It's a Dog's Life

Short Interview with Michele from It’s a Dog’s Life

Michele’s Short Blog Bio:
My life is an open book. Just a very short and very boring one. I am a librarian in Houston, Texas. I tend to be a bit neurotic, math impaired, and admittedly lazy. I like old stuff such as furniture, postcards, and of course books. I collect cookbooks like they were going out of fashion. As if! I quite possibly like my glass of wine a little too much and have taken an admittedly unreal interest in everything vegetarian

Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging because I took a social networking course for my job. One of the assignments was to start a blog. What you see is what I started. I didn't start it so that I could have a voice in anything.

Did blogging for you become something different than you thought it would be when you started? Did it evolve?

It become something totally different then what I thought it would be. I didn't think I would continue to do it after I finished the course. It also evolved into something else again. At first it was all about my dogs. I didn't have much to say about anything else. Next then I knew I was writing about cooking, my kitchen pantry, my travels, etc. Then I started making blog friends and that led to blogging about interactions or things that were brought up at their blog. That is one of the aspects of blogging I like the best; the friends that you make. Some of my blog friends I chat with online a couple of times a week.

I have noticed that you have very little about your family, about you? Is this due to fear of losing privacy or is there another reason?

There are a couple of reasons why I don't blog about my family much. 1. Is they are not little kids. They are adults and have asked me not to say too much. They have jobs and lives that don't have anything to do with my blog and unless they comment (which they do) or say it is okay I usually leave them out of it. 2. We are not very interesting. Or at least I don't think we are.

How do you feel about bloggers who post a great deal about their lives, their children, their spouses?

I get a little concerned with bloggers that are too open with the lives of their children and family. Especially the children. There are a lot of bad people out there and opening their lives up for anyone to see doesn't seem like a good idea. Not only that but employers these days are not stupid. They are on facebook, linkedin, and twitter. They look up blogs. If you have older children, like mine, or a husband on a job hunt it isn't a good idea to blog about them. Do you really think they want you telling them about your latest run it with the law or their last employer? With little ones you need to remember that they are going to be getting bigger. Your blogging about their toilet training may come back to bite you later. I understand that not all bloggers think this way and really that's okay. You need to stay with what you feel comfortable with.

How do you feel about ads, product reviews and other marketing attempts by blogger?

Ads—I don't like them. I don't blog to make money but I understand if some do. To tell you the truth I never click on ads so unfortunately those blogger won't get anything from me. Sorry guys.

Product reviews— This is interesting. I have just been asked by Safeway to review a sale and to post about their 2 hour turkey deal. I turned it down. I don't eat meat. I don't judge those that do but I encourage my followers to at least take one day off from eating meat. How could I encourage friends to go out and buy a turkey when that is the last thing I would do in person. I told the thank you but no thank you. I did leave open the possibility of blogging about something later without meat. By the way, I am blogging about this tomorrow.