A Meme-ish Day

Isn't there a saying that everyone has at least one book in them?  Well, I honestly don't think I've got one in me.  Not a novella, or a poem, not even a haiku.  However, BooksPlease has tagged me for a meme: Ten Signs a Book Has Been Written by Me, so I'm willing to play along.  Where do author's get their inspiration?  From past experiences?  Are there just characters and stories inside their minds yelling to be let out?  My book likely will resemble something I'd like to read, since I am firmly on the other side of the divide:

1. My book would have a female protagonist.  I don't think I could write a convincing male character.
2. She'd be a strong and intelligent heroine.
3. It would probably be set in the past.  Perhaps a wartime setting?  Maybe I'd go further back.  Something Victorian maybe.
4. It would be set somewhere in Europe.
5. The heroine would have to deal with all sorts of trials and tribulations, because if it was a happy, easy story, where would the fun be in that?
6. She might have a romantic interest, but they'd be separated, because there's nothing like a bit of emotional anguish to keep you reading.  Nothing racy, though, just implied.
7. There'd be lots of atmosphere.  You would have a definite feeling of time and place and you'd feel as though you were escaping into another time and leaving the present behind while you were reading the story.
8. There would be a few different plotlines--nothing too confusing, but enough to keep you interested.
9. Since this is my fantasy...it would of course be written very well.  I love the way Joanne Harris writes, so it might be similar, but still my own style.
10. I'm sorry to tell you, however, though it would be a satisfying ending I'm afraid I would have to leave some loose ends so you would be compelled to buy my next book!

Alas, I won't be writing this book, but I bet I can find someone else who has written one just like it!  Please feel free to play along!

I like Shelly's Booked by 3 questions for February, too.  Here are a few "Book Memories":

1. Do you associate particular books with the places you read them or events of the time you read them?   Actually I do.  For instance when I was in Austria I patronized a little used bookstore.  New books were really expensive there, so I had to choose from the used books and the selection was pretty limited.  I read lots of Stephen King.  I read Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle.  I read Betty Mahmoody's Not Without My Daughter (one of the few books I actually bought new), Margaret Atwood's Surfacing, some book I don't remember the title of--a nonfiction book about a young couple who made a suicide pact and killed themselves in a closed garage via the exhaust fumes from a car.  Okay, so I told you there was limited selection and to this day I still remember that story.  I was just about to begin Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex when it was time to return home.  I never did get the book read.  I have similar recollections of books from other times and places in my life.
2. Do you remember the books you read or do they fade quickly? Or do you remember some better than others? How about remember details like character names, not just overall plot? I'm terrible with characters names.  I forget them very quickly, I'm sorry to say.  I'm better with major plotlines.  If I particularly liked a book it tends to stay with me longer, but eventually many of the books I've read fade from memory.  I've reread books before where I feel like I'm reading them for the first time as I've forgotten so many details.  I hate this, but I guess there's only so much room in my head.
3. Have you ever forgotten you've read/own a book and borrowed/bought it again?  Yes.  I've done this on several occasions.  Usually they end up on Bookmooch if they were bought used.   I've also borrowed books that I forgot I owned.  Most recently I borrowed a Mary McCarthy novel from the library, and then discovered it on my bookshelves when I was cleaning this past weekend.  Now I tend to be very careful when buying older novels.  I won't buy them for fear I already have them.  Usually in that case I won't have it and then will be annoyed I didn't buy it!