Friday, April 1, 2011

The Trouble With Spells Blog Tour Stop # 12


Matt the Magical Muse


I would be remiss if I didn’t take the time on this tour to give a shout out to a certain someone who was extremely influential in my creation of the character, Vance Mangum. For all of his wonderful alpha maleness, Vance has a counterpart, an alter ego if you will, who comes in the form of actor Matt Lanter.


I was driving down the road on a long trip one day when I came up with the character of Vance,
and while I was doing so I had the image of an actor leaning up against an orange muscle car pop
instantly in my head. For the life of me,I couldn’t remember where I’d seen him before and I
spent the next couple of hours racking my brain trying to figure it out.

Finally, I remembered that I had been recording the newly remade version of 90210 on my DVR,but I hadn’t been watching it. I had walked through the room one day while it was recording and I’d seen Matt in what turned out to be one of his very first appearances on the show.

I went home and watched the entire second half of the season, becoming a fan of his work
instantly. After I was done catching up on the season, I looked up other things he had appeared
in. I ordered his movies from Amazon, and settled in for a little “Matt Fest” while I tried to
memorize all of his little actions and nuances, from the way he shrugged his shoulders to the sexy cocking of that eyebrow of his.

Matt became the mental picture of Vance Mangum in my head as I started writing the character.
This was really fun for me, because I could actually see the character doing things in my head and I could hear the inflections in his voice when he spoke.

After I had the first edition of the book published, someone asked me if I’d ever shared with
Matt that he’d been my muse for the story. I was mortified by the thought, thinking how truly
terrifying that would be to try to contact him. However, after that I began to ponder the idea in my head and one day I finally bit the bullet and contacted his publicist. I explained who I was and how Matt had influenced me and asked her if she would be willing to help me send him a
copy of my book. She replied in the affirmative, telling me that I had great taste because Matt
was terrific.

Right about the time I sent the book to Matt, he opened up a Twitter account. I sent him a tweet
one day asking him if he’d received the book yet and was thrilled to get a response from him that he had and he was looking forward to reading it. I was even more thrilled when several weeks later he retweeted the official release of the book, sending hundreds of followers to my page. I made some great connections with some influential people after that tweet. I kept tweeting Matt here and there, and I would occasionally get a reply from him as well which was always fun.

One day his publicist contacted me and said that Matt’s manager would like to have the book and
would I mind sending him a copy. I was over the moon about this and quickly sent off copies of
both book one and two to him. He sent me a very nice email thanking me and said he thought
it would be neat if they could work it into a project for Matt down the road. That comment, of
course, threw me into complete giddy mode, and while nothing may come of it…it was still
exciting to think about!

Sometime after this I had a minor heart attack when I got on Twitter one night and found out
that Matt was following me. I was so excited! It has been fun to be able to talk to him here and
there, and even have his participation in choosing winners for contests and such. He was eve
kind enough to autograph Star Wars DVDs for my son for Christmas, much to my son’s delight I
might add!

Yes, I can indeed echo the words of his publicist… “Matt is terrific!” I have enjoyed my
association with him and sending him silly “care” packages whenever a new book is released. I
now have a gorgeous picture of him gracing my office that he has signed for me, proclaiming me
as his number one fan. What fun! Go give this wonderful guy a look if you haven’t already and
see if you notice the “Vance” connection.

Matt’s most current roles are as Liam on 90210, Edward Sullen in the movie Vampires Suck, and
voice over for Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Matt is quickly rising to fame,
and getting lots of attention, recently being voted the number one Hottest Guy in Hollywood.
Keep an eye on him. He will be the “IT” guy before you know it!

Want to see Matt in action? Here’s a little video of him in the episode that started it all for me! Bad boy/hot kisses…the works! (The muscle car scene I mentioned is at 4 minutes in, but be sure to catch the kiss at the beginning.)





You can follow Matt on his verified Twitter account at http://twitter.com/MattLanter



Lacey Weatherford has always had a love of books. She wanted to become a writer after reading her first Nancy Drew novel at the age of eight. She resides in the White Mountains of Arizona , where she lives with her wonderful husband, six beautiful children, one son-in-law, and their energetic schnauzer, Sophie. When she's not out supporting one of her kids at their sporting/music events, she spends her time writing, reading, blogging, and reviewing books.

Win a Kindle Treasure Hunt!

We want to reward all the wonderful followers of this blog tour, so what better way to do that than to give away a free Kindle and Of Witches and Warlocks Swag! Being entered to win is easy! All you have to do is follow the tour each day and search for the highlighted words in the post. There may be only one word on some days or two or more on others, so be sure to read the whole post. They could be anywhere…even in this description! Keep collecting the words each day to build a certain phrase. At the end of the tour on April 22nd, bring your completed phrase to The Delusional Diaries and submit it into the form to be entered into the Kindle drawing! Did you miss a day? No worries! Just follow the linky list on The Delusional Diaries to the post for that day and search for it. After you have submitted the special phrase, add up all the times you commented on the different posts during the tour and add that number for extra entries! Lots of chances! So come join in the FUN!


Tomorrow's Stop is Ramblings of A Random Girl

Don't forget about the free ebook download!

29 comments:

Vivien said...

He is rather yummy.

Vivien
deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

Lacey Weatherford said...

@Vivien He is isn't he?

BTW Everyone, Today is Matt's birthday! He's 28! So hop on over to Twitter and tweet him a birthday greeting! I'm sure he would love that! Or you can join the list of his rapidly growing followers if you like too!

AngelGoneMad said...

Matt is the perfect Vance..or the perfect anyone LMFAO!

I think it was so sweet that he signed the Star Wars stuff for your son though!

Naomi aka Supernatural Bookworm xoxo

Jo K said...

It's remarkable how real life people can inspire characters.

