Who are you anyway?

I’m Jennette Fulda a.k.a. PastaQueen. I tell stories to the Internet about my life as a twenty-something smartass, writer, weight-loss inspiration, chronic headache sufferer, and overall nice person (who is silently judging you). This includes everything from the time my mother handed out condoms in front of my office, to thoughts about the mysteries of the universe, to my never-ending desire to stuff my face with cookies, to the headache I got in February of 2008 that has never gone away. Yeah, that last part kind of sucks, and so do you if you send me advice. (Just a hug will do.) I wrote a book in 2008 called Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir and I’m currently working on my second memoir, Chocolate and Vicodin: And other failed cures for the headache that wouldn’t go away for Simon & Schuster tentatively scheduled to be published in February 2011. I am a full-time freelancer, available for hire to write pretty words or make pretty blogs via my company Make My Blog Pretty. If you want to throw money at me, I will catch it if you contact me.

Didn’t you lose a lot of weight?

I entered this world weighing 8 pounds 5 ounces and came close to leaving it at 372 pounds. After several false starts, I started working my ass off (literally) on January 15, 2005. I blogged about it along the way because typing burns calories. In February of 2007, I officially lost 186 pounds, half my weight, and had a party in my fat pants. During a period of depression caused by my chronic pain, I gained back about 50 pounds, which I’m determined to lose in 2010. I originally only wrote about body issues on this blog, but opened it up to other topics in September 2008. I sometimes still blog about weight, body image, fitness and all that, but I’ve also moved on to write charming entries about my cats.

Didn’t I see your pants in the bookstore?

Yes, that’s me and my fat pants on the cover of the book I wrote about my weight-loss experience, Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir. It was published by Seal Press in May 2008. Everything related to the book is covered on my official book site, from press mentions to book events.

Has your blog been mentioned anywhere that makes friends and family proud and enemies jealous?

Why, yes it has! My blog, my book or I have been seen (and sometimes heard) in places like The Today Show on NBC, The Early Show on CBS, Runner’s World, Women’s Health, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Shape, Glamour, The Globe and Mail, and other media. You can catch up on my work at JennetteFulda.com, assuming I have not been too distracted to update the site. Ooh, look! Something shiny!

How can I contact you?

By reading my contact page. And then actually contacting me, of course.

You are such an inspiration. Did you know that?

So I’ve been told, but I’ve never set out to be anyone’s inspiration. I just set out to be me. I still like to steal cannolis and cake and I’m not ashamed. If that bothers you, I suggest you go somewhere else. I’m not your Weight Watchers leader.

So, about that headache, have you tried-?

Yes. Yes I have.

Has anyone suggested you might have-?

Yes. Yes, they did.

Well, there’s no reason to get snippy.

I’ve had a headache since February 2008. What do you expect?

Why are you called PastaQueen? Are you on some weird pasta-only diet?

Uh, no. My internet handle has always been PastaQueen, but it has nothing to do with the consumption of pasta. In high school I was nicknamed Jennetti Spaghetti. This turned into Jennetti Spaghetti, the Queen of Pasta. When I had to make a free e-mail address to use at a summer camp in 1997, I decided to use PastaQueen and I’ve been using it ever since. I do still eat pasta, just in moderation.