Pet Blogger Challenge

Happy Monday, everyone!  Inspired by our friend Winnie we are taking the Pet Blogger Challenge as laid down by GoPetFriendly.com

Tucker wanted to answer these questions himself, but he is too busy playing chase with Phoebe right now, so he asked me (the mom person) to go ahead and answer:

1. When did you begin your blog?  October 2010

2. What was your original purpose for starting a blog?  I've had people tell me for years that I should write a book or a blog about my animals, particularly Tucker.  I guess I finally got tired of just nodding and saying "uh huh" and decided to do something about it.  A book seemed like more than I felt like tackling, particularly as I've still got a half finished novel left to finish that may not ever get finished due to my insane work schedule.  I thought a blog would be fun, and decided to do it from Tucker's point of view, as well as from the POV of my other four animal companions in turn.

3. Is your current purpose the same?  I'd say so.  Also, I have always taken really bad pictures, but inspired by other blogs I've seen, I'm really trying to do better and hope to find time in my schedule for a photography class very soon, so that I can do even better.  I also really like the fact that I will have an (almost) daily word and picture account of the lives of these extraordinary animals I am so blessed to live with, so that, when they're no longer physically with me, it will be easy to remember how wonderful and unique each of them is.

4. Do you blog on a schedule or as the spirit moves you?  I try to post daily, but sometimes it just doesn't happen.  As mentioned earlier, my work schedule can be pretty crazy, and there are days that I just can't fit it in.  Also, starting a blog at the end of October (right before the holiday whirlwind began) has meant that due to family obligations, etc. I have often missed several days in a row.  I do feel like people enjoy the posts more when pictures accompany the words, (even my bad pictures), so I try to take pictures every day, and save them for later use to inspire or illustrate a post.  I do feel like if people are making the effort to follow the blog, I'd better give them something to read on a consistent basis or I'll lose them.  And while gaining followers was not my motivation for starting a blog (I pretty much started out thinking only my family & close friends would read it), knowing they're out there reading is pretty nice, and losing any of them would make me feel as if I'd failed.

5. Are you generating income from your blog?  It would be nice, but no, not so far. I'm still pretty new to the whole thing and I'm not sure the little money I'd make from opening the blog up to ads would be worth the aggravation to people of seeing ads all over the place.  So it's not something I've even pursued as of yet.

6. What do you like most about blogging in general and your blog in particular (bragging is good!)?  I love being able to share my animals with other people.  I know everyone thinks their dog or cat is the most beautiful, the sweetest, the cleverest, etc. and I'm certainly no exception, but I do think my "kids" are pretty great, and being able to share some of the joy they bring to my life on a daily basis with other animal lovers is really gratifying.  And I certainly get a great deal of enjoyment from reading others' blogs.

7. What do you like least?  Not sure.  I guess feeling the pressure to post on a consistent basis - not because I don't want to but because my schedule gets too crazy. 

8. How do you see your blog changing/growing in 2011?  Not really sure.  I'd like to take more and better pictures, and I'd like to develop some sort of schedule for each of the "kids" to post (such as, for example, one of my favorite blogs, William of Mass Destruction has certain days of the week allocated to certain cats:  Tuesdays with Russell and Meezer Wednesday.  As I'm very partial to Caroline, the Meezer who posts on Wednesday, I love knowing that I'll have a post from her to look forward mid-week.)  It's tough, though, because I try to let the blog flow as naturally as I can - I don't want it to feel, or to be, contrived.  I'd like it to reflect as much as possible what's going on at the time.  So if I designate a certain day as "belonging" to a particular animal and they don't happen to be doing anything blog-worthy that day, then what?  I'm a pretty scheduled person so it's something I'd like to figure out, but I just haven't yet.