Author: Lene Fogelberg

Thunder & Editing

Written by Lene Fogelberg on November 28, 2014. Posted in Blog. 4 Comments on Thunder & Editing

Hello peeps!

The monsoon is definitely here; the rain is pouring down and the thunder and lightning makes our whole house shake. It is dark like a Swedish winter afternoon and the air is raw with humidity, making me light candles, put on sweaters and search for socks brought from Sweden. And here I am, huddling in my office, editing and editing and editing some more… 🙂

It is a good feeling, to see my memoir manuscript coming nearer to completion with every passage that I finish… Sometimes I feel like I am climbing a mountain of editing, and every now and then I need to take a break to ponder what I just wrote. Every new passage and sentence that I write need to blend seamlessly into the text, like it has always been there, which sometimes is a bit tricky. I read the whole chapter, mull it over, go down to the kitchen to get a snack, come up to my office again and bam! Suddenly I know the right words for that particular sentence.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the U.S. but an ordinary Thursday in Sweden and Indonesia. I feel grateful that I get to spend this time with my manuscript, long before the publishing date but long after I wrote the first draft. It’s like hanging out with an old friend and continue the conversation where we left off.

I hope you are all having a great week, wherever you are! I’m grateful for all of you, your support and encouragement!

See you on the other side of my mountain of editing!

♥Lene

PS. I took the picture during the monsoon in Bali.

(My goodness! This last thunder made me jump out of my chair! )

Finding the Way

Written by Lene Fogelberg on November 18, 2014. Posted in Blog, Updates. 12 Comments on Finding the Way

Hello friends!

Yes — we are finding the way to move forward! After some discussion with my publisher & team, with many new book titles on the table, we have a winner!

I really like it and I think it’s going to be awesome!

I spent the last week going through my manuscript (again) to really get a feel for the story and the new book title is perfect.

Just to be sure I am going to digest it for a while, sorry folks, you’ll have to wait to hear it. 🙂

But it is a relief though, to finally have a new title, for a while there I was afraid we wouldn’t find one I felt appropriate for this story, but we did! And sorry for repeating this all the time, but my publisher is awesome! It is wonderful to work with real professionals who listen to all my wild suggestions but never lose sight of what works in the market.

So now I can go back to my Work-In-Progress in the jungle, or maybe I deserve a little time off… 🙂 The list of movies coming up is fantastic, this week our girls are all set on Mockingjay, of course, and my husband and I want to watch Interstellar, which seems fascinating… Yep, this week is going to bring a little well-deserved relaxation I think…

Wishing you all a great week as well!

See you soon,

♥Lene

(PS. I took the picture in beautiful Sentosa Island, Singapore.)

Embracing the Mess

Written by Lene Fogelberg on November 7, 2014. Posted in Blog. 6 Comments on Embracing the Mess

Today I am reusing the picture from my previous blog post Glorious Mess!

I need to remind myself to embrace the mess, see the beauty in all the odd pieces coming together, just like in this beautiful Indonesian tile floor.

Are you also someone who like it when things are in order, under control, lined up the way you imagined?

Right now my upcoming memoir is juggled back an forth, metaphorically speaking, well that is how it feels, when we are discussing changing the title, subtitle and ideas for cover design… Today I have no idea where this is going to land, what idea might be on the table tomorrow…

All I know is that this is exactly what I wanted! This is what I dreamed about when writing my story, I might just as well enjoy it!

We are in professional hands, me and my manuscript, so let’s enjoy the ride.

Thank you for this time we spent together, I say to the old title, but now it is time to make room for new exciting suggestions. We have been looking at at least twenty, if not forty-fifty, different new titles… But I am embracing the mess!

(*breathe… stay calm…*)

♥Lene

The Joy of Writing

Written by Lene Fogelberg on October 27, 2014. Posted in Blog. 9 Comments on The Joy of Writing

Hello friends!

Today was a good writing day! I managed to get down twice as many words as anticipated, thus making up for Friday which I sort of lost, writing-wise.

We have had a lot going on here in Jakarta. Muslim New Year’s celebrations all over town, the girls’ activities, my husband’s travels, and I have started to work with my publisher on a cover design for my upcoming memoir. I don’t want to reveal too much just yet, but I can say that I am very happy with my publisher! My gosh — I am relieved that I am not the one designing the cover! I worked on one just for fun and sent it to my publisher who quickly made me understand it looked like a tampon commercial! 🙂 Phew, I am SO relieved I am working with professionals and not doing this on my own. Although in my defense, I have to say that I have not seen said commercials for at least three years (not much of that here in Indonesia).

When my husband came home from traveling, he got a good laugh out of the cover design story. Well, I am leaving the cover design to the professionals now! 🙂

Which is probably why I found renewed energy for my Work-In-Progress novel. It is sometimes tricky to work on two books at once, in different stages of completion. It is easy to give the one to be published the priority, and that is as it should be, I guess. But days like these, when I dive into writing new material are always refreshing, they make me remember the joy of writing!

