Gayleen Froese

Gayleen Froese is a novelist and musician from western Canada. She has lived in Saskatoon, Toronto and Prince Albert, and is now a resident of Edmonton's historic Alberta Avenue district. The 36-year old has worked as a radio writer and talk show host, an advertising creative director, and a communications officer.

Froese has appeared on Canadian Learning Television's  A Total Write Off  and was a finalist in BookTelevision's 3-Day Novel Contest, filmed over three days in 2007 at a south Edmonton Chapters store. Her non-fiction and humour writing has appeared in publications including See Magazine, The Rat Creek Press, and The Session.

Touch is Gayleen Frose’s first novel and is part of NeWest's Nunatak First Fiction Series. The sequel, Grayling Cross, is slated for publication by NeWest in 2010.

IN GAYLEEN’S WORDS
Gayleen Froese on writing Touch

Dreams, dissociation, and writing on demand

Touch was written because I had a dream about two women in a hotel who were working together to solve a mystery. I didn’t know who they were or what the mystery was, but I liked them and wanted to write about them. So I did.

I felt as if I were watching them live their lives, and then writing down what I saw and heard. I found out who they were as they got to know each other. People would ask why a certain scene was in the book and I would say,

“Because that’s what happened.”

That’s probably dissociative, but it’s how I work best.

I wrote the book while living in Saskatoon and working as a radio writer.  I was also doing some freelance work for commercial clients. I spent most of my time writing, but I wanted to do something that was entirely my own and wasn’t about selling a product.

I liked, and still like, the balance between writing for hire and doing my own writing. If I get frustrated with highly structured, goal-oriented work, I can switch to my fiction. If the blank pages become overwhelming, I can write something for a client. Writing on demand reminds me that I can cowboy up and push through writer’s block if I have a deadline … and so, presumably, I can do the same thing even if there’s no deadline in sight.

Why I get a funny look on my face when people say, “I’ve always wanted to write a book.”

In short, it puzzles me.

I tend to compare writing a novel to creating music. I’ve done that as well, and I would understand if someone said, “I’ve always wanted to record an album.” Albums are complicated, multi-person projects, usually requiring money up front. You need expensive equipment, often, or studio time, or rehearsals with a band.

I see my visual arts friends saving up for weeks to buy a special tube of paint, or spending hours drawing circles to train their hand muscles, so I know other art forms offer logistic and financial hurdles as well.

Writing’s more accessible. You need time—in big pieces or small—and tenacity. If you can dredge that up, nothing’s stopping you. Seriously—I was working three jobs when I wrote Touch. I wrote whenever I could. I wrote on Christmas Day. You don’t need huge chunks of time. You just need to steal it everywhere you can.

If you truly want to write a book, go for it. It’s not a crazy fantasy. It’s just a lot of work.
 
Western Canada’s the ping-pong table, and I’m the little plastic ball

Since writing Touch, in which one of the main characters is from Edmonton, Alberta, and one is from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, I have lived in both Edmonton and Prince Albert. I worked in advertising in Edmonton for several years, took a communications position with a health project in Prince Albert, and came back to Edmonton when the project ended.

I moved six times in six years. Now I own a lovely character house and someday, when I’m a hundred years old, they will have to drag me out of it to put me in a home, because I am Not Moving Again.

I work in corporate communications for a large company, where I interview employees all over North America to tell their stories in an internal publication. I like my job. I’m amazed by the number of people who go through an entire interview saying there’s nothing special about them, really, then casually mention they’ve competed in the Olympics or monitored elections in the Ukraine.

I haven’t talked to a boring person yet.

My website: the home of free stuff

Ignoring my mother’s advice, I am giving the milk away for free on my website, http://www.gayleenfroese.com.

On the Touch Extras page, you will find:
•    a short story featuring characters from Touch, available for free download
•    two extremely short pieces written by characters from Touch
•    a picture of Anna and Collie, the main characters from Touch, as they would look in a cartoon universe

On the Blog page, you will find:
•    a blog, where I spout off weekly, usually on Tuesdays.

On the Music page, you’ll find a link to:
•    my third album, Sacrifice, available for free download

The Touch soundtrack

This is a NeWest readers’ guide exclusive, not even available on my website. Which, again, is http://www.gayleenfroese.com/.

There are songs I listened to while writing various drafts of Touch, or while editing prior to publication: