Lisa Daily's book idea has roots in real life

Upchucking live during a national television interview a mere foot away from the "Today" show's Matt Lauer sounds like the sequel to the tried and true standing-in-front-of-a-classroom-naked dream.

Except in Darby Vaughn's case, the projectile vomiting scenario takes place after discovering her husband's infidelity while promoting her new dating advice book on America's most-watched morning show.

Nothing like witnessing the dissolution of both a career and a marriage in one fell swoop to jumpstart the day.

Don't bother scouring YouTube or TMZ for evidence of the above scene. It exists only in the pages of real-life dating expert Lisa Daily's debut novel, "Fifteen Minutes of Shame" (Plume), which hit stands Tuesday.

The chick lit tome follows the plucky Vaughn as she tries to pick up the pieces of her shattered life under the watchful eyes of the paparazzi. And who knows, maybe she'll even find true love in the process.

Daily got the book idea while touting her first publication in 2002, the fiery, no-nonsense girl-guide, "Stop Getting Dumped! All You Need to Know to Make Men Fall Madly in Love with You and Marry 'The One' in 3 Years or Less." The media had taken aim at recently divorced "The Rules" co-scribe Ellen Fein.

"I just remember thinking, 'God, what a horrible thing that would be to have this terrible situation in your life and have to go through it in the public eye,'" Daily said. "And I thought, 'Wow, that would be a really good idea for a novel.'"

Speaking over the phone from the house in Florida she shares with her husband and two children -- a 4-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy -- Daily is on the cusp of a 22-city book tour (with a stop on April 2 at the Oak Brook Borders).

She says making the leap from non-fiction writer to novelist glided by without much fuss, save for a few bouts of self-doubt. But, the bubbly former advertising executive is the first to admit she's lead a charmed life and things don't usually work out this smoothly in the publishing world.

Fulfilling a lifelong dream with the completion of "Fifteen Minutes of Shame," Daily also fulfilled a fantasy first on the list for many readers.

"It's funny, because I spend a lot of time, a lot of my career telling women how to find the perfect guy, and here I was able to create one from scratch," Daily says with a giggle. "It's really nice. (The book's love interest) has a lot of great characteristics from my husband…he's a hybrid of all the best parts of men. It was a lot different because, as you know, in reality there are no perfect men or women."

Similarities crop up between Daily and her main character -- both juggle the duties required of a dating expert extraordinaire (television and radio appearances) while schlepping the kids to and from activities.

But, unlike the book's heroine, Daily's life remains nauseatingly picturesque.

Further blurring the lines between fact and fiction, Daily offers readers a mix of soapy drama and pointers that would sit comfortably at home in a self-help guide, even injecting her real-life "Dreamgirl Academy" seminars into the novel's plot.

"That experience is my experience. Going in and teaching those classes and having these women show up, and they're everywhere from 16 to 75, and it's just this really empowering, wonderful experience. And the women bond and they're trading phone numbers by the time they leave," Daily explains, shedding some light on the impetus behind her career move. "I don't know if people really think about why somebody does that for a living. Why would you want to be a dating expert? And when I was developing the character [of Darby] I thought, 'I'll make her have the same reasons that I have,' which is that she wants to see every person on the planet paired up and happy, and it feels good to help women."

Thinking ahead, Daily already has the seeds of another novel rattling around her head; she plans to begin in September, but March 31 is the deadline for her second foray into non-fiction, "How to Date Like a Grown-Up," a guide to the over-40 set.

"I'm sure my editor will be knocking on my door on the morning of April 1 saying 'Hand it over, baby,'" Daily predicts.

Next stop, Matt Lauer's couch.

Daily doles out dating directives

Lisa Daily doles out weekly dating advice on "Daytime," a lifestyle/entertainment show, and right within the pages of "Fifteen Minutes of Shame." Here are a few tidbits from Daily's cavernous collection of matters relating to the heart.

• Date a variety of people at the same time. Girls, take a cue from the boys and employ this social calendar-building strategy. "If you do date more than one person at a time, then you're not spending all that time thinking about any one person or trying to mold them into the person you want," Daily advises.

• A women's shortage looms on the horizon as the year 2010 approaches. "There's going to be about a million extra men. Back in the '80s there was a significant man shortage…so the pendulum is swinging back the other direction and it's going to be men, men, men for another decade. So you'll have your pick of the litter," Daily muses.

• Despite advances in technology, men and women still relate to each other the same way, so take advantage of Internet dating, but protect yourself. "I think it can be really effective. People definitely meet online, but lying is so rampant in online dating. It's easier to detect the lie in person then it is over the Internet because you're writing an e-mail, you're not seeing…all that non-verbal communication that goes along with the lie," Daily warns.