A Touching and Thought Provoking Interview with Our Very Own Mrs. Valarie

Greetings everyone!

Becky “Franticmommy” Flansburg here swooping in to share the most wonderful “Valarie interview” with all of you.

Many of you have known Valarie longer than I have so many of you also know that, when she starts talking, the most amazingly eloquent things come from her thought processes and from her lips.

And she doesn’t even realize it half the time!

As I read parts of an interview between her and Lisa DeNardo and I definitely could tell it was one of those times. It was a moment that I decided needed to be shared with all of you.

(Valarie answering Lisa’s question about the success of The Fox Diaries):

Valarie: That is a great question Lisa and the reason why is, we have to look at how we define success. Oftentimes we view success from the perspective of money or finances. If I had to choose one word to sum up the success of The Fox Diaries, it would have to be Connection.

When the foxes first arrived in my yard I was just enamored with this special connection I felt with these beautiful animals and the interactions I had with them. It’s as if time stopped, the veil between being human and animal was lifted, and for the first time I viewed both the foxes and myself as sharing the same home, the same world.

When I initially shared the story of my little foxes on my personal blog, thousands of people would show up on Thursdays to check in on our little garden visitors. Through those visits I’ve met so many wonderful people who are equally enchanted at the thought of a fox family living in their yards. Without the foxes, I would have never made such wonderful friendly connections with people from 6 continents.

Our blog visitors, family and friends started asking if I was going to make a book about the foxes. That’s when I looked into publishing and decided I wanted to not only write books but be a publisher. The greatest connection from starting Audrey Press was the reconnection to my mother. Audrey was my mother. She was one of my greatest supporters in life and passed away when my youngest was 4 months old. The first thing I thought of when thinking of a name for the publishing house was Audrey. Mom is with me everyday, through every adventure and creative moment.

One day the doorbell rang and it was the FedEx man with a padded envelope. I wasn’t expecting anything that day but when I opened it, there was that cute little fox looking at me. The moment that book was in my hands I felt success. I didn’t need one more thing to happen. Holding my fox book was enough. Happen it did though, The Fox Diaries has gone onto be a great success and I think it stems from feeling connected to the project and being authentically who I am. More than that I can’t give a reason for the success but I’m grateful for it.