As the Managing Editor of Mousebreath Magazine, Karen Nichols is a professional cat herder. Mousebreath is touted as a lifestyle magazine "by cats, for cats and cat lovers," so keeping the team of feline contributors focused on writing, product testing and video production — not naps — is a full-time job for her.
Karen also contributes to Mousebreath which posts a mix of working cat profiles, product and book reviews, happy-ending stories, humor, arts and crafts, and advice. There's even a Cat Bloggers' Lounge which shares blogging tips and tricks.
Nichols has blogged professionally since 2004 when she wrote a political blog for a client's website. After the election and the blog were over, she found herself addicted to blogging, but struggled to find a subject around which she could build a blog. "We had this adorably ugly big-eared runt of a kitten named Skeezix," she said. "He turned out to be a brilliant blogger and a cottage industry was born."
Even though her degree is in writing, much of Karen's professional career has been in the Internet industry on the engineering side, managing teams of user experience designers and developers. After she was part of a corporate downsizing in 2008, she made the leap to become a full-time blogger and writer. She continues to freelance as a web consultant and WordPress developer, but most of her time is devoted to cat blogging and working with companies in the pet industry to help them harness the power of blogger networks.
This year, Karen was one of seven finalists in Purina Cat Chow's nationwide search for a Cat Chow correspondent. Her memorable video, shot from Skeezix's point of view, features a scene in which she eats the Cat Chow. "I put the 'crazy' in Crazy Cat Lady," she laughs.
In addition to Skeezix, Karen has a cranky 15-yr-old Siamese named Mao, and a 22-lb formerly feral tabby named Tripper. Her husband is known to the Internet only as Mr Tasty Face.
Visit Karen at www.mousebreath.com, Facebook, Twitter and StumbleUpon.
Joanne McGonagle
#2
December 1st, 2011 4:00 pm
Great write up. I am a fan of Mousebreath Magazine.
Kris
#3
December 1st, 2011 7:25 pm
Love it. "I put the crazy in Crazy Cat Lady". But I don't think that cat is ugly.
Laura Strickland
#4
December 1st, 2011 10:59 pm
Karen Nichols rocks - and so do her cats!