Guest Post and Giveaway: Midlife Crisis by Audra North

We’re so pleased to welcome author Audra North and the Midlife Crisis blog tour to TNA today. She’s talking about how the book came to be, and there’s also a giveaway, so be sure to check out those details below.

Welcome, Audra!

“I have to write a book now because I replied to a Facebook post.”

That was how I presented the work of Midlife Crisis to my family. They like to tease me about how I seem to make split-second decisions with much higher frequency than the rest of the population. A question will arise, or some challenge presented, and I’ll be off in the blink of an eye, snapping back an answer or trying to tackle a solution.

But the truth is that the decisions that seem fast are actually the culmination of months—sometimes years—of mulling an idea and exploring possibilities in such a way that, when I see something that directly addresses those long, drawn-out thoughts, everything I’ve been ruminating on for ages suddenly clicks into place, and off I go.

The writing of Midlife Crisis was one of those situations. Two years ago, I’d had an idea for a book about an older couple falling in love. Their story was a quick blip through my mind one morning, but over the following months, it expanded in my imagination, forming a pretty solid outline in my brain, though I hadn’t written anything down.

Fast forward to early this year, when my agent posted something to our Facebook group, asking whether anyone had a story written that would work well for submission to Riptide. That was the catalyst for everything I’d been considering for well over a year, and I responded that, no, I didn’t have anything written, but I had an idea…

This isn’t exactly a great way to sell a book, but fortunately, my agent and editor both understood that I work in odd ways, and Midlife Crisis was contracted shortly thereafter. Cam McGhee, one of the main characters, is a deep-thinking kind of guy, and I loved writing his seemingly split-second decisions that are actually the result of many decades of thinking.

But I still tell people that it all started with a Facebook post.

About the Book

Cam McGhee grew up like any other small-town Texas farm boy: he played football, went to church every Sunday, and married his high school sweetheart. But thirty-five years after he said “I do,” Cam finds himself nursing a beer in a gay bar, thinking about what might have been.

Dave Montoya is confident, self-assured, and cautiously single. But when he meets shy, uncertain, and clearly-still-not-out Cam in a coffee shop in Austin, his reservations about getting seriously involved again disappear. Cam is everything he’s looking for in a partner . . . almost, anyway.

No matter how much Dave wants him, and how good they are together, Cam can’t bring himself to openly embrace the life he was meant to live. After all, when his secret finally gets out, he faces the very real possibility of losing everything that kept him going for the first fifty years of his life, just like he’s feared for so long. But with a little faith—and a lot of love—his dream of living fully, truly, as himself might finally be within reach.

[zilla_button url=”http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/midlife-crisis” style=”blue” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Available Now From Riptide Publishing [/zilla_button]

About the Author

Audra North is a contemporary romance author of more than twenty romances, including the Stanton Family series, the Hard Driving series, and the Pushing the Boundaries series. She is the owner and publisher of Pink Kayak Press, which focuses on the publication of diverse romance works. Winter Rain, a Pink Kayak Press anthology, won a gold medal in the 2015 Independent Publisher Awards.

Audra enjoys speaking to writing groups and at industry conferences. She is also an avid jogger and loves running marathons. She has three children and lives with her family outside of Boston.

For more about Audra, and to sign up for her newsletter, visit audranorth.com. Twitter: @AudraNorth | Facebook

The Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Midlife Crisis, one lucky winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on September 2, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!