Fifteen Minutes of Shame

With a steady flow of funky cocktails and seasoned calamari, Buzzine‘s Candi Sterling covers the New York literary and cultural scene at Lisa Daily’s hot book-launching party.

Before stepping foot into the sophisticated, southwestern Agave restaurant in Manhattan, scenes from The Devil Wears Prada flashed through my mind. It was Tuesday evening, seasonably chilly, and having just trekked down from Midtown to the West Village for the Fifteen Minutes of Shame book launch party, I did not know what or who to expect. With the chick flick in mind, I was fully aware that Meryl Streep’s fictional character had the potential to exist in reality. Talent plus success could very well equal a manicured demon in stilettos…or worse–evil romance novelist Mary Fisher from She-Devil.

However, I quickly discovered that in the case of talented and successful writer Lisa Daily, this equation couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Amid the dark wood décor with white accents and an abundance of tiny candles, the author energetically greeted all who entered, working the room in heels and a chic turquoise blue dress. The event was an intimate gathering, hosted by Partida Tequila, who served up a steady flow of funky cocktails fittingly named the “Fifteen Minutes of Shame Margarita.” As guests munched on seasoned calamari, there were more treats to be had, including a signed copy of the book and guacamole.

For anyone who has ever experienced a moment of shame (and this should be everyone, unless you live in a bubble or are a legitimate hermit), Fifteen Minutes of Shame will fool you into thinking the main character, Darby Vaughn, really is your best friend with whom you can easily relate. Laced with comic relief and strategically placed dating tips, Vaughn’s ordeal involves discovering, on national television, that her cheating husband is having an affair. For the average person, this would be a very bad day.

For T.V. dating expert Darby Vaughn, who is known to the American public as the go-to girl for relationship advice, her predicament is a nightmare of epic proportions. In this book, getting and keeping it together is not the only challenge for this likeable relationship expert—she has to deal with it all in the public eye.

Set to hit stores this spring, Fifteen Minutes of Shame is keeping the author and real-life dating expert very busy, with a book tour scheduled for 22 cities, including Los Angeles as the final destination.

Having inspired a new margarita and considering her success, Daily is the definition of down-to-earth. A welcoming presence always ready to dish advice, her ability to understand people and the human spirit shows in her writing. With literary influences that include Dave Barry and William Shakespeare, the realization came at an early age that she could write her thoughts in a way that pushed the boundaries.

“Shakespeare was a rule-breaker and used language in a way that was really different,” she said. “Once the basic structure of the English language is in place, you can really go to town.”

And in Daily’s case, paint it red.

Now a strong and distinct voice of the “chick lit” genre, and widely recognized for her on-point relationship advice, Daily can be thought of as a big sister to women everywhere. Her first book, Stop Getting Dumped, became a bestseller and the holy book of dating, a fact evident through the thousands of fans Daily has gained over the years.

“It’s a surprise when you have an impact on all these people,” she said. “Most people are not lucky enough to know what they do in their work has an effect on people’s lives on a day to day basis.”

With a strong penchant for shoes, champagne and old movies, the current Floridian finds the feedback and response from her fans to be rewarding, fulfilling and the perfect validation for what she writes.

“I felt compelled to write the book for a long time, and it developed into a lot of things,” she said.

What Daily is referring to is her numerous television and radio appearances (including her weekly gig on the southeastern morning show, Daytime, as their resident dating guru), her national syndicated column, and her Dreamgirl Academy classes that have taken place in New York City at the Learning Annex.

“I feel like I’ve done every morning show in the country,” she said.

Although running around keeping her career hot and constantly traveling, Daily is miraculously able to keep it together professionally and personally–a real life challenge that doubles as a big theme in her new novel.

“Relationships are important to all of us,” she said. “I dated a lot of nice guys and I married the best one of all.”

Although she has been married for nine years, Daily feels for single women—especially in New York, where single ladies outnumber the available men. Given this plight, the term “available” is generally used loosely, particularly in the Big Apple or any community where the ratio is less than favorable.

Luckily, with Ms. Lisa around, we can get our Daily dose of dating wisdom on a regular basis that can off-set the odds in any city. With an “inborn” desire to offer advice to those in need, her own love story is one that begins with personal struggle and has an ending that Walt Disney would turn into a major motion picture.

Prior to her glamorous life as a popular author, there was a tragic streak with the untimely death of her brother, followed by her ending a comfortable, three-year relationship only a few weeks later. However, the following turn of events could fill the pages of any chick-lit novel.

In a Virginia Beach bar called Hot Tuna (apparently the local hot spot), she met the man she would marry. A Navy officer gearing up to depart for Italy, he invited Daily along for the trip after knowing her for about a month and a half. With a blessing from her mother (who simply said “I think you should go. If it doesn’t work out, you can always take a plane back”) and her current job offering to hold her position and let her write from Europe, Daily skipped town for almost half a year.

“It’s like the whole universe was aligning for me to go to Italy,” she said.

With her laptop by her side, she was able to develop as a writer and deal with her grief constructively. Oh, and one more thing—they fell in love and he proposed in Paris by the end of the trip.

Talk about happily ever after.

“The things that define my life, when I think about those things—they are the happy things,” she said.

So now for the popular question that has been floating around since Hilary set her sights on the oval office—is it possible to have it all?

As a woman with a great relationship and a booming career (a career you can learn more about), Daily said she is all for having it all and adamantly encourages women not to lower their expectations.

With a confident smile, she simply declared, “If somebody is gonna have it all, it might as well be you.”

I’ll drink a Fifteen Minutes of Shame margarita to that!