Like most authors, I have a bunch of ideas that will go nowhere. Thought I might share some today so you can see what it’s like to filter through all the garbage…er, not garbage, exactly, but all the cast-offs…before we writers can find The One—that is, the idea that’s good enough to sustain an entire novel.

It’s sort of like American Idol. You have to make it through a few levels on the show, yes? First, there are the singers (most of them) who are simply and quietly rejected. They never see Randy, Simon and whoever…they’re screened by someone lower on the food chain and simply deemed what I think of as Yawn category. They may not be awful, but they’re not special…and they’re not colorfully bad enough to make good TV.

My Yawn idea was about a woman who owned a restaurant that was going under. He ex-husband finds out, buys the restaurant and inserts himself back into her life. He’s changed, you see. He will no longer take her for granted. He’s a better man now. Yawn. Now, another writer might take that exact same plot and make it pop. Wasn’t going to happen with me. Next!

American Idol also has what I think of as Disaster level. These people are HORRIBLE! They’re off-key, can’t sing their way out of a wet paper bag, they may well be rather unusual in their physical appearance…but they make good TV. Usually, this is because they have no idea that the rest of the world clenches in pain when they open their mouths to sing.

Same can be true with writing. I spent weeks—weeks, I tell you!—on a book I thought was really quite fun. It was, in fact, quite dumb, but I didn’t know that then. It was about a woman who’s kind of a loser (though with secret talents, of course) and is stuck in terms of her own life. She has a minor car accident and decides that faking amnesia would be the best way to improve her situation. The tentative title of the book was, in fact, Faking Amnesia. My agent very gently told me not to write this book. After a few moments talking about it, I could see that yes, it was a bleeping disaster. Sigh. Moving on…

The next level on American Idol is the Golden Ticket. You’re going to Hollywood! Congratulations! You made it past the judges! You can sing! Are you great? Um…let’s wait and see, shall we? Oh. Oh, dear. Well, turns out you fall apart with a little pressure. Golden Ticket is the highlight of your career, sweetie. Sorry. Go home and rejoin your church choir. They’ll be glad to have you back.

My Golden Ticket ideas are legion. In some ways, they’re the toughest, because with the right kick in the proverbial butt, they might make it. But for some reason…they don’t. Something’s a little been-there-done-that about them. Are they awful? Not at all. But they’re not The One. Ideas that have fallen into this category are: Woman dumped on the altar blames best man for influencing her groom and sets out to get revenge, only to fall in love with him. Okay, it could work. It hasn’t yet, but maybe someday (or not).  Here’s another. A woman falls in love with the Lands End operator who takes her order for new sheets. Again…sure, it’s a cute idea, falling in love with someone you’ve never met. But it just kinda stopped right there. Dead in the water. Time to go home.

Then comes the Top 12 category. These are the singers who go on tour. They’ll have their fifteen minutes of fame, there will be photo shoots and squealing teens. They might not win…but they could have.

For us writers, these are the books we outline. The characters who speak to us. They might not have won…but we’re keeping them close. Maybe not this time around, but quite possibly the next one.

And then, finally, comes the winner. It was down to just two…but only one wins.

This is the book we write…and sell. This one hits the shelves. This one is the real deal.  Out of all the hundreds of ideas we had, this was the one with the spark. It might have taken a lot of work, a new look and some serious coaching…but there was something special, and it held up for 400 pages.

So let’s hear it…do you have an idea for a book you think could really make it? Did you ever read a book where the idea was so farfetched you wondered how on earth it got published? What are some of the qualities that can turn a Hollywood idea into a Top Twelve? I’d love to hear what you think.

In celebration of M.A.C. Cosmetics Venomous Villains line (makeup based on Disney villains!) which is being released this month, I thought I’d surface from my new book long enough to inquire as to what characters are some of your favorite dark-side dwellers. Movie, TV, song or book, I do not care. I just want to know who and why. Here are a few of mine:

1. Malificent from Sleeping Beauty. Why? Because she can turn into a dragon! And she is rotten to the core. Plus, she looks really cool. (And she’s one of the villains with M.A.C. makeup based on her! Yay!)

2. Pennywise from It by Stephen King. I’m not sure what was creepier, the book version or the TV movie version of this force of evil. I think it must have been TV, because that image of Tim Curry as a clown with razor sharp teeth haunts me to this day!

3. Lucifer from Supernatural. The show painted the fallen angel almost exactly as I see him/it in my head. To me Lucifer isn’t ugly, but beautiful and charming — tempting. And smart. The most terrifying thing in the world is that which can walk amongst us unnoticed!

4. Michelle Pfeifer in Stardust, based on the book by Neil Gaiman. She plays the alpha of a trio of witch sisters, hunting down a star so she might cut out the star’s heart and regain her youth. Beautiful, ruthless and without remorse, she is a terrible foe, defeating everyone who crosses her path — until she comes face to face with true love, of course.

That should get you started. Now, give me yours! I’m heading to the M.A.C. counter for some Malificent eyeshadow!

                                                                                                                                                                          

1. Chip and Dip — Not the old standby potato chips and French Onion Dip. Today’s palate is more refined. think hummus and falafel chips. Or guacamole and salsa with a variety of corn chips.

2. Grazing — They aren’t talking veggies here, though that can be an option. Mini meals are the rage, with people eating small amounts and more often per day. Traditional meals are usually shunned by these snackers.  An increasing number of fast food places are now offering mini meals in the form of snack sandwiches and wraps.

3.  Liquid sustenence — The variety of power drinks, fruit flavored waters and smoothies are staggering.  Again, many fast food place now offer these on the menu.

4.  Nuts — Yep, nuts are high in fat, but it’s the good kind of fat and if you aren’t allergic to nuts, it is a high protein snack that will satisfy your hunger.