PS. The hibiscus above is completely innocent; it had nothing to do with abovementioned cover design.

♥Lene

A tiger and his friends

Written by Lene Fogelberg on October 23, 2014. Posted in Blog. 4 Comments on A tiger and his friends

Last Sunday our school hosted a fundraiser event for the Afghan Hazara refugees who are temporarily living in Bogor, outside of Jakarta.

It was an intense experience, speaking with the refugees and listening to their story. They told us of the persecutions they have endured, that made them leave their home country. Indonesia opened the border for them and make sure they get the necessities and have a place to stay while waiting for actions by the UN as to where to go next.

In the refugee center, they have opened a Learning Center for the children, and it was for this cause the fundraiser was held. The Learning Center is in need of many things, such as books, pens and paper. The Hazara children and their families came from Bogor to participate in the event and we all had a beautiful day together. It was wonderful to see the children performing a traditional dance and afterwards running around playing football and all sorts of games.

I took a few pictures with my iPhone. The children performed the dance beautifully, with such joy and emotion, it was wonderful to watch.

Realizing how many of the basic things the children lack in the Learning Center, we rushed home, encouraged by our girls, to collect around 100 books that our girls have grown too big for. As we handed over the books, they asked to take our photo together with two representatives from the refugees and we also got an iPhone picture for ourselves (top photo).

This little tiger hunted us all over the football field! 🙂 Especially my husband was his favorite prey. The boy’s father and I stood watching, laughing together, and it really hit me how we didn’t even need to speak the same language to share this moment. Laughter is universal.

After my husband was caught by the tiger, he managed to take a picture of our youngest daughter with the little tiger.

It was an emotional day: I was impressed by our girls and their friends, who worked hard all day to entertain students and refugee children with various games, such as throwing water balloons and face painting. Meeting the refugees and listening to their story was unforgettable, I wished, and still wish, there was more we could do for them. My heart goes out to all who have to flee their home country to live in uncertainty like the Hazaras.

I hope the little tiger and his family and friends will soon find a place to call home, where they can start to rebuild their lives in safety and with hope for the future.

– Lene

New President in Indonesia

Written by Lene Fogelberg on October 21, 2014. Posted in Blog, Updates. 2 Comments on New President in Indonesia

We are lucky to be here in Indonesia in these exciting times!

Yesterday President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi took the oath of office, alongside his Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

I just had to take a couple of pictures of the TV with my iPhone to show you. It was a very worthy and dignified occasion, even the photographers and the journalists wore suit and tie!

Leaders from all over the world gathered here in Jakarta to show their support of this young democracy’s big moment when for the first time power was handed from one directly elected president to another.

Indonesia is the world’s third largest democracy, with 187 million voters. President Yudhoyono was the first directly elected president and is now leaving after serving the maximum two five-year terms in office.

The Imam held the Koran over President Jokowi while he took the presidential oath.

To the left are the former President Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono with wives and to the right are Jokowi with his wife and Vice President Kalla with his wife barely in the picture.

/Lene

By the way, I also wanted to tell you I was invited to guest blog at one of Sweden’s biggest literary blogs, Debutantbloggen, and the post (in Swedish) you can read by clicking the link.

Starstruck

Written by Lene Fogelberg on October 20, 2014. Posted in Blog, Updates. 10 Comments on Starstruck

Hello friends,

Yesterday was a very special day for our family as we got to meet Afghan Hazara refugees here in Jakarta and spend the day with them. I will tell you more about this, but first I just have to share with you what happened last night! I tweeted about my special meeting with the refugees, discussing the world-famous author Khaled Hosseini who featured the persecution of the Hazara people in his novel The Kite Runner. I was happily surprised and I have to confess, somewhat starstruck, when Khaled Hosseini retweeted my tweet!

The world is really becoming a smaller place thanks to twitter etc, where these things can happen! I will tell you more later, but right this moment we are watching the presidential inauguration here in Jakarta, taking place today.

See you later friends,

♥Lene

What a party!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on October 9, 2014. Posted in Updates. 10 Comments on What a party!

Hello friends!

I am overwhelmed by the amazing support after announcing my upcoming memoir The Cicadas, to be published by She Writes Press in 2015.

People have been calling, e-mailing, texting, chatting, congratulating me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and twitter. I even received various status reports from friends celebrating the news, telling me what kinds of cake they had. 🙂 There has been a “The Cicadas-party” going on spread out over the U.S., Europe and Asia!

Thank you soooooo much, I really appreciate it, every like and comment and text message. Writing, as we know, is a long and often lonely endeavor, and it is wonderful to finally be able to share the excitement I feel about this book with you guys!

I also wanted to post the announcement from She Writes here, but if you’d like to read it in a larger font you can just click the link here.

Thanks again guys and keep the party hats on! 🙂

♥Lene