Q1. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?
Ans1. GoodDay and greetings to all my fellow bloggers and readers out here. J
Well, I’m a 29 year old professionallyqualified Graphic Designer & Copywriter but I’m only a 3 year old tot inthe blogosphere. I began my writingcareer in Pune as an English copy-writer for the advertising industry. I waswriting for The Times Of India Bi-weekly Supplements-Eastside Plus & WestsidePlus, Pune too.
However presently I have taken a break from that and I’m playingthe role of a full-time doting mother to my two year old naughty son. So it is quite a bitof a juggling act to hit a balance between these roles and finding some ‘ME’time.
For the sheer sake ofstaying in touch with my passion for writing and keeping my skills sharpened, Itook up creative writing through my blog www.klishmaklaver.blogspot.com in 2007. Though initially I wasn't sopersistent in my writing, I have recently discovered much more about my writingcapacities by exploring different genres of Story writing and poetry. I’m quite devoted to my blog now.
With some blogger achievements in my kitty, I can now dream ofachieving some fame as a writer. J
I also simultaneously run a personal/ fashion blog www.kreativevibes.blogspot.com which I update once in a while.
Q2. Are you a full time blogger? How did you get into bloggingand why?
Ans2. No, I’m not exactly a full-time blogger because Ihave a lot of other commitments right now but I do see that I devote ample timefor quality blogging every day.
I very clearly remember, a fellowcopywriter friend of mine who writes at www.jananisatyajit.blogspot.com initiated me to the world of blogging in2006. I realized that one could possess a very personalized sounding board andshare one’s feelings and thoughts with the world, very easily. The idea ofwriting a diary and hearing from people who felt one with me sounded like fun. Thusmy personal blog ‘Raisonde’tre- Reasons for living’ was born.
However I felt the need for a separateportal for my creative writings since I’d taken a break from my writing career.Thus ‘Klishmaklaver’ was born.
Q3. If someone was interested in blogging, what would be a fewthings you would suggest?
Ans 3. Like everybody has the right to maintain their ownpersonal diary, every person with access to the internet has the right to get Blogging.The day and age of qualified writers ruling the roost is gone. Now anyone withthe flare for writing can be self-published.
However please remember your thoughtsare out in the open here in the blog-o-sphere with an audience so I’d like tolist just a few tips to the beginners (Specific to creative writers):-
- Please follow the basic ethics of blogging. Letthere be original content. Plagiarism is a crime.
- Please see that the language used and written content is clean(sans profanities and vulgarities),keeping in mind that your blog may havereaders from the ‘Under- 18’ age group. You would want to host an entertaining/educativeblog and not one that is misleading/ corrupting.
- Please give your write-ups a spell-check and grammatical errorcheck before you publish. (To err is still human!)
- Don’t try to mimic other popular blogs. Being yourself isfar more impressive and builds your own identity over a period of time
- Your blog template is the face of your blog. Keep it clean andreadable. (White, tiny font size lettering on a black background is notlegible at all )
- Above all , please try and interact with your readers whoare spending valuable time in reading your work and respect their opinions.Take criticism sportingly! Visit their blogs too and do be kind.
Ans 4..I believe my writing will get me followers and keepthem interested in my blog. I have therefore simply added the very basic ‘Followers’widget at my blog. I am a regular at BlogAdda and IndiBlogger which are myfavourite Indian blogger communities and you will see a lot of my posts on theIndivine. I participate in the competitions arranged here.
Frankly, I’ve never focused on building abrand image for my blog. Though many bloggers are quite social and have createdcommunities with their blog’s followers.
This can be easily done usingNetworked blogs and such other applications. Also adding fellow bloggers at thepersonal FaceBook page, creating an individual pg. for the blog at Facebook oreven starting one’s own community for the blog’s followers at Facebook arepopular methods. Twitter is also a popular vehicle for following and havingfellow bloggers follow your blog’s progress by regularly tweeting about yourlatest posts. (I tried it but dint likeit much)
There are other bloggy social mediaother than Facebook like Diggit, etc. but I haven’t tried them either.
Q5. Whatare your three favorite blogs to read? What makes those blogs special?
Ans 5.Now cutting my favourites list down toonly three would be very cruel. I’m an avid reader as well as a writer, youknow!
Amongst the Poetic blogs my top 3 (inrandom order)are:
My favourite 3 Photography blogs:
My Favouritestory writers:
Ans 6. The DISQUScomment system is a must!
