You don't know how much you've missed a place until you come back to it.

I know I'm not the only author out there who uses pictures as inspiration for my characters. More often than not, I scour Internet images looking for that perfect picture that matches the character I have in my head. When writing it helps me to have a physical, not just a mental image of my characters. I learned a trip from Heather Rainier and I have my inspiration pictures at the top of my document so every time I open it, my characters are there to say hi and remind me who I'm listening too.

I was having a heck of a time finding the perfect image for my hero Luc and his two brothers. They're moose shapeshifters so I wanted a picture of a man with a muscular rugged look to him, outdoorsy, but not too big. Then I came across a picture of the perfect man to match Luc. I had no idea who he was but it was an old black and white photo that looked vintage. (with all the computer tricks and photoshop available these days I wasn't sure if it really was an old picture) Many thanks to Sandra Wilson Sakaitis and Stacy Wilson for providing the name of this mystery man. Clint Walker. He was a big 6'6" actor who fits my mental image of Luc perfectly.

But Clint got me thinking...I spend so much time perusing pictures of  current models and actors, what about older pictures. Actors that we know as silver foxes but were mouthwatering back before they were so well known.

















It didn't take me long to search though some classic movies and find Luc's brothers Georges and Nouel. I know who they are :) Do you recognize them?







I already had my heroine, Clara Fitch, in mind with the beautiful model Denise Bidot.

I have my characters and a tentative title of Bodacious in Fur  (3xtasy Lake 8). The quirky characters of  Ecstasy Lake are perking up and trying their best to meddle in this story. The elderly McGuigan sisters want to buy matching motorcycles and form their own gang, as soon as they can figure out how to knit and ride at the same time. There's a developer trying to buy up the land around Ecstasy Lake to build condos and a nosy blogger is trying to find out if the rumours of a tiger roaming the surrounding woods is true. It's typical craziness that I've missed while I've been away and I'm so enjoying my return home.