Naked French Men or Where DO you get your Ideas?

Okay, I am aware that I write about naked men a lot. I also think about them a lot. I think it's part of the change of life or something. Yeah, that's a good excuse. I am reluctant to talk about my inspiration for the intimate scenes in my novels. My mother-in-law reads these. Ah, what the heck.

Despite my reputation, I actually don't have these scenes running in my head all the time. I do need some form of inspiration to get the juices flowing -- so to speak. As I've said, the initial inspiration for Nikulainen was Legolas from the Lord of the Rings films. Armas and Julin are facets of Prince Hector from Troy. These guys are really inspiring, but I can't watch the films all the while I'm writing. I would never get anything done.

Thus, I draw my amorous inspiration from a very thoughtful Christmas gift given by my room mate Ben. It is the 2006 Dieux de Stade calendar. It is a beautiful collection of nearly naked rugby players primarily from France. The above right images are from January. I do love the French. They kindly divide the month into two week intervals, so there are two men per month. And with each quarter, they throw one in for good measure. All I have to do is look to my left and all manner of positions and actions just pop into my head. Much of those involve honey and spreading...oh, wait...mother-in-law.

Anyway, check out the fan site for the calendar at: http://paris.typepad.com/ohlalaparis/dieux_du_stade/ and you'll understand why they are a source of endless fascination and inspiration. The site even has pics of the guys practicing for games. They look good doing that as well. We saw them paly on TV while we were in France last year. They're a brutal lot to be so beautiful. Which is how I think of the men in my novel. So I have very constructive reasons for staring at them. Yes, I do!

And now for a very fun contest indeed! For an advanced pdf copy of The Price of Surrender, find me additional sources of inspiration for my next novel. They must be strong and beautiful and competely inspiring!