LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- New York is in Candace Bushnell 's blood . The best-selling novelist and columnist has a gift for tapping into the zeitgeist of any New York minute . Smart , chic and driven , her story is also a classic New York success story - she was the girl who came to the city to make it and did so through a desire and determination to succeed . Candace Bushnell : `` Sex and the City was never written to make people feel good . '' `` I think people who come here and stay here are , number one , people who always have a dream , '' she told CNN . Bushnell was born on December 1 , 1958 in the New England town of Glastonbury , Connecticut . However , at the age of 19 she shunned the idea of a more parochial life for the bright lights of New York in order to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional writer . `` I was going to University in Houston , Texas and I decided that I knew what I wanted to do and it was time to go and do it . I literally ran away from college , '' she told CNN . Whilst enrolled at New York University , and juggling waitressing jobs , she wrote a children 's book for publishers Simon and Schuster and received her first big paycheck of $ 1000 . However , this was the first of many different writing jobs Candace undertook over the years . Watch Candace Bushnell take CNN on a tour of New York . » . She wrote for a series of underground papers and publications such as Night Magazine which documented the goings-on of the New York club circuit . By now Candace had herself become a fixture in Manhattan society and a regular at iconic nightclubs like Studio 54 . `` For me it was n't about being a socialite . To be a socialite you had to come from a family who had money . New York is a city where people come to make it . And it does n't really matter where you come from , but it 's all about making it and success . '' After graduating from college she worked as a freelancer throughout her twenties . `` I finally got a job on 'Ladies Home Journal , ' '' she told CNN . `` The first thing I had to do every morning was sharpen pencils and my boss said I was the best pencil sharpener that they had ever had ! '' Bushnell got her real big break when she started writing for the New York Observer in 1993 . She soon made an impact as a reporter with stories such as her investigation into burnt out New York celebrities in rehab in Minneapolis . She was given her own column in November 1994 which she called `` Sex and the City '' . It chronicled the life , people and stories she had come to know in the Big Apple . The column was an immediate success and became a must-read in New York and it was not long before producers in LA began to take note . It was bought as a book in 1995 and sold to HBO as a series in 1996 , which would become the basis for the hit television show and subsequent movie . See the story of `` Sex and the City '' in photos . » . `` It started as a seed , with an absolute truth that people may agree with or it may disturb them . It disturbs me sometimes when I read it because it 's very wrong and very honest , '' she told CNN . `` I think most call it cynicism but I call it realism -- it is absolutely raw reality . It was never written for a big audience and it was never written to make people feel good . It was written as the truth in a humorous way . '' Since then Bushnell has written another four best-selling books which continue her dark humor and observations of New York society and its characters . Her book `` Lipstick Jungle '' , published in 2005 , also went on to become a successful television series on NBC . Amidst this success , the one thing Bushnell had not necessarily planned was marriage . The single girl about town , just like her `` Sex and the City '' alter-ego Carrie Bradshaw , it was a surprise even for her to fall for her husband Charles Askegaard , a principal dancer with the New York ballet , whom she met at a gala seven years ago . `` I was cynical about relationships . I was n't sure about marriage . But when I saw Charles across the room I thought 'that 's the man you 're going to marry , ' '' she said . Candace is now currently working on three more novels , including a young-adult book about Carrie Bradshaw 's teenage years in the city . She continues to capture the spirit of the place she has made her home with the flair and drive of a true New Yorker . `` I was a person who was born in a sense with a mission -- I do n't always follow it but I always have it and I continue with it . ''
Simon is the author of four novels , including `` Lipstick Jungle '' She ran away from college aged 19 to become a writer in Texas . `` Sex and the City was never written to make people feel good , '' she says . Her book 19 book `` Lipstick Jungle '' was also made into a hit TV series .