else’s.
THE TRICK I’ll read a novel and eat peanut M&M’s, which I find comforting before I go to sleep, which is around 11 p.m. I just finished “Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams and “Fleishman Is in Trouble” by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. The TV is really background noise. I don’t read on a Kindle, if I fall asleep it falls on my face. Getting the light off is the trick, so I don’t wake up at 3 in the morning with it on and peanut M&M’s smeared in bed.
Sunday Routine readers can follow Candace Bushnell on Twitter or Instagram @CandaceBushnell.
