Several times a year, we are able to see the full power and beauty of the DOC. As someone who is deeply interested in the community, I have to say that Diabetes Blog Week (D Blog Week) and Diabetes Blog Day (D Blog Day) are among my favorite celebrations of you and your stories. This year, nearly 200 DOC members and bloggers participated in D Blog Week (May 9-15). After reading many of your posts, I wanted to go to the source – Karen Graffeo (a.k.a. @KarenBittrSweet) – to learn what inspired her to create such a moving week. Karen was gracious enough to do an interview with us – see what she had to say about D Blog Week!

Q. How and when did you find the DOC? How has it impacted your life?

I found the DOC back in 2008. I was struggling with the idea of going on an insulin pump, and I was searching the internet for information about how to stash one in my clothing. My web search led me to some posts about pumping on some diabetes blogs and I was hooked! Reading how others had struggled with the same fears about pumping that I had – and that they put aside those fears and tried the pump anyway – was so empowering for me. I always thought I was the only one struggling with those fears, as well as with other frustrations that living with diabetes sometimes brings. It was really great to see that I wasn’t alone.

Q. What led you to the idea of D Blog Week?

Well, I also have a knitting blog and last year I participated in an event called “Knit and Crochet Blog Week”. Not only was it a lot of fun, but I was impressed at how it brought our fiber art community closer together. It was great to see how much we learned from reading what other bloggers had to say about the daily topics. I remember thinking how beneficial it would be if the diabetes blog community had something similar to participate in. So I decided to take a crack at organizing Diabetes Blog Week. I was very nervous that nobody would be interested in participating, but I could not have been more wrong!

Q. It has been so amazing reading everyone’s posts! This being the second year, were you able to see it grow? Any big surprises?

Yes, the second annual Diabetes Blog Week, unbelievably, was even bigger than the first. Last year, 142 bloggers officially signed up, and this year there were 183 bloggers signed up. And I’ve seen some great D Blog Week posts out there on blogs that hadn’t officially signed on, so I think the actual number of participating bloggers was closer to the 200 mark. That was a surprise in itself.

Another surprise was that a couple of diabetes community sites asked if they could also participate – they didn’t have actual blogs on their sites, but they suggested posting the topics in message board threads so their community members could post their take on the topics. I loved the idea and I was thrilled to have another way for the D-OC to participate!

Q. The DOC seems to really enjoy participating in this event – regardless of what social platform they use! How do you come up with the themes or topic for each day?

Since last year was the first D Blog Week, I was able to come up with themes just by thinking of the biggest issues that people with diabetes deal with – things such as treating low blood sugars, working out exercise plans, eating philosophies and an average day living with diabetes. When it became clear that the D-OC would like Blog Week to be an annual event, I began making notes for the second year’s themes.

Throughout the year, when I found something in the D-OC that would make a great Diabetes Blog Week topic, I made sure to add it to my list – so I had a good jump on inspirations when writing the second year’s topics. It was also important to me to try to keep the topics general enough that any D-OC member could participate, whether they were Type 1, Type 2, LADA, or a parent, spouse or caregiver to someone with diabetes.

Q. After D Blog Week, and in line with your theme from the final day, “What’s one thing you’ve learned from the DOC?”

I’ve learned that our community is bigger than I imagined. I am always surprised by how many new (or just new to me) blogs I find each year through organizing Diabetes Blog Week. And although I always know how unbelievably supportive the D-OC is, D Blog Week is always a wonderful confirmation of that fact!

Q. I love that! Social media is such a powerful connector. What are other ways PWDs and their loved ones can get involved in the DOC?

I often hear of PWDs who are thinking about starting a blog but are nervous to take the plunge – and I always say, “Do it!!” Blogging is a wonderful way to connect with the D-OC. If you aren’t interested in writing your own blog, you can still read and comment on diabetes blogs and make connections that way. Besides blogs, there is a very active diabetes community on Twitter that you can begin to explore by searching the hashtag #diabetes. Another great way to connect is by participating in the Wednesday night Diabetes Social Media Advocacy (#dsma) twitter chat. There are also many diabetes community sites with active message boards that are great places to connect with others – such as TuDiabetes, Diabetes Daily and Diabetic Connect.

Karen – I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to do this interview. You have helped connect so many in the DOC, and D Blog Week is just one of the many examples of your ability to unite the community in an empowering, inspirational and fun way. For those of you who weren’t able to participate in D Blog Week, you can read more on Karen’s blog – Bitter-Sweet. You can also follow her on Twitter (@KarenBittrSweet).

All the best, Laura K.

Other Posts You Might Enjoy:

1. D-Blog Day 2011

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 at 5:00 am and is filed under General, Lifestyle. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.