I first arrived in New York in 1979. I was 19 and 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.

New York is a city where people are ambitious. They want things.

I started writing about New York as soon as I arrived. I was 19. I used to write short stories and send them out.

There are worse things than being thirty-five, single, and female in New York. Like: Being twenty-five, singled, and female in New York. It's a rite of passage few women would want to repeat. It's about sleeping with the wrong men, wearing the wrong clothes, having the wrong roommate, saying the wrong thing, being ignored, getting fired, not being taken seriously, and generally being treated like shit. But it's necessary.

I went to New York City to Columbia University, and with the first directing exercise, I knew I was a director.

Sometimes I want to be on 'The Real Housewives of New York.' I want to remind them to figure out how to get along and support each other.