Excuse me, Could you lose the pants?



It's for a good cause, I swear!

In this neverending saga of promoting my published works, I spent over an hour on Photobucket looking for a picture of a naked guy. What does looking at pictures have to do with promotion? It really is legitimate. I don't really enjoy looking at naked guys. It's embarrassing first of all. I mean, I haven't even looked at completely naked pictures. I'm not THAT kind of girl. REALLY! Even pictures of mostly naked guys embarrass me. Especially, when they have this look on their face like they can see me naked. And, honestly, not many people can pull of the "I'm cool even though there's no reason for me not to have my shirt on." It just comes across as arrogant and self-absorbed.

One of my peeves of some romance novel covers is that these people have no legitimate reason not to be clothed! What is the deal??!! I mean, yes, if you're getting out of the shower, you have a reason to show my your pectoral muscles. But, if you are, oh, I don't know, leaning provocatively against a sports car, I'm thinking you might have vanity issues. Have you ever dated a vain guy? It's all about him. If I'm talking true love, it is definitely going to be all about me.

Anyhow, the naked picture. In my second book, there's a naked picture of the hero. Now, I imagined it to be tasteful, and if you get to read the book (some time in 2009), you'll find out that this guy has a very good and noble reason for being naked. For the context of the book, the guy has his back to the camera. The guy is forty years old, but in good shape, and the guy is on a beach. So, I have very specific requirements for the picture. Oh, and while I'm talking about requirements, the guy definitely has to have an inny belly button. Now, it's a moot point since the shot would be of the guy's back, but any nearly naked guy with an outie, he's going in the reject pile. Why? I don't know. I think it is just a personal preference. I like innies.

Could I find such a picture? Nope. The one above is as close as I could get. I tried to crop it, but I didn't really know what I was doing and ended up with just his tushie. So, if any of you happen to come across a picture of the back of a naked guy with a nice body, late thirties, and on the beach, please email it to me. I will also accept a naked guy on the beach, nice build, etc. Just take the picture of him, please. When I get it, I can add to to my slideshow I'm putting together for The Clergy Affair (a.k.a Book #2). Absolutely no frontal shots, okay, Leona?