Author: Lene Fogelberg

Final Cover!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on July 25, 2015. Posted in Blog. 16 Comments on Final Cover!

Busy days at the Fogelburger’s! 🙂

I am very close to finalizing the first draft of my novel taking place in Jakarta. Yesterday our girls came back from their holiday in Sweden (Yay!). Tomorrow we leave for a mini vacation together in Malaysia.

And the cover for Beautiful Affliction has been finalized, the final pages approved and my book has gone to the printer!

My publisher and cover designer chose the beautiful blurb excerpts to go on the cover, and I am very happy with having four blurbs on the back cover and one on the front; five in all!

I have gotten more endorsements than I dared dream of: twelve beautiful blurbs that are to be featured on the first three pages of my book under the headline “Praise for Beautiful Affliction, A Memoir”.

I was hoping for three blurbs when I sent out letters asking for endorsements to around fifteen authors that I admire, never would I have imagined that I would receive twelve! I know how busy people are, and endorsing a debut author is a huge favor, but everyone was so kind.

Here are some of the things they said in their e-mails, that wasn’t in the blurbs, a sneak-peek “behind the blurbs” if you will: 🙂

“Wow, your story is insane.”
“I enjoyed your book so much!”
“Holy moly, what a story!”
“I couldn’t put it down.”
“To parent with such grace under such circumstances is beyond heroic.”
“Your letters to your daughters slayed me. Just slayed me.”
“Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read your stunning new memoir.”
“I read it all in one day, I was THAT captivated!”
“I’m awed by your courage.”
“Your writing is absolutely gorgeous.”
“I had so many positive things to say I couldn’t fit them into one blurb.”
“It was truly a privilege to read and endorse it.”

I am so humbled and grateful for each and everyone of the amazing, kind and generous authors who took the time to read and endorse my book. It really means a lot, especially perhaps when you are a new author struggling with feelings of “what-on-earth-am-I-doing???” It is a roller coaster ride of emotions to see your story grow up and prepare to launch into the world, and it is with a lot of agony one prepares to “let go”. But the support from wonderful fellow authors certainly makes it easier.

And also the support from my publisher and of course, my sweet blogging friends!!

Hugs to you all!

Lene

You can win an ARC!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on July 9, 2015. Posted in Blog. 12 Comments on You can win an ARC!

Hello Friends!

Hope you’re all happy and healthy and enjoying the summer!

We’re moving into the marketing phase of my publishing journey and I have to say, it is very interesting! I just love book bloggers and book lovers and book nerds and it is tremendous fun to contact and be contacted by members of the worldwide book loving family!

Also–tadaaa–my book is ready! It is all finalized: front and back cover with their wonderful blurbs and the interior pages of Beautiful Affliction! Do you want me to show you? I will, all in good time, but for now you’ll have to do with the Advance Reader Copy one more time, he he.

I am so happy for everyone who have signed up for my newsletter and if you forgot, or only just now heard that I will give away TWO Advance Reader Copies among the subscribers to my newsletter: it is not too late! Sign up and you might win a copy! I will draw the winners the first of August so there’s still plenty of time!

I am so happy and grateful for the wonderful endorsement from fellow Scandinavian author Lone Morch, that just made it into the “Praise for” pages in the beginning of my book:

“In Beautiful Affliction Lene Fogelberg takes us on a heartwrenching roller coaster ride as we follow her journey into marriage, motherhood, and across the world with the shadow of death as a constant companion. A poignant and poetic testament to love and the will to live, it reminds us to listen to the whispers of our hearts and to never, ever give up on what we desire the most.”

–Lone Morch, author of Seeing Red: A Woman’s Quest for Truth, Power and the Sacred

Lone is a wonderfully generous and vibrant Danish author and photographer, who travels the world taking pictures, especially of women, which she will share in her upcoming book Unveiled.

Also, I can barely believe it, but I have been able to continue the work on my Work-In-Progress manuscript, and I am very happy about it. I have high hopes of finishing the first draft this summer, despite the fact that launch day for Beautiful Affliction is only two months away! I don’t know how I manage to sit still, but I just love this story I am working on and I guess it helps me focus. That and loud music and knowing that our girls are having great fun with friends and family on their summer holidays back in Sweden.

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter! 😉

Lene

Endorsement by #1 Billboard Artist!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on June 28, 2015. Posted in Blog. 20 Comments on Endorsement by #1 Billboard Artist!

Hello friends!

Today we (my husband and I) have been celebrating the Advance Reader Copies of Beautiful Affliction that arrived from the US in a big brown box! We went to Hotel Dharmawangsa for dinner and while there in the beautiful garden, we took some pics to show you! I can barely believe it! Here I am, holding the first copies of my book!