5.  Fruit — Dried or fresh, there are plenty of choices from single servigs of fruits to mini salads that you can buy or make yourself with the fruits in season.

6.  Hit the bars — power bars, granola bars, cereal bars. You name it and there’s a bar to fit your taste and budget.

7.  Sweet and salty — The taste sensations of this combination is great anytime. It can be as simple as peanuts and M&Ms, or yogurt covered pretzels to any number of salty chip/sweet dip combo.

8.  Yogurt — It’s just good food whether plain, with fruit, frozen, Greek style, or in a smoothie.

9. Some like it spicy — The pungent herbs and hot peppers flavor many chip type snacks, as well as certain drinks.

10.  Snack cakes — Yes, Twinkies, cupcakes and Little Debbie snacks are still popular.

I’m currently about halfway through the third book of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I started the first book in the series exactly a month ago. I loved it. Cried my eyes out. The day before I sent my oldest off to kindergarten, I bought the movie on iTunes and loved it too. I finished the second book over the weekend and immediately started the third. I should be working today (I actually have books of my own to write) and all I want to do is plow ahead with the third book and maybe even the fourth.

At some point this morning, I realized maybe my Kindle is not emotionally healthy for me. Maybe it’s not a good thing that I read all the books in a series without ever leaving my sofa. With actual books, I would have had to go to a bookstore. Or at least answer the door when the UPS guy dropped off the box from Amazon. Plus, the Geek would have seen me holding the different books, arched an eyebrow and asked, “How many books are in that series?” while sniffing indigently at the mystry leftovers from the freezer.

But as it is, with the Kindle, I can finish The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, and order the next book at three in the morning and he’ll never know. It’s like living next door to your crack dealer. Or like having half a cheesecake in your fridge and knowing no one else will notice if a slice goes missing. Or two slices.

I know there are people who are disciplined enough that they never give the cheesecake a thought. These are probably the same people who enter marathons for fun.

I am not such a person. I need accountability. When things are really bad, I’ve been known to leave books in the mailbox for the day. (My mailbox is at least a three minute walk from the front door. If I can find the willpower to walk the book out there, I can usually get work done for the day. But today it’s raining and I don’t trust my mailbox not to leak. Sometimes I put books in the freezer (a la Joey and Little Women). But I don’t trust the freezer not to kill my Kindle.  So I had to rely on short battery life of my aging Kindle. Thank goodness someone moved the plug while vacuuming. I should be good through the rest of the afternoon.

What about you? Do you ever have to hide your books from yourself?

Tell me where you hide your books and I’ll pick one person to win a copy of Winning it All, my August book.

SALLY and LOUISA–you’re the winners from my weekend blog “How Many of YOU Are There?”

Please email me through my website www.cindykirk.com and I’ll get your book in the mail!

Thanks to all who participated.

Congratulations to Laurie G!  Laurie, I just drew your name as the winner of a signed copy of A KNIGHT’S VENGEANCE.  I sent you an email privately, but wanted to give you a hearty cheer here on the blog!   Woo-hoo!

Happy Labor Day, all.  Please scroll down to see Robyn’s adorable “LOLcat Monday” post!

Okay I’m cheating, but hey, it’s Labor Day and I’m feeling lazy. Plus we haven’t shared LOLcats in a while so here are a few of my recent favorites. Which one do you like best?

I wanted to thank our guest this week again — Cara Carnes!

The winner of her prize is — Kathryn of Montreal!! Congrats on winning!! Cara will be contacting you about mailing off the prize to you!!

The winner from my birthday post on August 27th, is Barbara Elness.
Barbara, please send me your snail mail address at emilybmckay at gmail.com and I’ll send the book out to you. Thanks for “playing”.

Did you know that while there are 57 Cindy Kirk’s in the United States, there are 297,734 people named Cindy? Have you ever stopped to wonder how many of YOU there are?

I was at a restaurant several years ago and they refused to take my check. The manager told me I was on one of those bad check lists. I knew something had to be wrong. When I did some investigating, I discovered it wasn’t ME who had the bad credit (of course, I already knew that) it was a woman of the same name who lived in a nearby city.

I got it cleared up fairly quickly and easily…thankfully we didn’t have the same middle initial (Thank you, Mom, for giving me an uncommon middle name).

I was talking to a woman that I know through my day job and she was telling me that her son shares the same exact name (first, middle and last) with another young man AND they share the same exact birthday. Worse yet, they both applied for their SSN around the same time, so the numbers are very similiar. She said it has been a nightmare because unfortunately (and isn’t it always the way) the other guy has been arrested several times and has –you guessed it–BAD CREDIT. The two young men also have insurance through the same company. Almost unbelievable, but true.

Have you ever met someone with the same name? I’ve never met anyone personally, though I have corresponded through email with a couple of women who share my name.

This week I’d like to give away a couple books. So everyone who comments on this posts will be entered into the drawing to be held Sunday night at 9pm CT. If you tell me how many of YOU there are, you’ll be entered twice!!

The website I know you’ll like is: http://howmanyofme.com/

Here’s some fun information straight off the site:

There are 310,139,582 people in the United States of America. If everyone in the U.S. lined up single file, the line would stretch around the Earth almost 7 times. That’s a lot of people.

The U.S. Census Bureau statistics tell us that there are at least 151,671 different last names and 5,163 different first names in common use in the United States. Some names are more common than others.

There are 44,844 people named John Smith in the United States. There are 975 people named James Bond, 103 people named Harry Potter , 437 people named George Bush, and 31 people named Emily Dickinson. However, Johnny Cash (33 people) songs aside there are, statistically speaking, very few boys named Sue.

What about you? How many people share your name?

I’d like to know!!