First — BIG thanks to all who participated in the Pet Blogger Challenge, which was successful beyond imagining. Kenzo (aka Leo) suggested we do it again next year. I suggested that he organize it.
I was bowled over by the diversity of pet bloggers out there, including a cadre of Spanish-speaking cat bloggers, a blogger from Japan who focuses on blind dogs, and one who has a little diabetic doggie like Frankie. I’m still trying to read through all the entries.
I’m not, however, going to try to do a wrap up: Pamela of Something Wagging this Way Comes and Leo at Kenzo the Hovawart have already done that, and done it well. If anyone else has, please share in the comments section. (I’m not putting up another Linky, sorry, though if I may say so I’m now a Linky expert.)
One of the things I learned: That our blogs are important to us, important enough to want to give them the thought and attention that participating in the challenge involved. And things that are important deserve to be treated with respect. So rather than looking at the schedule as a bully, I’m going to regard it as a necessary structure for a forum that I care about.
Tough love.
Speaking of forums, this Saturday is the Blog for Change for Animals event, and I’m planning to take part. I even managed to put up the badge, created by the multi-talented Kim Clune, who also created the Pet Blogger Challenge badge; that tech stuff eventually sinks in. Read all about it at the Be Change for Animals site.
Hope to see you there.
Thanks again for putting all of this together. It is going to take a long time for me to go through all of the links, but they all have been incredibly interesting, and useful. It was such a great idea and I am glad I was a tiny part of it.
Thanks for the reminder about Blog the Change for Animals this Saturday. And, I too am still working through all the blogs that participated in the challenge.
It was a huge undertaking. Thanks again. Maybe our new motto should be love your blog, and it’ll love you back.
Or “Love the blog you’re with…” We could get really silly! Thanks for taking part and for getting others to take part, too.
Thanks once again for organizing this. And you and Amy reading and commenting on all the participating blogs: you were great hosts.
I am fresh to take it up for next year if there is interest, we can ask bloggers when the time comes. Just would need the help from a more popular blogger(s), nobody would notice there was a challenge on my small blog 🙂
Thank you again Edie! I am really enjoying learning about other bloggers and their sites – even ones I thought I knew well. The introspection is good for me too. I feel as though I have clarified my purpose a bit, which is always a good New Year sort of thing to do.
Thank YOU for taking part. I really enjoyed it getting in touch with blogging favs like you…
thanks again edie [and amy] for hosting the Challenge.
it wasn’t as scary or as hard as i thought it would be 3 weeks ago, when you first thought about it. in fact, it was HEAPS of fun! and i finally met some people i’d always wanted to, and many others i never even knew existed. how cool was that?
the only “problem” is how slow i am to read all the posts. at the rate i’m going, i will finish by the time the next one rolls round. until then 🙂 xox have a great weekend!
I hear you, Georgia! It was fun for me too, but I’m still working my way through the blogs.
I’m so glad you didn’t find the experience scary or off-putting.
Thanks to you and Amy for following your instincts and creating something that resonated with so many people. I am still trying to get through all of them, but I have already found several I love! And Edie, I’m thinking along the same lines when it comes to a schedule for my blog. I don’t know if I can keep it up, but I will try. Thanks again!
I saw what a success your Pet Blogger Challenge was Edie – congratulations! I checked out some of the people that participated. To be honest, I felt a little out of the mix and decided not to participate because I’m really not one type of blogger – so far. But I love dogs/animals so much that I enjoy following certain blogs that devote their writing to content about them. Now, I need to find out what this “Blog for Change” is all about!
You’re always welcome as a member of the pet blogging community, Kim, whether you blog about pets all the time or not.
Thanks for organizing this with Amy, it was a lot of fun!! I got so many comments about traffic numbers etc that I’m going to post a little “tutorial” next week.
I’m looking forward to that, Karen. In fact, I subscribed to your blog by email — I never remember to check my RSS feeds — so I won’t miss it.
The pet blogger challenge was a blast! Thanks so much.
I am sorry I missed the challenge. I have a relatively new blog and have a lot to learn about the pet blog world. I hope you do it again next year.
Oh, we will definitely do it again next year — it was a big success. We all learned a lot about each other and about our blogging goals and had a ball.