This Kiwi mum and blogger lives in Denmark and has just released her debut memoir Nothing Like a Dane: A real-life search for hygge in Denmark.
Tell us, what’s hygge?
Hygge is the word no-one apart from Vikings can pronounce or explain. But if you’d like to give it a go, then try saying hoo-gah. It’s a somewhat magical state which those in Vikingland (Denmark) excel in creating and it’s one of the top 10 values of Danish society best described as a sense of comfort, togetherness and well-being.
You could hygge with your friends, or you can hygge by yourself. It’s not about ‘‘things’’, rather it’s more about the atmosphere and experience you create by slowing down and intentionally enjoying the moment.
You fell in love with a Dane, and moved to his home country. Is this a love story? An Eat Pray Love type journey? A travel memoir?
The style has some similarities with a humorous travel memoir, but without the travel. It instead shares the reality of becoming a foreigner and having to create a new life in a faraway land. From integration interrogations to rye bread misdemeanours (how to make lunch is a serious sport in Denmark) and all the other cringe worthy cultural mishaps I made along the way. Readers have told me they’ve both laughed and cried. Sprinkled throughout the book you’ll also find 60 or so factual insights into life in Denmark. Insights such as, did you know babies sleep outside in Denmark?
When did you get started on writing, and what made you want to begin?
I had two motivations for writing Nothing Like a Dane. The first was to share the reality of what it’s like to become a foreigner in someone else’s country. Secondly, I wrote it to make my own life in a faraway country count. If I must live 18,000kms away from my home country, then I wanted to turn those sacrifices into something positive and create something I wouldn’t have otherwise done. Which is how Nothing Like a Dane came to life.
How did blogging help with writing your book, and how are the two crafts different?
Blogging and my writing on social media enabled me to trust in my voice, build a community and become more disciplined with my writing time. But writing a book was very much a new skill set that I had to master – learning how to weave all the small scenes into a meaningful and engaging reader journey. I remember being overwhelmed with that at the beginning, but a wise friend reminded me that the only way to eat an elephant was to do it one bite at a time.
I understand you’re back in NZ for a holiday – what have you missed while you were away?
Not so much a holiday, more a much-needed and overdue reconnect with my family and friends. I feel like my list of things that I miss most about New Zealand should be more elaborate, so forgive me for my ordinary-ness. But when it comes down to it, what I enjoy most about being back is visiting a New Zealand supermarket and the ability to freely communicate in my mother tongue. Once you read Nothing Like a Dane, you’ll understand why.
Finally, what are you reading right now?
I’m having a bit of a splurge on books with a New Zealand connection at the moment. Filling my cup with all things New Zealand while I’m here and have just started Remember Me by
Charity Norman.