Author: Lene Fogelberg

Interview (in Swedish)

Written by Lene Fogelberg on February 18, 2015. Posted in Blog. 9 Comments on Interview (in Swedish)

Hello friends!

A week ago I was featured in a newsletter and I thought I might as well show you! Actually it was a big deal for me, since I have been subscribing to this newsletter for several years, and I never dared dream I would be in it!

It is sent from one of Sweden’s leading literary consultants, Ann Ljungberg, to a big part of the Swedish literary world (which is sort of spread out all over the globe, just look at me! 🙂 ).

Ann has helped hundreds of aspiring authors, established authors and publishers and she is a regular contributor to Sweden’s most famous magazine on writing Skriva. She has worked on over 600 manuscripts and about 170 have become published books. When I had finished the first draft of my manuscript for Beautiful Affliction in Swedish, I sent it to Ann Ljungberg who read it and gave me valuable input. Her enthusiastic encouragement meant a lot to me on my journey of finding a publisher for my story. Ann also encouraged me when I decided to switch language to write in English, but, –sorry–, now I am going all “Swedish Chef” on you again when I publish this interview as it appeared, in Swedish, in Ann Ljungberg’s newsletter:

Thanks for stopping by and for those of you living in Asia: Happy Chinese New Year!

Lene

PS. Yep, you see it, don’t you? The picture features the old cover with the long subtitle, this was just before my publisher decided to shorten it to “A Memoir”.

Happy Valentine’s day!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on February 14, 2015. Posted in Blog. 12 Comments on Happy Valentine’s day!

Here’s a big, green heart for ya! Love you guys and thanks for all support!

You might have noticed I’ve been experimenting a little with my blog’s visual appearance. I am trying to figure out which way to move forward… In a couple of weeks my marketing peeps will give my website a complete make-over… Hope you will stay with me during this time of changes and follow me to my new blog when that day comes. Not to worry, 🙂 it will be here, same address, same old me, but the blog will be different I’m sure.

Meanwhile I am trying to complete the first draft of my new novel and I am encountering something pretty new to me: writer’s block! Phew! I never knew it could be like this. I have glimpsed it, listening to fellow writers telling of days and days of not being able to write a word. And now it’s happening to me! Gah! SO frustrating! I am telling myself I need to take a break, things have been moving pretty fast… But still, I am a writer at heart and I am never happier than when I have enjoyed a day’s work of writing. Hm, need to get this solved as soon as possible…

I’ll keep you updated! And please, if you have any golden remedies against writer’s block, throw them this way!

Hugs,

Lene

New Cover

Written by Lene Fogelberg on February 10, 2015. Posted in Blog, Updates. 8 Comments on New Cover

Lots of stuff happening!

Got the new cover today! The long subtitle has been shortened to “A Memoir”, hope you like it as much as I do.

Also, got my manuscript back from the proof reader, wow, very interesting!

My editors have done a fantastic job and there really wasn’t that much to consider, but as always, commas need to be moved or removed, a few things need to be reconsidered etc. (In a 85.000 word manuscript “a few” commas and edits, actually means a lot of work!)

I enjoyed reading the “style guide” the proof reader wrote for my book: a three pages long document outlining my style and special words that I use, which the next person down the line can go to if a word or phrase sounds a bit odd or confusing (might happen if you read a page out of context); they can just check with the style guide: “oh, it’s a Swedish word”, or “oh, that’s a special expression used by this author”.

And did you notice the changes in my blog? Did you see what I did there? 🙂

A background picture from Bali–you are such amazing friends supporting me on this journey–I wish I could bring you all to my favorite beach in Bali and buy you all a freshly squeezed pineapple & coconut juice and then we’ll sunbathe in our chaise lounges and listen to the waves breaking against the coral reef at the edge of the lagoon and then we jump into the green water and feel the waves carry us in their cool, glittery arms. That’s what I wish I could give you, but at least I can give you a taste of it here in my blog.

See you soon friends & take care!

Lene

New Subtitle

Written by Lene Fogelberg on February 4, 2015. Posted in Blog, Updates. 8 Comments on New Subtitle

An interesting development yesterday!

Do you remember I told you of our search for the perfect subtitle?

