I read a lot of blogs. In spurts. Sometimes I do well, sometimes I look right past the thousands of posts waiting in my feed reader. There has been a lot of talk (again) about blogging. And branding. And why?

Roni Loren, a debut author to be (Jan 2010) asked, Is Blogging Dead?

Nathan talks about being yourself, not a brand.

And I notice that in my “down time” of not blogging/social media-ing there has been all this new stuff that popped up. Stuff I don’t have a handle on yet. Stuff like Tumblr and Google Plus. Should I jump ship and go learn that stuff? Well then I read an article about Blogging is still going strong.

Then someone else talks about comments are what’s been going away, it’s more about linking to other things. And that is great because I never was good at commenting. I was a better ….thief might be the word. Or we could go fancy and say …scholar? I mean like this. Go talk about someone else’s content (with link and so forth) and what their thinking made me go think about. Hey just like I did above.

But then I remember reading about the dangers of sharing TMI.

And what do people really want from an author on their social media?

And there are a lot of folks dropping out of blogging (or at least “rebalancing”). On a separate note, some of these guys I follow on my feed reader, so less for me to keep up with. Is that a good thing? Anyway.

And as my husband points out – shouldn’t you just try to write something new anyway?

So I have been thinking about my own blogging a lot lately. When I do it? Why I do it? Why haven’t I done more of it? If I should continue doing it? I blogged in the past on a different topic (our family move to and back from Costa Rica) as a journal/adventure type. And it was fun. My children were still so little and weren’t embarrassed or even embarrasable. I know, not a word. But you know what I mean. And it was such a specific niche. And I think I got 30 visitors in one day – once.

Then I got this great gig as a NY Times Bestselling Children’s Book Author*. And it seemed wise to build some “presence” or some “platform” or some “brand.” But what does that really mean?

Are you going to like me more if you read my blog? Are you going to buy my books because of my blog? Are kids going to ever do book reports on me and want to know things about my childhood? All those things sound extremely unlikely. Can I scare you away by talking about taboo subject such as school politics, racial identity or squirrel hunting? Not that I plan to talk about any of those topics, but you never know – I just might. Perhaps. Will I still do it? Probably.

In the famous words of Popeye

I Yam what I Yam and that’s all that I Yam.

You will either like me. Or you won’t.

Are blog posts more difficult and time consuming then just having links and such on Facebook and Twitter? Yup.

Will I still do Facebook and Twitter? Yup (and if you like me you should subscribe, follow, tw

School visits.

Besides some great books (Mean Jean the Recess Queen, anyone? anyone?), Alexis O’Neill has put together some very useful information here. I plan to fine tooth comb it at a later date, but thought you might be interested.

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1. Fundraising at the school – Yuk? or just my opinion
2. Did I mention that school started today?

As I love anything from the original Star Wars, here’s something fun:

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We just watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I had seen it years ago, but now I watched it with my daughter. She loved it, but has been imitating the spitting all week (unfortunate side effect). This may be my favorite combo.

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1. Privacy for the Little Fosberries?

I love watching some of the TED talks. If you don’t know what those are, please go and check them out. 15 minutes by an expert on something interesting, but at a layman’s level. There are indexes by speaker or subject. I once watched a really interesting one on fungus. Seriously.

Today I watched this talk about risk taking. Wonder what my T score would be? I’m pretty satisfied with my life, so I think I am in the Golden Third he talks about. As evidence of risk taking: lots of broken bones as a kid, moving all over the place as an adult, major career change and three kids. Yea – all pretty risky in my opinion.

The takeaway has to be, let my kids take some risks too. Even though I don’t want as many trips to the emergency room as I caused my parents, can’t let them live in a bubble either.

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1. Of Buzzards and Beta Fish
2. Summer is supposed to be easy breezy

This past few weeks have been big “life cycle” weeks.

First, our Beta fish of over two years laid down on the bottom of his bowl and didn’t move again. Not sure how this happened, he’s been hanging near the sink in the kitchen with me for some time and survived inconsistent feedings and an often dirty bowl. My husband theorizes that the pancake griddle was too hot and too close. I don’t know if I buy that, they are Tropical fish. And that guys was a tough bugger. He had survived an escape attempt and adventure into the armchair cushion while I was on the phone for the first time with Wonder Kay,* my wonderful publicist at Sourcebooks in the beginning. (Oh still lots of stories to share about her). She, (Kay), alas has moved on to the adult trade (books) and I am now with Amp-It-Up April. But hopefully, Kay will remember Skullwing fondly as her new author squeeled and searched for kid’s missing fish. Found and floundered and yet swam happily on his way that time. Not this time. So RIP – Skullwing. Here is the sign made for him by my children:

RIP Skullwing

Then, we had a visitor. A vulture found a morsel in the front yard. Or maybe he packed his lunch. Very interesting and on telephoto lens very gruesome. It has been blurred for your viewing protection. But he is an interesting looking fellow.

