Last Fall, The Daily Corgi initiated a “Blue Ribbon Blogger” series with a post about Elizabeth K. and her downright howl-arious blog “Chronicles of Cardigan” (a finalist in the humor category for the 2012 Nose to Nose Awards!).
The Blue Ribbon series returns today, with the spotlight on Melissa Janssen, who blogs at Darby & Pumpkin Daily.
Melissa, when and why did you start blogging about your dogs at Darby’s and Pumpkin Daily?
In the Spring of 2009, Coedwig’s Mountain Laurel “Darby” came to live with me. The blog gave me a way to record the fun (and worry and struggles) I was having with raising a puppy — sort of like a journal or the baby book a Mom keeps for her human child. I challenged myself to post something everyday for one year. By the time that first year came to an end, I was having way too much fun to stop.
Do you blog for the same reasons today?
Yes and no. I still use the blog as a way to capture what’s going on in Darby’s life – and now the life of Coedwig’s American Pie “Pumpkin” as well. But now, the blog has become a real creative outlet for me, an outlet I didn’t know I needed and one I would miss tremendously if it went away. It gives me reasons to use my wonderful digital SLR camera, it challenges me to research topics about which to write, and it allows me to try to make people laugh (and sometimes succeed!)
How much work is the blog?
By the time I started the blog, I had been reading blogs for quite a while. I noticed people lamenting about how blogging was taking over their lives; in a way, they were spending more time writing about living than they were actually living! I understood how that could easily happen to a middle-aged woman with no children at home and plenty of time on her hands, so I pledged to myself to never spend longer than 15 minutes on a post. I stuck with 15 minutes for a long time, and usually that is still all the time I devote to posts. Every now and then, however, I catch myself spending as much as an hour getting things to be what I consider just right.
What do you like best about blogging in general and your blog in particular?
I love how blogging has shrunk the world for me. While sitting at my desk I can read about life in a small, Italian hill town at Fuoriborgo; the antics of two Scotties and a mutt who live in Australia at Downunder Daisy, and see the daily paintings of a stay-at-home artist mom who lives in the Midwest at Heidi Malott Original Paintings. And that’s just the start!
Because of blogging, at an agility trial in Virginia, I met Taryn T. and the two Cardigans she writes about at A Tail of Two Cardis. I’m keeping up with Darby’s brother Buddy at his Mom Becky J.’s blog It’s Me Buddy. Because of Darby and Pumpkin Daily and It’s Me Buddy, Leda Thompson — one half of the Coedwig Cardigan team — gets to keep up with some of the “babies” she has sent out into the world.
How cool is all of that?
As far as my own blog is concerned, what I like the best is the way I’m able to easily and creatively record the lives of these two dog-girls of mine. For that reason, I would continue to blog even if no one else ever read another post. But, I do have to admit it’s awfully fun to read the comments readers are sometimes inspired to write!
What do you like least about blogging?
I hate when I have no blog fodder! While I still challenge myself to write daily, I no longer feel badly if I don’t manage to heft a post up onto the screen every day. And now I have help from my daughter Erika, who first introduced me to Cardigan Welsh Corgis and who has recently started guest blogging about her two Cardigans – Bonnie and Coedwig’s Baileys on the Rocks “Bailey,” who just happens to be my Pumpkin’s brother.
Where do you see your blog in a year?
I don’t see any big changes. I hope to just keep plugging along, showing off these dog-girls of mine to a small but faithful following. I now use the on-line book-making utility Blurb to turn my blog postings into actual hard copy books that I’ll have as a record of my blogging years!
I would continue to blog even if no one else ever read another post. But I do have to admit it’s awfully fun to read the comments readers are sometimes inspired to write!
Thanks for sharing your work with us, Melissa! Darby was a Dog of the Day on The Daily Corgi nearly three years ago. Keep an eye out for Pumpkin’s post, coming up in early June!
This is super, for I love this blog, check "daily", and have become a real fan of Cardigans as a result.
Thanks so much for featuring my blog, Laurie! I can't believe how many people will see it as a result of your VERY well-read blog! And, thanks to you, too, Lois, oh! faithful reader!
You're welcome, Boo's Mom! I am happy to spotlight such a great blog. Keep it up!
Laurie
great story! I'm so glad that you shared this. I've become a fan of The Chronicles of Cardigan, now you have pointed me toward another interesting blog! thanks Laurie