So these are the galley proofs, or Advance Reader Copy, which are printed and shipped to magazines and authors, among others, for marketing and to hopefully gain some editorial reviews, or endorsements, or blurbs, as we call them. 🙂

Speaking of blurbs, I have to tell you, yesterday evening I got one that made me happy-dance like crazy! Also, it made me star-struck, since I have been hoping for this blurb (a lot) but I didn’t dare think that I would get it, as the person (the blurber, ha ha) has just released his #1 Billboard album and is super busy with the launch. But he wrote that he spent the week in his cabin, and read my book and then he sent me his wonderful endorsement! Are you curious who it is?

It is Paul Cardall, pianist and Steinway Artist, whose music I listened to when I was sick and especially before my open-heart surgeries, as his music is wonderfully soothing and helped calm my spirit. Not until after my surgeries did I learn that he too, struggled with heart disease and then his music became even more special to me. Paul’s story is breath-taking, he eventually became a heart transplant recipient and now he travels the world sharing his wonderful music. You’ve gotta listen to his Gracie’s Theme on youtube!

This is what Paul Cardall said about Beautiful Affliction:

“Lene Fogelberg’s inspiring memoir of life with a literal broken heart teaches us to recognize beauty amidst our own pain and suffering. Having also experienced complicated heart issues and a lifetime of surgeries I found myself reliving my own sacred experience.”

Paul Cardall, #1 Billboard Pianist & Steinway Artist

My goodness, his words bring tears to my eyes every time I read them. I am tremendously grateful and happy that he took the time to read and endorse my book.

Also, the ARC is the authors last chance to find and correct errors, which somehow have made it past editors, proofreaders and the author’s tired eyes. A friend here in Jakarta, helped me read and don’t you think he found two errors! But now I hope there will be no spelling errors left… I have done some minor editing, mostly concerning line breaks etc in the ARC. But I think I am as good as done!

The final version of the book will have a few of the wonderful endorsements on the cover, and also a “praise sheet” in the beginning of the book. But I will give away TWO signed Advance Reader Copies of Beautiful Affliction to TWO lucky winners among those who sign up for my newsletter! So spread the word, and sign up, if you want to see the two spelling errors in my book, he he.

Thanks for all your support and take care,

Lene

Happy Midsummer & Interview

Written by Lene Fogelberg on June 19, 2015. Posted in Blog. 8 Comments on Happy Midsummer & Interview

Hello Friends and Happy Midsummer to you all!

Sorry for my absence lately, but I have spent a week in Singapore visiting doctors and among other things had a wisdom tooth pulled out. Hopefully not losing too much wisdom, like my chef here at the hotel keep teasing me about, when serving me homemade ice-cream and delicious soup with focaccia to dip and eat slowly, because it’s sooo yummy, and because of my swollen cheek :/ It’s not too bad though, I’ve been seen roaming the shops of Orchard Road, he he…

So it’s not a traditional Swedish Midsummer celebration for us this year, but I wish you all a very happy Midsummer all the same!

And I am very happy to tell you about the interview with me over at fab blogger-writer Scott Mullins place: This Is Writing. Not a bad way to spend Midsummer, I love connecting with other writers out there, and Scott’s blog is absoutely gorgeous, you gotta check it out! In the interview with me you’ll get a small sneak-peak of what I am working on now…

And just gotta ask: did you see the latest endorsements I got? MY GOSH, I am still pinching my arm to check if I am dreaming… Alice Eve Cohen’s blurb just floored me… And I am so grateful for all these wonderful authors featured over at my “book” page, that I admire, who have taken the time to read and endorse me. I have received more support than I could have dreamed of, and I just feel so grateful.

Wishing you all a great weekend,

Hugs,

Lene

Welcome!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on June 4, 2015. Posted in Blog. 18 Comments on Welcome!

Good morning friends and welcome to my new website!

Feel free to browse around and check out my new home in the digital world!

You are also welcome to sign up for my newsletter (in the column to the right) to hear about upcoming events, such as free giveaways, book launch behind the scenes, and other news on the release of Beautiful Affliction.

We have exciting stuff going on for the upcoming months, so be sure to sign up for my newsletter, not to miss anything! (I have many surprises planned for early subscribers, schhh, you didn’t hear it from me…)

AND two subscribers will be the lucky winners of Advance Reader Copies of Beautiful Affliction!

Oh my gosh, I am so happy and proud to finally be able to show you my new digital home that we have been building for the past couple of weeks, and it was a team effort for which I am most grateful–thanks and hugs to everyone involved! XOXO

And don’t be shy–you know I love comments, my door is always open for a chat and a cup of Javanese ginger tea, (only you’ll have to bring the tea on your end, ha ha)

See you soon!

