Wow! I’ve been offered a chance to interview the fabulous Kimberly Kincaid, and she promised to tell me all her secrets – she was able in just a few short years to go from unpublished to agented, indie-pubbed and is expecting her first SERIES to debut this fall! And while you’re waiting, her current title, Drawing the Line is available NOW. 
So, let’s welcome our Mermaid guest for today with a cool, tall frothy drink. We’ll even toss some petals into the lagoon for some aromatherapy. Ready, Kimberly?
1. Please share you life story and how/when you decided to be a writer. Coming right out of the gate with the hard questions! (takes long sip of frothy drink) I’m a wife and mom of three girls, and some of my former jobs include yoga instructor, English teacher, and working in a bagel bakery. I write full-time now and it’s my dream job. I love every second– even the ones where I’m thunking my head on my desk!
2. These are Indie titles, right? What prompted you to choose the Indie route? Pros and cons? I’m a bit of an anomaly in that I do both. The “line” novellas are published through Curtis Brown Digital, which is my agency’s digital imprint. We use Amazon’s self-pubbing format. The short answer is that I wrote the stories because I could– I had time in my schedule in between print projects for Kensington and my agent and editor thought it would be a great way to launch my career. I love learning the ins and outs of the industry from this side, but it’s a lot of time-consuming work. You get a very quick education the first time around! But it’s been successful for me, and of course I’m thrilled to get my work into the hands of readers.
3. Police procedure and cooking. It’s fascinating. It’s sexy. It’s When Worlds Collide. Discuss. Ahhh, police procedure! I was lucky to have a contact for the technical stuff, and he was very patient in answering my questions. The cooking part was a lot easier for me, since all my books incorporate food. But cops and chefs are both very intense, very “Alpha” type people most of the time. Putting those strong personalities together just made sense in my head. Plus, when the sparks fly…they *really* fly!
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 is 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. Her first full-length novel, Turn Up the Heat, will follow in February 2014. Kimberly resides in northern Virginia with her wildly patient husband and their three daughters. Visit her any time at www.kimberlykincaid.com or come check her out on Facebook and Twitter.
Hi Kimberly!!! Hi Susan Mermaid!! Loved your interview ladies. And major props to the Tiger Beat generation 🙂 I like that you keep your board “slathered” with Chris Pine Kimberly! Thank you so much for chilling out with us on this hot day!
Pictures work wonders. Daniel Craig is my inspirational guide in all his Bond finery.
I’m all about the slather 🙂 Thanks for having me! I love the pond no matter what the weather.
Such a lovely set of replies already! Welcome! Kimberly has been an most excellent interview, I learned a lot from her!
You guys have the best company, the best conversation, and the best frothy drinks 🙂
Kimberly and Susan!! Hello! (Sipping on my frothy drink). I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who loves to post pictures of inspiration. With my first novel it was Hugh Jackman and now it’s some guy in a watch ad, for one book, Channing Tatum for another and another guy from some magazine ad for the third–along with various, female characters to accompany them as their mate(s).
Hugs!! A raising a cup of vanilla bean latte to you all!! 😀
Kimberly,
Hello! And hello to you as well, Mermaid Susan. Great interview! Your story is both inspirational and fun. Imagine feeling down about not finaling (been there, done that, and it’s not fun) and then getting The Call right before going to Nationals. That beats finaling any day of the week! 🙂
Your series sounds absolutely awesome and Alpha-male dominated. 🙂 Love it!
I hate to say that I’ve never had a picture in my head of my hero. I really need to do that. I hate that even after my book is written I still have no idea what he really looks like. It drives me insane. If I leave the book for too long, I don’t even remember what color his eyes were. His hair. His build. Jeez! I suck! But I can tell you what he likes to eat for breakfast. What his dreams were when he was in kindergarten. And whether he loves his mommy. LOL.
I am definitely finding myself a picture! Right now…
I am so visual– the picture is the first thing I go on, and then I build the character from there! I get so into the characters (both the hero and heroine) that my husband will occasionally tell me, “You know they’re not real, right?” But to me, they really are! Like you said, Kim, you know every last detail of them by the time you’re done with the story.
I’ll admit, finaling in the GH in 2011 and not in 2012 was really crushing. It took me a while to get past that, but after a few weeks (and more than a few pints of Ben and Jerry’s), I dusted myself off and got back in the chair. But the funny thing is, I never sold the GH manuscript (and likely never will), and the three (yes…three!) that didn’t make it in 2012? They’re all going to be on shelves next year. So you never know!
Oh sweet good grief, between Robin’s lecture on Savvy last night and Kim’s convo today, I’m am going to need a subscription to both Cosmo and Tiger Beat (which I loved in my ahem 70s teen years)! Ideas AND pictures! And chalking it up to research!