BLHmistress said...

Sigh you know how many times I watched the video and stared at the picture while setting this post up - Does that make me a cougar :)?

Stephanie O. said...

Another good post! Send him Happy Birthday wishes, I'll see if I can figure out how to do that. Have a great weekend.

Jackie said...

I actually watched the 90210 episode and have to say that I never really payed attention to the characters real name, loved "Liam" and now that I know he is Matt Lantner will remember from now on... I have not watched in forever the show and not even at this point sure if it is still on...

However will go by Twitter and look up Matt to wish him a happy Birthday, thanks for making him your muse you picked good Lacey!

Lacey Weatherford said...

@Naomi EXACTLY! haha

@Pepca It is, and I love that he being my muse was totally uncontrived. It was a nice little gift that he's so nice in real life too!

@BLHmistress First off...Thanks for hosting today! Love your site! And second, if you're a cougar then put me on the list with you! haha I prefer to think of it as me being an educated woman who is able to appreciate visual stimulation! LOL

@Stephanie I already sent him his birthday wishes a couple days ago. Haha His Twitter tends to get BOMBARDED on his birthday!

Lacey Weatherford said...

Hey Ladies! Here's personal message by DM to you from Matt!
MattLanter: "hey ladies, so glad you came over to check out this page...thanks for all your support! Matt"

Lacey Weatherford said...

@Jackie Yes! 90210 is still on! It runs on Monday nights on the CW, and Matt is EVERYONE's favorite character! He really is a great guy...as is evident by him sending a comment to you all here! :D

Belinda said...

Sigh... I ADORE that video and wear my "I'm a COUGAR for Matt" T Shirt proudly. Lacey was the one that got me dreaming about Matt and even though my daughter would die if she knew, Lacey gave her a copy of Cutting Edge 2 and on a few occasions, I've caught her sleeping with it! Seems two women in my house dream of Matt - I better be the only one kissing him though *grins* This guy is really sweet and an incredibly good sport. For the amount of lust filled tweets I send him - I'm surprised I don't have restraining order papers delivered weekly. He's wished me well after my surgery and has made my day when he's tweeted me back. Ok.. I could ramble on and on but I'm sure you'd rather go back and watch him snogging in that video LOL Happy Birthday Matt and thanks for being an AMAZING Vance! Hope to see you on the big screen as him one day *hint hint*

Lacey Weatherford said...

@Belinda Ha ha! I love that she sleeps with that video! LOL Ahhh I LOVE Matt in the Cutting Edge 2! He's so good!

AngelGoneMad said...

Aww that was so sweet of Matt..and on his birthday too! lol..if you gals are cougars..what does that make me?

Oh and can I just say..that pic above..PHWOAR!! Bow chicka wow wow LOL!

xoxo

Valerie said...

That was incredibly sweet of him to thank us. Although, it's probably us who should thank him. It was actually through Matt's tweet that I found out about the series. So, thanks Matt for the recommendation and serving as Lacey's muse!

I must admit, I haven't been following 90210 much since their first break. I keep forgetting that new episodes are on... then March Madness came, and another break. Who cares about college basketball? I'd rather have me some Matt. He is, after all, the only reason I watch the show. Why can't they just plow through the season instead of having two, month long breaks? I'm just waiting for the season to come on DVD, since I can't record them.

I still love how of everything to get a character name from, a memorial sign on the highway was it! LOL.

BTW Lacey, Matt's in Cutting Edge 3, not 2. Either way, anyone who wants to watch it, just look for the pretty blues on the cover. It is actually a cute movie.

Happy birthday, Matt! Hope it's a great one!

Lacey Weatherford said...

@Naomi HA HA! I love it!

@Val I am DYING w/embarrassment! I read Bel's comment and I wrote 2 as well without even noticing! Thank you so much for the correction! Yes, Everyone, Matt has the leading roles in the Cutting Edge 3, Wargames: The Dead Code, Disaster Movie, Vampires Suck, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as roles in Sorority Row, The Roommate, Bobbie Jones Stroke of Genius, and with upcoming roles in Tinkerbell and the Mysterious Winter Woods(voice over), Fanboy, and Ruby McCollum, and television and magazine appearances too numerous to mention. You can find out more about him and other roles/shows he's appeared in on IMDB. :D

Valerie said...

Don't die, Lacey! Do we need to send Vance over to work his healing mojo? I hear it's quite magicial ;)

Lacey Weatherford said...

@Val Umm...YES Please!! haha

BLHmistress said...

Thank you, I am happy to have you here this blog tour has been so much fun, and I love your answer I think I will use that from now on instead of cougar :)

Lacey Weatherford said...

@BLHMistress Ha ha! Use it to your hearts content!

Judy said...

Matt is quite yummy!! I can see where your character of Vance came from Matt. They are both very sexy men. I am sure he is having a very good birthday!!!

I am really enjoying myself!! Woot!!!

Judy
magnolias_1[at]msn[dot]com

Lacey Weatherford said...

@Judy Thanks Judy! I'm glad you are enjoying it. Matt is a fabulous guy! Glad you can see the connection!

AmyV said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AmyV said...

Matt is a cutie! Happy birthday to him! :) he is only a few months older than me! lol :)

Unknown said...

Matt is soooo dreamy... with good boy looks, but bad boy aura... oh, my... :)

SusanKMann said...

Matt really is the sweetest x

natatheangel said...

Matt is perfect! Love this choice...
natatheangel at yahoo dot com

Jan von Harz said...

I love that your actually watched Matt and used him as your model.

Anonymous said...

It's nice to see that some actors are very much sweethearts. I loved him in Vampires Sucks :)

Morganlafey86(at)aol(dot)com

angelshimmery said...

Matt is incredibly yummy. The perfect character inspiration.

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