Blythe Gifford, Guest Chef

Blythe Gifford writes medieval romances for the Harlequin Historical line featuring bastards born on the wrong side ofthe royal blanket.

After many years in public relations, advertising, and marketing, she started writing seriously after a corporate layoff.  Ten years and one layoff later, she became an overnight success when she sold her Romance Writers of America Golden Heart finalist manuscript to Harlequin.

The Chicago Tribune has called her work “the perfect balance between history and romance.”

She juggles writing with a consulting career and is a frequent presenter of workshops online and at local and national Romance Writers of America conferences.

Blythe lives and works along Chicago’s lakefront, nurturing her muse with art, music, history, long walks, good food and good friends.

With HIS BORDER BRIDE, she crosses the border and sets a story in Scotland for the first time, where the rules of chivalry don’t always apply.  Here’s a brief description:

Royal Rogue:  He is the bastard son of an English prince and a Scotswoman. A rebel without a country, he has darkness in his soul.

Innocent Lady:  Daughter of a Scottish border lord, she can recite the laws of chivalry, and knows this man has broken every one.  But she’s gripped by desire for him—could he be the one to unleash the dangerous urges she’s hidden until now? 

She loves to have visitors at www.blythegifford.com or www.facebook.com/BlytheGifford.
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Carol: Blythe, thanks for being our guest today. We’re happy to have this opportunity to know you better and talk about your work.

Blythe: Thank you for having me!  I love eating out!  Truth is, I’m not much of a chef, but I love to visit restaurants.

Carol: Your location sounds wonderful! We’ve talked about our writing spaces on PFHT. Please tell us about yours and whether you have any rituals (candles, music, etc) that help you to stay focused.

I do have a home office with wonderful built in bookshelves and file drawers, none of which you can seen because of all the piles!  As for rituals?  Yes.  All of the above.  When I start a book, I create a “soundtrack” to write by and choose a fragrance (buy a candle) that summons the story for me.   I also choose an evocative photo and set it as my screen background.  In the morning, when I push “play” and strike that match, like Pavlov’s dog, I am trained to make a cup of tea and open the file.  No decisions.  No waiting for the muse.

The soundtrack and candle also come in handy when it is time to do revisions or book promotion.  They help me get back in the mood of the story, even if I’m immersed in another project by then.

Carol:   Interesting. So what did you choose for HIS BORDER BRIDE?

Blythe:  My soundtrack started with an old Kris Kristofferson song, “Border Lord.”  The lyrics go “When you’re headed for the border, lord you’re bound to cross the line.”  This summed up the hero for me.  (This introductory song doesn’t have to be historically accurate.  It’s what plays while I’m getting that cup of tea.)  Then, since I was writing a Scottish setting for the first time, I went as Scottish as I could get, all the way to the soundtracks from Braveheart and Rob Roy.  The candle had a Scots Pine scent and the photo on the desktop was of the Cheviot Hills, the border between Scotland and England, where the story takes place.

Carol:  If you had fair warning that you were to be trapped in your apartment for three weeks, with only one visitor allowed each day, what would you make sure to have with you and who would you have visit?

Blythe: I would make sure I had working internet service.  And daily visits from the UPS guy.  (Bearing books from Amazon!)  Mmmm.  Did I forget to mention food?

Carol:  Hmm. Just for you I’m picturing a man candy UPS guy for your viewing pleasure. If anyone can look good in drab brown, it’s him. Having met you, I know that you love tints and shades of the color blue. Besides the fact that it showcases your eyes beautifully, why blue? Is there some personal significance attached to that color?

Blythe: The wardrobe color has taken on a life of its own!  It started some years ago with one outfit I loved.  I kept finding more things in that color and when you buy everything the same color, eventually it all goes together.  As to meaning, my birthstone is turquoise, so turquoise/aqua has that resonance.  It’s also the color of the fifth chakra – the throat – which is concerned with self-expression, choices, and speaking truthfully.  Appropriate for a writer, I think.  Finally, it’s become such a signature that I wouldn’t dare wear anything else!  Even “Smart Bitch Sarah” commented on my wardrobe after the Chicago-North Spring Fling Conference.  (Now, if I could just get Harlequin to brand my book covers in blue!)

Carol:  Thanks for indulging my silly questions. You’re a good sport. Now, let’s talk more about your work. What’s going on with Blythe Gifford, the author?

 

Blythe:  HIS BORDER BRIDE is out now from the Harlequin Historical line.  I write medieval romance featuring characters born on the wrong side of the royal blanket.  With this book, I’ve “crossed the border” into Scotland.

Carol:   What drew you to the Scottish side of the border?

Blythe:  Among my core stories is that of the character who is torn between two sides of him (or her) self.  Certainly, that is inherent in the “royal bastard” idea.  HIS BORDER BRIDE takes this idea one step further.  Not only is the hero torn between royal and noble, he’s torn between two countries.  Gavin Fitzjohn is also my first “bad boy” hero, so I was juggling several new things with this book.

Carol: Good call. I loves me a bad boy hero! So what comes next?

Blythe: I’ve signed another three book contract with Harlequin and am working on my next book, which I expect will be out in 2011.  I’m not revealing much yet, but I grew to love the Scottish Borders, so I’ll be staying in that geography.

Carol:  Congratulations! Five books out and three more under contract is fantastic.  You’re an overnight success!

Blythe:  Overnight after more than 15 years!  I started writing seriously after a corporate layoff.  It took ten years before I sold my Golden Heart finalist manuscript to Harlequin, so now, I really do feel as if I’m “living the dream.”  It’s important to celebrate the good times, and this is one of them.

Carol:  You give me hope. After a few years it sometimes feels like nothing will ever happen. Do you have any tips to share for those who are waiting for success to come? (like me)

Blythe:  No matter where you are in the journey, you will never really ‘arrive.’  There will always be new goals, new roads to travel.  But I’m a big believer in the importance of understanding why you write what you write.  Beyond fame and money (sure, we’d all like those!), I think there’s a reason you are drawn to your subject and your genre.  Stay true to that amidst all the pressure to publish, to sell, and to sell more.  That “why” is part of what I call the “soul of the brand.”  You can also call it voice, but it’s the thing that draws the reader back for the next book and the next and what makes some authors become “auto-buys.”

For me, it includes giving readers the experience of life in another time period.  I always hope that the reader will feel as if she has ‘lived’ in the world, for at least a little while.

Carol:  Blythe, thanks for stopping in to give us your recipe for success. We’ve enjoyed having you here. Anything else you’d like to say before we hang back and let others comment?

Blythe:  Special hello to Carol, Darcy, and Susan and thanks to all the chefs for having me here.  I am offering a signed copy of HIS BORDER BRIDE to a commenter, so I’d like to ask what authors do you “auto-buy”?  And what about the author’s voice/core story keeps you coming back?

Carol:  You heard her folks. Start commenting now!

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Cover Art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ®and T are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises Limited and/or its affiliated companies, used under license. Copyright 2010