From historical romance to children’ s literature, author and Shaler native Gaelen Foley has done it all.
“ My earliest juvenilia was embarrassing poetry,” laughs Foley as she recalls attending Shaler Area High School where her favorite subjects were English, history and various languages.
“ I was an eleventh-grader in Shaler High School sitting in Mr. Schrum’ s A. P. English Class when I made up my mind to become an author,” says Foley.“ He was very dear to me, even though I know I kind of annoyed him,” she says, as she recalls that he came to her first book signing in the Waterworks Barnes & Noble back in 1998, when her debut novel was released.
While at Shaler Area High School, Foley also played on the girls soccer team and was involved with the school newspaper and yearbook clubs. She graduated from Shaler Area in 1987.
Foley went on to get a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature with a minor in Philosophy from S. U. N. Y. Fredonia. In her free time during her studies, she continually practiced her writing and worked toward perfecting her craft.
In 1988, Foley met her husband Eric during a college party at the University of Pittsburgh when they were both freshmen.“ It was literally love at first sight! He’ s MY romance hero.” Currently living in Washington County, the two have been inseparable since— so much so that Foley expanded her repertoire to children’ s literature as she and Eric, a former middle school teacher, began co-writing middle school fantasy novels under the pen name E. G. Foley.“ It’ s been such a fun change of pace for me creatively,” says Foley.“ I’ ve always loved the middle grade genre, as the ages 8 through 12 often become formative reading years in many people’ s lives— including mine— and is often referred to as the‘ golden age of reading.’ I can also now attest that there’ s nothing cuter than a fan letter from a kid!” she adds.
But despite her recent work in children’ s literature, Foley’ s first love as a writer was historical romance with its gorgeous settings and poetic language.“ It brought together my two favorite things— a lush, vibrant happily-ever-after and the pageantry of historical settings,” says the author, adding she loves that the genre is very much larger-thanlife.“ Where else in fiction can you write about a dashing pirate bent on revenge or a James Bond-esque‘ gentleman spy for the Crown’ who also happens to be a Jane Austen-era Duke?” she laughs.“ That kind of sheer fun is just hard to beat!”
Foley is a New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’ s Weekly bestselling author of 20 historical romance novels set in the glittering
Foley’ s high school senior picture. Shaler Area Class of 1987.
For more information on author Gaelen Foley, visit gaelenfoley. com.
world of Regency England. With over two million words in print, her books are available in 17 languages and have won numerous genre awards, such as the Bookseller’ s Best, the NJRW Golden Leaf( three times), the CRW Award of Excellence, the National Reader’ s Choice Award, the Beacon and the Holt Medallion.
“ To decide to become a historical writer is to make a serious commitment of time, study and resources to master your chosen period, especially when it’ s the Regency period which has such a devoted following of knowledgeable readers,” says Foley, who acknowledges the challenges in attention to detail within the genre, and credits her readers as being“ smart cookies who are very invested in getting Jane Austen’ s era and world right.” She spends countless hours outlining, researching and world-building in advance of writing her novels and then generally completes three drafts.
“ As Nora Roberts says,‘ My favorite book is always the one I’ m working on now,’” says Foley, who admits that if she doesn’ t love a story, she simply doesn’ t write it and is proud of all of her books for different reasons.
Foley enjoys writing in all of her genres and currently has four different series going.“ After doing only the historical romance genre for so many years, I now relish being able to, as it were, turn the dial on the radio station I’ m tuning into each time I finish a book and listen to a different type of music— or dive into one of my other genres,” she says.
Inspiration seems to find Foley on its own, as she constantly draws ideas while going through the little things that make up everyday life.“ I’ ll be sitting there minding my own business, driving somewhere in my car, taking a hike or, most often, taking a shower and— boom— in rushes an idea,” says the author.“ I have so many ideas nowadays that I almost cringe when I get a new one, because there’ s no way I could write them all in one lifetime.” This July, Foley and her husband released their latest children’ s novel titled“ Secrets of the Deep”( The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 5). Soon, she will journey back to Jane Austen’ s era of Regency England for her next dramatic historical romance in her Moonlight Square series, in addition to preparing a new proposal for her New York publisher, HarperCollins.“ Though there’ s a lot of opportunity right now for writers in indie publishing, I still think it’ s valuable for an author to have a foot in both worlds— indie and traditional publishing.” ■
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