Ho Couture

Candace Bushnell gets punchy on deadline. Reached at her place in Connecticut, the ''Sex and the City'' author declares herself a wreck: The final draft of ''Trading Up,'' a sorta sequel to the best-selling 2000 novel ''Four Blondes,'' is almost due, and she's still writing. ''I've got about five days to finish,'' she says. ''This is a freeeeaky time!'' The big picture: ''The book [is] a devastating portrait of Janey Wilcox, a stunningly beautiful woman who never gets quite enough.'' The motivation: ''Janey wants respect and true love and happiness, but she also wants money, power, and fame.'' The author's task for the day: ''This is the part where her best friend finds out that Janey tried to sleep with her lover and they're about to have a showdown in the couture house of Christian Dior in Paris.'' Work habits: ''Agh, agh, agh. I get up between four and five in the morning.... I try to tear myself away from the computer after eight hours. Past that, your body starts cramping up. Usually, I try to lure myself away with a glass of wine.'' Red or white? ''Eh, whatever.'' Maybe we should let you get back to work.... ''O-kay. I'm scared, 'cause Janey's gonna go sort of insane.'' (June)