Top 10 Blog Posts of 2013

Today marks the fourth anniversary of Bunny’s Blog. The blog began on December 31, 2009. It originally began as an extension of Follow Friday with BJC highlighting various friends and anipals that she followed on Twitter.

About six months after starting the blog, I realized her health was failing, and I needed to address the issue of whether I would continue the blog after she was gone. I decided to continue the blog, but write in my own voice, so I began transitioning in September 2010.

At first, I wrote the posts and BJC continued to respond to the comments. But eventually I transitioned fully so that by the time she passed away in June 2011 I was writing the posts and responding to comments in my own voice.

Over time, Bunny’s Blog has evolved into focusing on animals and animal-related causes. I suppose that has something to do with my own personal experience of working for various nonprofit organizations for 17 years, as well as my life-long love of animals.

By the time I hit my third blogoversary, I was no longer struggling with many of the issues that I had dealt with in the past, and as a result, I wrote many more posts than I had in the previous two years. I found my voice and my niche, which helped me identify the types of posts I wanted to share.

But 2013 was a tough year and that was reflected in many of my posts. My husband passed away in January, and I spent much of the year handling the legal/financial issues of settling his estate. I also went back to work in July and the amount of time I had to devote to blogging was greatly reduced. Finally after months of feeling overwhelmed, I decided to take a two week break in December.

I would like to say I’ve spent the last two weeks resting and relaxing, but that’s not necessarily true. I’ve worked almost the entire time and the break from blogging has been somewhat of a relief. I’ve come to realize that something’s got to give in my life. I’ve decided to remove some of the self-imposed restrictions I’ve placed on my life including blogging on a nearly full-time basis.

I love Bunny’s Blog. It started out as an expression of my love for animals and my desire to share information I thought was important. When I first started blogging, I didn’t really care about stats or monetization or brands. But somewhere along the way, I became so focused on playing the blogger game that I lost the joy of blogging for its own sake.

And that’s what’s going to change in the coming year. Although it may not be obvious, there has been a change in my mindset. I will cut back on my blogging schedule and try to find something that fits with my new lifestyle. I will stop worrying about brands. I never really wanted to do product reviews or giveaways, and as a result whenever opportunities would appear, I always found a reason to turn them down. I will stop worrying about how much I make from my blog. That’s why I originally used a free platform to begin with. 

So with that in mind, I look forward to my fifth year with Bunny’s Blog. And without further ado, here are the Top 10 Posts of 2013:

1. When a friend loses a pet – 7 meaningful do’s and don’t from Petfinder Foundation 
2. Veterinarian recommends 10 things you should do for your senior dog 
3. Top 10 industry trends of 2013 
4. Third Annual Pet Blogger Challenge 
5. Five questions you need to ask yourself before getting a dog 
6. Things you say to dogs that would be creepy if you said to people 
7. NBC Today Show cancels pet adoption segments in Adopt a Shelter Dog Month 
8. My life has changed (again) 
9. It’s my birthday and I’ll blog if I want to 
10. National Pet Fire Safety Day