Former resident's novel inspired by her time in Wrangell

Raised in Wrangell then later moving to Illinois, where she now lives with her husband and two sons, Jennifer Weekley recalled it was her friend and Wrangell resident Walt Maenhout who encouraged her to write a book.

"I thought about it," she said. "And I've always heard if somebody's going to write, you should write what you know about, and I thought I knew about deep, meaningful friendships. Having grown up in Wrangell the way we did, we have these bonds that people in the Lower 48 oftentimes just don't have."

It took her about a year and a half to write her first draft, and she revised and edited it for much longer. Twice, she stepped away from the work for periods of time. She published her book 10 years after she first began writing it.

The result was "Soundtrack of Life," a coming-of-age novel that centered on the friendships, lives and loves of its three main characters, Sara, Molly and Adam, spanning almost a quarter century from high school senior year to age 40.

Weekley described the experience of writing her first novel as "torture."

"I really didn't know what I was getting into," she said. "I wasn't an English major in college or anything. I've always been a decent storyteller."

The author put her characters through various challenges as they dealt with heartache, loss and the grim reality of issues like sexual assault. "I wanted the book to be true to life, and unfortunately I know so many people who have been through things like that."

Weekley is thankful to friends who encouraged her throughout the writing process until she self-published the work last year on Amazon. "It's just the direction a lot of authors are going these days," she said.

While Weekley's book is dedicated in part to "the Wrangell Girls," and heavily inspired by her time in the town, it's set in the fictional town of Rydell, Illinois (named after the high school in the movie "Grease").

"I felt like if I based the story out of Alaska, people would think it's autobiographical," she said. "The story really is pure fiction, so I wanted to place it outside of Alaska, and I currently live in Illinois, so Illinois was an easy choice."

Weekley first came with her family to Wrangell from Portland soon after she was born, since her mother had relatives in town. She lived here from 1972 to 1992, moved to Washington state for college and remained there until her relocation to Illinois in 2014.

While some of the main characters were partly inspired by real people who she grew up with in Wrangell, Weekley also finds them to be reflections of her own insecurities and aspirations. "It was a combination, really, of a lot of things," she said. "They had these influences, but as I went (further), they became their own people ... who were not people that I knew."

However, one character reminded the author of a good friend in Wrangell so much that Weekley asked her if she could name the character after her.

"I wanted to have somebody really fun, and somebody who makes me laugh all the time," she said. "I actually asked my friend Caity (Rooney), who owns Stone Cold Fox up there, the hairstylist, right? I said, 'You know, I'm thinking about this character that kind of reminds me of you. Would you mind if I just named her after you as a nod to our friendship?' And she was really excited about me doing that."

"I thought it was really cool and a really nice gesture," Rooney said. "I thought there was definitely a touch of me in the character."

Although others bear no resemblance to their namesakes, similar references are sprinkled throughout the book. "Most names in there, most of the women's names in there are the names of friends because I thought it would be kind of fun for them to be reading the book and come across that, their name, and know I was thinking of them," Weekley said.

One such reference appears when Sara interviews for a job at a Portland radio station that has the call letters of Wrangell's KSTK.

"My stepdad was a disc jockey for KSTK, and went on to become the station manager," she said. "My mom has also worked for KSTK, so I've always kind of had music running through my veins, and I wanted to put out an intentional shout-out to KSTK in there."

Rooney said she has a copy of the novel at her salon available for customers during their appointments and added that she enjoyed the touches of Wrangell featured in the story. "I loved the book. I thought she did a great job and I'm so proud of her."

Weekley will come to town during the Fourth of July celebration and has been in touch with Rooney and the Irene Ingle Public Library about appearing in events while in town. The library already has copies of her book on the shelves.

Weekley thinks she'll be ready to start writing her next book in a few months. "I've got notes on a couple of different ideas."