Lene

PS. Did you see the blurbs I got for Beautiful Affliction? Oh, my goodness, I can barely believe it! I am overwhelmed and SOOO grateful for the support my book is receiving.

PS.2 You didn’t forget to sign up for the newsletter, did you? 😉

Blurb Heaven

Written by Lene Fogelberg on May 15, 2015. Posted in Blog. 10 Comments on Blurb Heaven

Remember I told you I got a third blurb?

Wonderful author Rita Gardner read my book in one day and then sent me this:

“Brilliantly paced, weaving glimpses of the author’s past into an ever-tightening noose that engulfs Lene and her young family in adulthood, this memoir left me as breathless as if I’d read a thriller about an unstoppable killer circling its victim. Beautiful Affliction grips the reader and won’t let go until the very last page.”
—Rita M. Gardner, author of the award-winning memoir The Coconut Latitudes

Rita won Gold Award in the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards at Independent Book Publishing Association and also Gold Medal in the 2015 Indie Book Awards, category memoirs. I can’t tell you how honored I am that Rita took the time to read my book and endorse me, more than one tear has been shed (ok, quite a few).

I am SO happy for this blurb! (I already put it on the “BOOKS” page of this blog.) In fact I was so happy and grateful for Rita’s endorsement I have been happy all week!

And then I woke up yesterday morning to find my FOURTH blurb in my inbox! A blurb that knocked my socks off!

And more, yesterday my publicist presented my new website and it knocked my socks off again! (Not that we wear socks here in Indonesia 🙂 ) Can’t wait to move to my new digital home, and can’t wait to show you!

Rita suggested that the reader would like to see pictures of Anders and the girls after reading Beautiful Affliction, which I felt was excellent advice, so today I posted some pictures on my Facebook Author page.

So if you want to check them out, they are on Facebook for the time being, but we have plans to do something similar on the new website. Gaah! Can’t wait to show you!

Thanks for your support my friends, it means a lot to me,

Lene

Happy Mother’s Day!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on May 10, 2015. Posted in Blog. 10 Comments on Happy Mother’s Day!

What a Mother’s Day! (Today is Mother’s Day in the US.)

I got these beautiful white lilies from Anders and the girls, who woke me up this morning singing (!) and carrying a delicious fruit platter. The lilies (my favorite) make the whole house smell like a summer meadow.

We went to our favorite Korean restaurant for lunch.

And yesterday I got my THIRD blurb! Woohoo! My publisher is just working on the wording a little, but soon I will show you (you can count on it!) 🙂

This weekend has just been great, especially since my dear hubby was away on business during the week, so it is wonderful to be all together again. (Although I managed to write more than usual when he was away 🙂 )

Here’s a selfie, which ended up on Facebook last weekend, of me and my girls!

Today I have been pondering how lucky I am to be the mother of these wonderful girls, and the miracle of it, considering my congenital heart disease that went undetected for many years. All children are miracles really, and these two beautiful, kind, smart, girls are my miracles.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Lene

Happy-dancing!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on May 3, 2015. Posted in Blog, Updates. 12 Comments on Happy-dancing!

Did you check out my “Books” page recently? If you did, you might have noticed the TWO BLURBS I got for Beautiful Affliction!!!! (*happy-dancing*)

In praise of BEAUTIFUL AFFLICTION:

“Gripping, powerful, touching, beautiful. A memoir about a woman who fights to remain alive because of her daughters and her husband, a story everyone can relate to and will want to read to the inspiring end.”
—Mette Ivie Harrison, author of Ironmom and New York Times Notable Book The Bishop’s Wife

“Lene Fogelberg’s memoir of living with an undiagnosed malfunctioning heart since childhood is a testament to the power of love. She allows us, the lucky reader, access to her innermost fears and guilts, offering up her story with such beautiful prose that one is enticed to linger over each word.”
—Rossandra White, award-winning author of LOVEYOUBYE

I am so happy and honored these wonderful authors, Mette and Rossandra, took their valuable time to read and review my book, I have to confess; tears of gratitude have been shed!

Also, my two wonderful blurbs are already up on Amazon!

Beautiful Affliction is now available for pre-order in the US and internationally! In Sweden you can register your interest at Adlibris, here are the links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/lenefogelberg

Swedish delivery, Adlibris: https://www.adlibris.com/se/bok/beautiful-affliction-a-memoir

Global free delivery, BookDepository.com: http://www.bookdepository.com/Beautiful-Affliction-Lene-Fogelberg

I know some of you have already pre-ordered and I am so happy and excited about that! Thanks a million for your support my dear friends! It means a lot to me!

Love,

Lene