Welcome to a new week, blog babes!

I hope everyone had a good weekend and is jumping into the week feeling lucky. Why? Because it’s time for a new contest!

To enter this week’s Free Stuff Friday contest, send an email to donna@donnakauffman.com with “A new week, a new book!” in the subject line. I’ll draw a name from the pile and announce it here in Friday’s blog.

Everyone is eligible to enter, no matter where you hail from. Congratulations to last week’s winner May, who is officially the first Free Stuff Friday winner from Bangkok, Thailand!

So…what are you waiting for? Enter with abandon!

And the fun doesn’t stop with me. Tune in this week for a sneak peek of new cover art! I was invited to contribute to a compilation of Scottish romance short stories, and am excited to finally share the details. More tomorrow!

But, right this very second, it’s time for me to tackle Monday and start the week off with a bang! I am hard at work on SUGAR RUSH, the launch book for my new “Cakes by the Cup” series. Set on the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia, specifically centered around a small cupcake bakery (because, really, can there be more fun?)…a group of women, from all different walks of life, find their paths crossing and lives converging quite by accident as they indulge in some surprisingly insightful and delightful stress-relief bonding. Some women quilt, some share their love of books…. These women? Well….they bake. Add a little flour and a lot of frosting…and the after-hours Cupcake Club is born.

For me, this means a personal research journey into understanding the nuances and intricacies of being a five star professional pastry chef…which is what my first heroine was before coming back home to Georgia to take care of her father. It also happens to be what my hot, sexy, irreverent British hero still does for a living. In front of millions of women. Every week. On his own number one rated, frosting licking good television show. In fact, if you asked his viewers, they’d happily, breathlessly agree that they’d like to, um….lick his frosting, too. Our heroine? Eh, not so much. But he’s out to change all that…and willing take her island–and the Cupcake Club ladies–by storm, if he has to.

Personally? I don’t know how professional pastry chefs do it. Much less for the camera. I’m having a hard enough time in the privacy of my own kitchen. But I’m game for figuring it out! And? I’m taking you guys with me! Yes, after the launch of OFF KILTER, my “Hot Scot” sequel to SOME LIKE IT SCOT, hits the shelves right around Santa Season, I will begin chronicling my new “secret life” as a pastry chef… Well, a wanna be pastry chef. On a good day.

And the stories I have to tell already… Oh yeah. (If anyone knows how to get chocolate ganache off the kitchen ceiling…yes, the ceiling…please let me know!)

Yes…it could give a whole new meaning to my signature blog sign off, urging you all to….

….DISH!

But right this very second, it’s time to enter contests and think about more Hot Scots in kilts. And I’m all about that (with frosting on top!) More tomorrow on this new Scots hero who has sauntered into the mix… He’s, well…out of this world.

Tags: Writing //