Interview With Kimberly Kincaid, Author of The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap Anthology

Welcome, Kimberly. Tell us a little about The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap. What inspired this story?

My editor, Alicia Condon is totally behind this one! She approached me and asked if I’d like to do a collaborative anthology to kick off my Pine Mountain series (starting in March 2014). Of course, I jumped at it.

Blurb: The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap is a collaborative Christmas anthology written with Donna Kauffman and Kate Angell about three best girlfriends who heat up their kitchens and their love lives with the unlikeliest of men over the holidays. There’s a prologue and epilogue, so readers can get a great peek into Clara, Abby, and Lily’s false starts and happily ever afters!

What are you working on now? Do you have any releases scheduled for this year?

I’m working on Pine Mountain book #4 (oh, it’s a doozy too—I am so in love with my hero right now!) Book #1, Turn Up The Heat, comes out in March 2014, then Gimme Some Sugar in June, and Stirring Up Trouble in October.

Do you have any good news you’d like to share?

Oh, this is a loaded question, and one that I love… but for now, I must keep my lip zipped (much as it kills me). Stay tuned though!

What are your writing goals for this year?

My plate includes finishing Pine Mountain book #4, writing another Indie novella with a character from the “line” series, and working on a new full-length project. I love being busy!

How do you come up with ideas?

Ideas fling themselves at me, honestly. Things hit me when I’m in line at the grocery store, or at the gym, or in the shower (that’s always amusing—you can’t take Post It notes with you). I have lots of scribbly notes with book ideas on them. But they usually start when I’m not writing!

Can you share with us “the call” story?

I got my call about 12 hours before I left for RWA Nationals in 2012. I thought my agent was just calling to wish me luck and tell me to have fun. But instead she said, “I just wanted to send you to Nationals as a published author!” And I kept saying, “But we haven’t sold my books!” I don’t think it sank in for a good five minutes, and then I really *got* it. I told my kids first—they were home with me at the time. They all danced and sang and group hugged me. It was really, really special.

What do you enjoy most about writing?

All of it! Even the hard stuff that makes me pull out my hair. I love coming up with rough ideas and watching them become more on the page. And I especially love happily ever after. There is nothing on earth like typing “The End”!

Where do you start when writing? Research, plotting, character, or…?

Usually characters. I need to let them talk to me a bit to figure out who they are and what I want to wing at them. That’s definitely how I started with Pete and Lily, in Sugar Cookie. But the project I’m working on next started (inadvertently) with research. So I’m equal opportunity.

What is the best thing about being an author?

Working in PJ’s J No, really, it’s when readers tell me how they lost themselves in something I wrote. It’s an amazing feeling.

Do you have a favorite hero and/or heroine in your books and why?

Whoever I’m writing at the time is my favorite. Even when they’re being difficult!

What is your favorite scene from this story and why?

I love the scene where Pete and Lily compete in the first task in the cookie competition. I had such a good time showing them as opposites who still really clicked. Plus, I love putting my characters in the kitchen.

How do you balance writing and everyday life?

I don’t sleep much! It’s always a challenge, but I have an incredibly supportive family, who thankfully like Cheerios. A lot.

What is your favorite food to cook or eat?

I have too many to list. But I love food right from the earth. No one ever has to bug me to eat my vegetables.

What do you like to read?

Mostly romance, but I also read literary fiction and thrillers. And cook books. And magazines! And…

Do you listen to music while you write? What are you listening to now?

Nope! I’m a purist. Right now I am listening to my kids’ feet on the stairs.

What don’t most people know about you but you would like to share?

I’m ambidextrous. It helps while multi-tasking!

And now, Kimberly has a question for you all: What’s your favorite holiday cookie or sweet treat? Why is it special to you?

Excerpt:

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” Pete watched the fresh layer of understanding wash over Lily’s features, followed by twin spots of pink on the apples of her cheeks. Well. At least her blush would keep him from freezing.

“You’re competing too?” she gasped.

“’Fraid so,” he said. “Winning this thing will be a pretty big boost for my career. It’ll put me on the fast track in the city, that’s for sure.”

The austere expression Lily served up made him tack on a cocky smile just to see if he could temper it. God, he loved a challenge.

“You’re awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

Something unfolded deep in his belly, prompting him close enough that their breath comingled in puffy wisps of dissipating heat. “I wouldn’t last a day in this business if I wasn’t.”

Okay, yeah, maybe he was trying to knock Lily off her game a little. But being that straitlaced couldn’t be healthy, and part of him wanted to see what it would take to rattle her.

The other part just liked her blush.

“Oh.” Her bow-shaped mouth parted just enough to allow the word out, and for the barest moment, all that austerity fell away. The wind that Pete had cursed just minutes before made another appearance, only this time it stirred a few honey-colored strands from the knot at the back of her head.

Suddenly, his distaste for Mother Nature dropped a couple of pegs.

Lily blinked, but then gave a firm head shake as if resetting herself. “Well, then. I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I hope so.” The well-hello-there stirring low in his belly seconded the sentiment. “Good luck tomorrow.”

A faint yet unmistakable smile ghosted over her lips. “I appreciate the good wishes, but I believe in hard work, not luck.”

Oh, no way. No way was he going to let Little Miss By-the-Book have the last word. She might be cute and all with that sudden, sassy smile on her face, but a guy had his pride.

Pete turned his reply over in his mouth, savoring it like a bite of decadent cheesecake before letting it roll off his tongue with a smile.

“You might not want to make that an either-or, Blondie. See, I came here to win this thing. Which means you’re going to need all the luck you can get.”

Bio: Kimberly Kincaid writes contemporary romance that splits the difference between sexy and sweet. When she’s not sitting cross-legged in an ancient desk chair known as “The Pleather Bomber”, she can be found practicing obscene amounts of yoga, whipping up anything from enchiladas to éclairs in her kitchen, or curled up with her nose in a book. Kimberly is a 2011 RWA Golden Heart® finalist who lives (and writes!) by the mantra that food is love. She has written two digital novellas, Love On The Line and Drawing The Line, about hot cops and sexy chefs, with a third novella, Outside The Lines, due this summer. She is also thrilled to have collaborated on a Christmas anthology with Donna Kauffman and Kate Angell, titled The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap, to kick off her Pine Mountain foodie series with Kensington this October. Kimberly’s first full-length novel, Turn Up the Heat, will follow in February 2014. She resides in northern Virginia with her wildly patient husband and their three daughters.

Visit Kimberly any time at:

Website: www.kimberlykincaid.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kimberly.kincaid1

Twitter: http://twitter.com/kimberlykincaid .

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6938229.Kimberly_Kincaid

You can buy The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap at: Amazon.com