Turns out the marketing team wasn’t that keen on the subtitle! I got an email yesterday: they’d been in a meeting discussing it and they asked me if I would agree to take it out; just keep “a memoir”.

Now that we have the cover and the title, I agreed with them that the subtitle is somewhat redundant. So it’s going to be shortened to: “a memoir”.

Very interesting process! You never know what’s gonna be on the table!

This is very good for a control freak like me. 🙂 I learn to go with the flow, view it for what it is: a process, and trust the professional people I’m working with.

I’ll keep you posted of further developments!

Lene

Book Cover!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on January 31, 2015. Posted in Blog, Updates. 23 Comments on Book Cover!

The cover for my upcoming memoir is finalized!

I am super excited to present the cover for Beautiful Affliction!

Several times a day I’m checking out the cover, (which I have saved in my iPhone), just to make sure it’s real, I guess. This whole thing is starting to feel surreal, but it’s really happening!

I do hope you like it. It is original in the context, I feel, and that is partly why I like it so much. Actually I think it fits my story perfectly.

I came up with many suggestions for cover designs, but my publisher, Brooke, maintained that my story needed an edgy cover, which at the same time gives a clear image of what the story is all about. Seeing her vision come to life by the amazing cover artist, I understood what she meant by this.

I very much appreciate the thoughts the cover artist and my publisher have put into this. The occasional letters in italics, reminiscent of irregular heartbeats, giving the sensation that something’s off… The stitches and the needles put into the mannequin, sort of beautiful and terrifying at the same time. And the red paper heart, ripped in two and fastened with needles.

When I look at this image, a similar image comes to mind; that of a plastic model of the torso that is used in schools all over the world, which you can open and take out the organs one by one, until you reach the heart…

And I love the overall poetic ambiance, that the cover artist has distilled from my story and managed to show in the cover.

In addition, I feel the cover taps into my Scandinavian heritage, with its clean lines and expressive use of color. I love the play with light, and also the grayish light itself feels like home for me, like it’s coming through a window from a sinking Swedish winter sun.

Lene

The world is a book

Written by Lene Fogelberg on January 25, 2015. Posted in Blog, Quotes. 6 Comments on The world is a book

Look at this perfect birthday gift my mom and dad gave me when we were back in Sweden!

A cushion from Svenskt Tenn with the famous quote from St. Augustine:

“The world is a book and he who stays at home reads only one page.”

I love it!

In addition to the lovely quote, the color fits perfectly with our living room. 🙂

We landed in Jakarta yesterday, after more than two weeks “on the road”. It is wonderful to be home again and today we will take down the Christmas decorations that are still up!

Wishing you all a happy Sunday!

♥Lene

New Pub Date!

Written by Lene Fogelberg on January 21, 2015. Posted in Blog, Updates. 13 Comments on New Pub Date!

Woohoo!

We have a new publishing date for my upcoming memoir!

BEAUTIFUL AFFLICTION: A Memoir of Surviving Heart Disease, will be released September 15, 2015.

This is great news, since this gives us more wiggle room when planning the book tour that will span over three (!) continents: Asia, Europe and North America. October was a little tight, but September 15 is just perfect!

More news to come!

♥Lene

Space Peacock

Written by Lene Fogelberg on January 20, 2015. Posted in Blog. 2 Comments on Space Peacock

Hello again!

Just thought I’d pop in and clarify the colorful round buttons up in the right corner of this blog. They are small and easy to miss, but these are my social media links, in the following order:

Twitter, Facebook (my author page), google+, Instagram, LinkedIn and the last button is an RSS feed (which is a way to subscribe).

So if you for example click on the Instagram button you’ll find my latest pictures from our whereabouts, currently in Sentosa Island, Singapore.

This is our weekend in pictures: 🙂

I also tweeted the peacock and got a reply from Sentosa-Island 🙂 (which you can see in the Twitter column to the right). It is amazing how the world is becoming a smaller place thanks to these media platforms, and I am super happy and excited that I get to know many of you my friends through this blog and other social media sites.

Many have subscribed to my blog posts via the e-mail list in the column to the right and this is easy: just type your e-mail address into the field and press enter! 🙂

Love you all guys, and thanks for your support!

See you in cyberspace!

♥Lene