Gay Romance Authors Blog: Mia Kerick is (probably) WAY TOO EXCITED.... I'm GRRC's FEBRUARY FEATURED AUTHOR

Hello, GRRC readers!

I’m Mia Kerick, and I’m overly excited to be February’s featured author at GRRC. My (devious) plan is to charm and entertain. LOL. 😉

Expect a few blog posts about the wonder of GRRC and some Facebook fun.

Who knows where else I’ll show up? I’m a newly active member of Instagram. For years, I feared Instagram more than getting a root canal 🦷, but TBH, I’m having a blast with it. (I also have a Twitter account. Or two.)

You can follow me at https://www.instagram.com/miakerick/ (shameless plug)

And/or on Twitter @MiaKerick, but you’ll find mostly politics there. I’m working on shifting more toward books. Give me some time…

Oh... and I'd sell my soul to get some BookBub followers. GO AHEAD, MAKE MY DAY... 🙏

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/mia-kerick

Moving on to my GAY ROMANCE…

Three (or was it four?) years ago, I wrote Dead Sea.

Coming of Age Gay Romance—and a topic some consider to be controversial.

Or maybe it was controversial for someone like me to write.

I hired three experienced sensitivity readers and…

Well, two years ago, I rewrote Dead Sea based on their input. 📑

But something about it was off. I set it aside.

And then, one year ago, I re-rewrote Dead Sea.

Too bad I was just going through the motions—

I’d gone through a bit of an emotional rollercoaster with it, and I needed space.

But I didn’t give up. I sent the manuscript to a talented content editor.

And my awesome editor showed me the way back to my original passion.

Ooops, I did it again…Over the past few months, I re-re-rewrote Dead Sea.

Now my story has future plans—hopefully brighter than its blemished past. 💔

I’ll self-publish Dead Sea and it will release on March 3rd…

ARCs will be available on February 17^th, so reach out, my friends...

COVER REVEAL with GAY ROMANCE REVIEWS on FEBRUARY 10th

Preorders should be available Dead Sea on Kindle and KU on February 10^th.

TRUE CONFESSION: Over the course of Dead Sea’s longish (rather turbulent) unpublished life, I’ve suffered a lack of confidence that I can write about anything in the world I desire. Am I only allowed to write of my own personal experience?

The self-doubt is mostly resolved, but I took about a year off writing to think.

My story Dead Sea had several inspirations. When my daughter, Demi, attended SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, she introduced me to “Dead Sea”—the song by the Lumineers. (Check it out—it’s amazing.) Upon my request (begging), we played the haunting tune over and over while cruising around White Plains in our old black Volvo wagon. I memorized the lyrics. I crooned the melody in a Mom-voice that surely made Demi cringe.

FIVE RANDO PICS about Dead Sea...

Songs usually inspire my writing; in this case, a song provided the story’s spark.

♭♮♯

Like the Dead Sea
You told me I was like the Dead Sea
You'll never sink when you are with me
Oh Lord, like the Dead Sea

I was also inspired by an event in a young relative’s high school life—he saved a boy from drowning in a riptide during a break in Confirmation class at an oceanfront estate and was subsequently celebrated by the whole town. 💪

Combining these two ideas, I came up with the story’s concept. Through the rewrites, this concept never changed.

Whoa, I'm like the Dead Sea
The finest words you ever said to me
Honey can't you see
I was born to be, be your Dead Sea

Dead Sea has had COUNTLESS concept editors, sensitivity readers, first ten-page manuscript critiques by agents, beta readers… to the tune of $$$$$$$$$$

Get the picture?

But the time has come to make a move—and I made it! 😼

Here’s Dead Sea's blurb:

Kyle is a swaggering bully; Lenny strives to be invisible.

Kyle has been left alone in the world; Lenny is the world’s biggest loner.

When Kyle saves Lenny from drowning, their lives will never be the same.

After a brutal encounter with school bullies, Lenny swims out into the ocean, determined to let the current whisk him away. Next thing he knows the meanest kid in town is pulling him from the waves, promising to be his Dead Sea, and to never let him sink.

All Kyle wants is to get out of beach cleanup, is that too much to ask? So he goes for a swim, only to come upon the most epic loser in the senior class drowning in a riptide. Lenny’s haunted gaze grips him, and Kyle makes the impulsive decision to save his life or die trying. And through this ordeal, Kyle and Lenny are transformed.

Kyle’s heroic act sets him on the straight and narrow, and he opens his heart to the young man he dragged from the ocean. Lenny changes too but is still unable to reveal the truth of his pain. While drowning in a sea of secrets, the reformed bully and wary victim fall in love. But staying afloat in the Dead Sea is not as simple as it seems.

Dead Sea will be Book 2—a standalone—in the STORY BALLADS BY MIA KERICK series. (The first was Torn, based on Natalie Imbruglia’s song—with separate characters, but the same angst and hope and devastating first love. Torn is only 99 cents right now, in honor of the next release in the Story Ballads series.)

Here’s the link...

https://www.amazon.com/Torn-Kerick-Story-Ballads-Book-ebook/dp/B07G971HF5/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=torn+by+mia+kerick&qid=1611772637&sr=8-1