My Not So Good Ideas!

Authors are often asked, “Where do you get your ideas?” Once, a long time ago, I’d mentally filed away any good idea I had and wait until one spoke to me. That created a problem, however. Seems I don’t have a mind like a steel trap and would often forget those gems. So, I started a ‘book idea file’, which is literally a manilla folder in my desk drawer where I store ideas that strike me as cool. Could be an online article I print out or a scrawled note to myself or a clipping from a magazine.

Not to brag or anything, but there are probably close to forty ideas in that file and some of them are pretty darn good. I’m just waiting for the right time to use them ☺ Conversely, there are more than a few clunkers — can you hear the game show sound, “Whaa, whaa, whaa?”

I thought it might be fun to share a few of these bad ideas with you:

1) A book series featuring heroes who are construction workers call STUDS. For anyone who may not know it, studs are wooden boards used in framing homes and buildings. Okay, bad, yes? What’s the old saying, if you have to explain the joke it doesn’t work. I actually thought I might call the first book in this series Hard As Nails. I’m shaking my head and laughing as I write this.

2) I once decided it would be amusing to write an article about how my kids acted exactly like my cat. For example, I was expected to buy all their food and pay for all their entertainment. Both kids and cat ate food and behaved in ways I considered disgusting. Both walked around with their noses up in the air and napped excessively. They constantly interrupted me when I was busy. Yes, I still have my notes for this article. Why, I can’t tell you, it will never see the light of day.

3) Pet fox becomes best friends with a dog. Wait, didn’t Disney have an animated movie about this? Apparently, I need to be more original.

4) A camel farm. 5) An emu farm. 6) An ostrich farm. 7) A llama farm. 8) A goat farm. While any of these farms appeal to me, what makes them a bad idea is that I know absolutely nothing about camels and emus and ostriches and llama,  and I only a very little about goats. Translation: lots, and lots of research.

The good news is I still have lots of  good ideas that I may well use one of these days. Some are humorous, some touching, some intriguing, and some heartwarming. And, I’m always on the lookout for more!

Cathy McDavid
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