Today I am very happy to welcome back to BLI Kenneth Rosenberg (you’ll be in on the secret as to the special reason for that once you read his guest post ;-p)! Kenneth is celebrating the release of his latest novel: Sweet Ophelia and the Tinseltown Blues, and he is here today sharing with us his thoughts and experience about being an American author living abroad.  Please give him a warm welcome and there is also a giveaway waiting for you at the end! 

In his memoir, A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “Maybe away from Paris I could write about Paris as in Paris I could write about Michigan.” As an American writer living in Budapest, I can see where he was coming from. Somehow being in a completely different environment from that which your story takes place seems to clarify all of the details. Things that you might have otherwise overlooked stand out in comparison to your new surroundings.

That doesn’t mean I’m not met with plenty of blank stares when I try to explain this to people I meet here in Hungary. “Are you writing about Budapest? Does your story take place here?” the locals eagerly ask. When I explain that, no, it takes place in Los Angeles, they are never sure what to make of it.

“Will you write about Budapest later?” they wonder. “Some day?”

“Yes,” I assure them. “Someday when I am in Los Angeles, I will write about Budapest.”

Of course the dream of being an ex-pat writer is one that runs deep in the literary consciousness of Americans. This is due in large part to Hemingway himself, as well as authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound, all of whom called Paris home in the 1920’s. Trying to recreate that time and place has been an obsession of many writers, and I suppose I would have to count myself as one.

But what exactly is it that draws American writers abroad? I suppose the answers are many. Financial reasons, for one thing. Rents in Budapest are a third what they are in LA. Inspiration is another. Life in a foreign country is an adventure each and every day. Thirdly, for someone who likes to sit and write in cafes, the European culture of lingering for hours over a coffee provides an infinite number of places to work.

Mostly, I think American writers often work abroad simply because they can, to immerse themselves in a foreign culture rather than just visit as a toursit. If you are lucky enough to earn a living from writing, it doesn’t really matter where you are when you are writing, especially in the Internet age.

For me, one of the best things about living and writing in Budapest is all of the great local friends I’ve met. At the same time, with book blogs and the ebook revolution, I’ve made even more friends online. Now for the first time, it seems the two will come together.

When I finished my first book last year, No Cure for the Broken Hearted, I was given the opportunity to post on this blog by Stella, one of the contributors here. She was very helpful and gracious, so when I finished my second book, Sweet Ophelia and the Tinseltown Blues, naturally I wrote to Stella to tell her about it.

I’m not sure why, but for some reason I thought she must live in the Midwestern United States somewhere. Perhaps Iowa or Illinois. I mentioned to her that I was currently living and writing in Budapest, and small world, it ends up she lives here, too! Not only that, but she’s a local!

I suppose it is a reminder that one person’s adventure is another’s home. In any case, thanks again to Stella for giving me a guest spot here, and hopefully we’ll be able to meet for coffee sometime soon!

 

Kenneth has generously offered an ebook copy of his novel Sweet Ophelia and the Tinseltown Blues to one lucky commenter!

All you have to do is leave a comment for Kennth or answer any of these questions:Have you ever lived abroad or far from home for some time? What was your favourite thing about it?

 (You can read our full giveaway policy here)

Good luck!