Although Quindlen was a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated newspaper columnist, and worked for the New York Times from 1977-1994,she sees herself as a very ordinary person who talked about issues and events that affected ordinary people.
As a working mother, Quindlen wrote a column for a few years that many people could relate to. She discussed things such as struggling to balance work and family, raising children, and her own childhood. After that, she wrote twice-weekly columns that were more political and news-centered. This was unusual because she was one of very few, if any, female columnists on the New York Times opinion page. She often deliberately wrote about women's issues and other topics that men would often not think about discussing, such as laws that affected young children. She felt that since the opinion page was overwhelmed with men's viewpoints, that a woman's perspective was needed because women often see things like politics differently than men do.
In addition to opinion columns, Quindlen has written best-selling fiction books and is now working full-time on her book-writing. Many of her readers felt betrayed that she left her high-profile position at her paper, because she was the only female writing about women's issues. She says that if papers hired more women in the first place, her absence wouldn't be so noticed.
The books Quindlen now writes revolve around relationships between mothers and daughters, a subject that few authors have written about. She appreciates literature about real-life issues written by women. And although she considers herself a liberal feminist, she is not interested in directly changing society through her writing. Rather, she wants to reflect the fact that many people feel confused about issues, and don't always see things as entirely good or bad. She uses her own personal experience to talk about larger national issues that affect people, and says that she writes from her gut.
Quindlen is unusual in that she is a female opinion columnist rather than a straight journalist. Sometimes it's hard to write objectively about something you really care about. Think about issues that make you really happy, or really mad, and write something about it. Get your feelings down on paper, and make a good argument that might convince others to see things your way. Opinion columnists don't just write what they feel, but they include news and facts to back up their position.