Swedish Lessons Is Published!
2013 August 22
My wife Natalie’s book release is today, and the book is officially up for sale!
You can be one of the first to read it by buying it on Amazon, here.
* * * * What is Swedish Lessons?* * * *
Swedish Lessons is a crazy, funny, true, ridiculous story about how she went to Sweden to be an au pair and ended up on a farm with a cult, and in a way, was an indentured servant. It’s an Eat, Pray, Love meets David Sedaris styled memoir.
If you need a story to inspire you, a story to encourage you to give your own voice voice, Nat’s does that.
This is a story about getting out bad situations, bad relationships, and trusting yourself.
It’s also about cutting of the heads of fish, and goofy Swedes misunderstanding America, and crazy religious gatherings in the barn…Nat tells a synopsis better than me.
* * * * * What’s this about Brad Pitt?* * * * *
There is another little anecdote Nat and I haven’t shared with many people, but Nat gave me permission to share today:
In February, when Natalie was in the first two days of her Kickstarter campaign, she got an email that was hard to believe.
It was from Brad Pitt’s film company.
Yes, this really happened. They were interested in reading a manuscript of the story to see if it had potential to be a movie. (They have done Eat, Pray, Love; Moneyball; many more; they love nonfiction books.) An intern in New York had caught wind of the Kickstarter campaign.
So for a few months, Nat and I were freaking out. Seriously, freaking out. Yes, Brad Pitt most likely read the book in the spring. And while we were initially disappointed that the film company passed on the story, it’s still an incredible experience.
Nat’s story got noticed.
How cool is that?
* * * * * Many Thanks * * * * *
Honestly, none of that crazy, Hollywood whatnots matter now.
What matters is we wouldn’t have been able to afford to self-publish this book as professionally as we did without the 188 backers of friends, family and book lovers through Kickstarter. Thank you so much for the support. We love you.
Natalie's editor for the book emailed the edited copy while we were in Greenwich Village!
What also matters is Natalie has completed something that makes her proud, a book that would make Grandfather Sumpter, also a writer, proud, if he was alive to read it.
Nat wanted to be a writer ever since she was in middle school, partly inspired by her grandfather, partly inspired by her love of books.
That dream has become her full-time career, as a free-lance journalist. She started doing bar reviews for a newspaper years ago, and now she’s getting her work in some major publications. She writes 40-50 articles a month, yet somehow she found time to finish her first book, too.
This is a rare opportunity for us, to be the first to read something from a young, talented, dedicated writer. It’s the first of many more books to come.
Thank you for joining us in this journey.
We are super proud of you, Nat!
More about Natalie and her book: www.natalieburg.com
Comments are closed.