Vulture in our Yard

So kids took this all in stride. Scientific with a little sadness for Skullwing.

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1. Scholastic version of My Name is Not Isabella
2. Happy Birthday Annie Oakley
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So it’s time for another “I’m so cool – I am an author” kind of post. I got my first fan mail. And my second actually, within two days. Here’s an image of the letters (no names of course).

Fan mail and thank you note

These letters show particular effort. I don’t share my address on the web. It’s part of my attempt to have some privacy for my kids. Not that there’s a huge worry about people stalking children’s book authors or their families, but you just never know. So if you want to write me you can always send it to the following address and I will get it:

Jennifer Fosberry
C/O Sourcebooks
1935 Brookdale Road
Suite 139
Naperville, IL 60563

But I don’t know how immediate that will be. So sometimes I give it out if you email and ask.

That was the case with the first letter, I received the following (edited) email:

I am tutoring little girl in ****, CA who adores “My name is not Isabella.” She wanted to write you a fan letter. I bought her the book after her grandma died and her mom said she slept with it. She then took it to school and the teacher read it to the class. She and they liked it so much that they wrote about it . Is there a way that I can get her letter and picture to you? She would be thrilled to know you actually got it.

So I shared. And got the lovely yellow letter with lots of great questions. I also got a letter from another little girl just the next day. Both great letters. So of course I wrote them back. See the cool Doctor Seuss notes. Don’t you love them?

I hope that they will love getting my letters as much as I enjoyed getting theirs.

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1. Jennifer Fosberry – explained a little bit
2. 100 Things about Jennifer Fosberry
3. BFNBT #2 – My Name is Not Alexander – Jennifer Fosberry Tour

So I often read Ms. Bird over at Fuse#8 and she has been checking out book trailers from other countries and found this one for an upcoming French pop-up book. I love it. Mood is beautiful by eerie and….well….kinda creepy. Just like fairy tales should be.

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1. Beautiful inspirational ceremony features flowers and my books!
2. My head might actually spin off my body

A fellow Sourcebook writer, Katrina Kittle, used to teach school at the Miami Valley School in Dayton, Ohio. Looking at their website, Allison Janney went there – I love her.

Anyway, back on topic. She sent the link to the video below. Apparently they have a ceremony, a convocation in September. A special ceremony where the youngest kids (kindergarten, first grade) give flowers to the seniors and the seniors present back a book. This year they chose to give the girls “My Name is Not Isabella” and the boys “My Name is Not Alexander.” And they videotaped the whole thing and shared it on youtube.

Evan Stanley, the sophomore who filmed it, did a wonderful job putting together this video. Jazz band is quite good as well. And even though I don’t know any of these students, I really enjoyed watching this inspirational ceremony. Thanks so much for including my books, my dreams as it were. Best of luck to you with the school year and beyond.

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One of the places I go to for inspiration and examples of just good writing are songs. An old friend shared this with me back in grad school. That was back when I was still an engineering geek person with a longing for the stories, and she an opera singer, a link to the arts. Who could guess that we would stay in touch and wind up a mere hour away from each other on the other side of the country. A great friend and a great song.

This is still a fantastic song with great description of the lady (shown, not told) and the issue (the relationship).

Quite a dreamer, and yes I still believe…..

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1. Did I mention that school started today?

From the Daily Show……

Never underestimate an Irish Mother.

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For those of you who have not read Peter H. Reynolds wonderfulish book The Dot, you don’t know what you are missing. This is how I think art and artistic expression should be taught.

And now there is a day to celebrate it.

Lots of wonderful educators are doing amazing projects with this. Mr. Shu and Shannon Miller are working on it. There’s a great video there – I love that Mr. Reynolds (who also has a bookstore in Massachusetts) emphasizes how important it is to sign the work. I love it.

So learn about this, think about this, and

….see where it takes you.”

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It is that time again. A Big Blue dog mascot and a super hyped assembly has sent home three over-charged under 5-foot sales people aimed at winning more plastic junk that they will completely forget about until I dispose of it when they aren’t looking.

Let me say it very clearly. I hate “selling” for the school fund raiser. I don’t have a cadre of relatives clamoring for over-priced wrapping paper. Nobody on the street needs tiny containers of sweets that cost less when purchased from a premier chocolatier.

I am not saying that the schools don’t need funds. I am not saying that the PTA organization at our school don’t do wonderful things for the school with the funds. I am not even saying that I don’t want to give any more money. I will. Really.

What I can’t stand is that my kids are more excited about this than any other aspect of their first weeks of school. I am also upset that my little babies won’t be getting those coveted prices. Aw…. (And some of them are really good prices). I just question how much money gets raised this way versus other methods. Throw your quarters in a bucket? I don’t know.

Maybe it all just comes down to the plain fact that I don’t want anything to do with it.

I know that I am not alone. Look here to see someone else make better arguments and say things more eloquently. I agree with her. Just imagine I said this stuff.

So basically, what she said.

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1. Did I mention that school started today?
2. Thank a teacher

FINALLY one of my kids came home with the Scholastic book flyers. I heard from my publisher a few months ago that My Name is Not Isabella was going to be in Scholastic. They even sent me a few copies in late August of the new paperback version. And friends have even mailed me a copy of the flyer that their kids brought home. And a friend posted a photo of the flyer on Facebook. But when it came home in my own kid’s folder it somehow feels more real.

Here’s the flyer and the book. Color me very excited about how many kids may get to see this book now!

My Name is Not Isabella by Jennifer Fosberry in the Scholastic Book Club

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It’s not just that Jim Henson was a genius. It’s not just that my nickname in high school was Foz. It’s not that a show for kids could do such gruesome justice to “Welcome at our House.”

It is simply that the Muppets ROCK!

Let’s just say that I am a big fan. I have seen some interesting things lately. My kids are often glued to the Disney Channel. Good Luck to the Wizards on Deck as they Randomly Shake Up the Ant Farm. Or something like that. I will admit that I do enjoy some of these shows and not go into my “issues.”

But back to the point. They have stars do little sequences where they draw the outline of “the Mouse” with a glowing stick. Lately I have been seeing Muppets do this. It gives me hope. And makes me nervous.

I am hopeful of a new franchise of Muppets. I wish my kids could see them and enjoy the humor and variety show aspect that could be. This is evident from our enjoyment of this awesome collaboration with the genius that is Ok Go.

Love It!

And while watching on a Saturday morning, my kids insisted I play and replay this little gem with the Swedish Chef (Love) making Popcorn Shrimp. Thank goodness it wasn’t Popcorn Chicken or we all would have gone Gonzo!

LOVE IT!

I don’t think a variety show is what Disney has in mind, and frankly it might not work in these reality tv-show, watch on your computer days, but if done right it could be AWESOME. Just my opinion. It looks like their big chance is the movie. So yea Jason, I’m pretty excited too.

And I believe in you.

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This entertained me:

I love how all the colors get together. Maybe I should organize my new bookshelves this way. Thoughts?

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You should have seen this coming.

It seems that everyone does a “100 things about me” post when they reach the 100th post. I knew that this day was coming, but have been putting it off. 100 is a big number. I guess when you realize that you have written 100 posts, it should not seem so daunting. However, those 100 posts weren’t all about me. They were about me and other stuff. This is supposed to be about me. Well, I will give it a shot and see where it goes.

1. I was born during a late spring (mid-March) blizzard in the Adirondacks of upstate New York.
2. My maternal grandmother walked from her work to the hospital in open toe shoes.
3. This is something she has done before (open-toe shoes in the winter).





4. She is less crazy than you would think and has always been my biggest fan.
5. Every thing I hear about my maternal grandfather is glowing.
6. He was an Irish shanty boy in a mill-town, youngest of eleven kids. They were hooligans. Today that means juvenile delinquent.





7. His brother grew up to be the Chief of Police.
8. He grew up to play minor league baseball.
9. In Nova Scotia, Canada.
10. He was a slow runner (by baseball standards).
11. He also put himself through college after being married and having a daughter (my mom).
12. He was away from home in Massachusetts during the week, only home on the weekend.
13. One weekend he came home and my Mom had stitches across her nose. She dropped the glass milk bottle when they used to deliver it straight from the farm.
14. She still has that scar.
15. The next weekend, she had a dislocated shoulder.
16. He thought that she might be being abused.
17. She wasn’t, just the family’s natural grace and accident proneness. Unfortunately, it is hereditary.
18. He later was the local gym teacher/coach. Many Many Many stories about this.
19. He was a tough disciplinarian.
20. He was a marine and he and his brothers served in the Pacific during WW II.
21. My maternal grandfather died one month after I was born.





22. He was on his way to work when his car was struck by another driver.
23. When he was hit his heart basically did an over-pump.
24. I am told that he should have died on impact, however due to his outstanding physical condition, he didn’t.
25. He was 50 years old and in excellent physical condition.
26. I am much younger and not.
27. He regained consciousness at the hospital, however his aorta had lost all elasticity due to the stress of the over pump and couldn’t pump blood adequately.
28. Today they may have been able to use a plastic replacement piece.
29. The whole town attended his funeral. I saw the newspaper clipping.
30. The four corners where he was hit is one of the most dangerous in our town.
31. They finally got a traffic light about five years ago.
32. I am not sure if it helps.
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Here I am spreading my love of will.i.am. Again.

Thanks to The Miss Rumphius Effect blog for pointing this out.

My favorite part – Snoop Dog calling out Benjamin Banneker.
And of course, will.i.am.

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