1. Can you tell us a
little about yourself, your blog, and your aspirations and your hobbies!
This is Saravana Kumar Murugan, and I prefer to be
called Sarav. The reason to shorten my name is simple as people around the
world finds difficult to pronounce my name. I am a Software Engineer by
profession, a writer by passion and a photographer by choice. My hobbies are
reading books, listening to music, cooking, and at times, I sketch as well. I
am passionate about writing. In fact, I would say I write to pour my feelings.
I own five blogs.
Few Miles – www.fewmiles.in This blog
is my primary blog, and I write under a pen name “Someone is Special”,
as it is a sweet dedication to a dream angel. I write poetry, fiction, non-fiction,
book reviews, cricket reviews, and sharing my life (sometimes) in a meaningful
and beautiful way.
I AM SARAV! - http://gmsaravana.wordpress.com Soon this
is going to be www.iamsarav.com This is
my personal website, where one could find info about me and my published works.
Few Quotes – http://pendownmythought.tumblr.com I write
quote, chat conversation and some meaningful one-liners.
“Quote ‘UR’ Heart” and “One Stop Fan Page
Destination” are not active owing to my busy schedule. Soon I will give life to
them. Apart from this, I am a Co-Marshal at Blog-a-Ton – an online marathon of
Bloggers; where we decide and we write. www.blogaton.in
Know more about me http://about.me/saravanakumar.murugan
2. How you first got
involved in with blogging, are you an imaginative person?
If I am not wrong, I started blogging on May 5, 2006
and after a period of six months; I deleted the blog due to personal reasons. I
started blogging again at “I AM SARAV!” on March 2008, but this time I stopped
blogging due to depression caused by the 2008 IT recession. Then I started
blogging on request by a close friend at “Few Miles” on October 20, 2009. She
was the one who chose “Few Miles” from my list of ten. From that day, I
never stopped blogging.
But I have been writing since I was 16 in my diary.
I first penned a poem titled “Sorry” for my dream angel, and from that day
onwards, I started to pen down free verse, rhymes, most of them being romantic
ones.
3. What do you find
most challenging about blogging about your topic?
Blogging is never a challenge to me. I write what I
love to write. I use normal words and write in a simple language.
4. Tell me about some
of the people you have met while working on your blog?
I never work on my blog Rahul. I just write. I have
met many people just because of my blog “Few Miles”. To name a few – Leo,
Rachana, Zainab, Bikram, Karthik (The Fool), Anoop, Farida, C S, Nethra,
BeMoneyAware, and….it is a big list.
5. How would (someone)
describe your blogging style?
Hmm most of them recognize me for my romantic posts.
A few call me as “The undisputed king of romance on blog-o-sphere”.
6. What do you do when
you are not working on your blog?
I do not work on my blog friend. For a living, I
work as a Software Engineer, and to say smiling, I read books, listen to music,
cook and at times, I sketch as well.
7 .Where do you see
yourself blogging wise in the next 6 months, and 5 years down the road?
I am sick of this question, as I have heard this a
thousand times in my career. In Blogging, I want to write, write and write till
the last breathe.
8. What networking do
you do that you feel helps your blogging business?
A very few people came and read my initial posts. I
had no idea on how to bring more readers to my blog, that’s when I stumbled on
Blog-a-Ton, and the readers count increased to a doubt-digit number. Then I
found BlogAdda and IndiBlogger and I got many of my readers from there.
9. How do you keep
coming up with material/content for your blog? Many people struggle with coming
up with different articles/posts and they only have one blog.
I keep things simple. I do not force myself to
write. I write what I love to write. If I am unable to write, I take breaks to
refresh my muse. So it’s simple.
10. What’s your
strategy with your blog in general?
There is no real strategy. I love writing, so I
write whatever that comes to my mind or whatever that happens in my dreams.
11. Any specific tips
you have for newbie bloggers who want to make it in the blogosphere?
Only one tip: write from your heart.
12. What would you prioritize?
Content? SEO? Traffic? Readers?
Ah! Content. Write good content so that your readers
will love you, and will comeback for more.
13. What’s the best
thing a blogger can give to his readers?
Happiness is all that I want to give to my readers.
Happiness in reading a good story, poem or a review is incomparable.
14. A lot of people
are interested in blogging for the money earning potential. What are some tips
for people interesting in making money from blogging? What are some realistic
expectations in regards to what can be made?
Blogging has a good money earning potential. But if
that is the main priority then one will fail miserably. Write for the sake of
happiness, the rest follow you.
15. What motivates you
most in life?
My dream girl motivates me a lot to write. Right
now, my wife has taken that part, so I am writing happily.
16. What has been your
strategy for creating visibility to yourself and your blog?
In the initial days of blogging, I used to share my
links on Facebook groups, and on link sharing websites. Recently, I have
stopped all that as I share only on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/fewmiles Also, I have
a decent amount of readers subscribed to my blog and I am happy with them.
17 What was the most
challenging moment in your blog content development process and why?
I have a good knowledge in CSS, HTML and Java
Script. I design my site with an external template as base and I add my own
coding. The most challenging stuff is to make my blog load faster with all the
widgets it has.
18. Everyone has a
favorite/least favorite post. Name yours and why?
I love all my posts. So, I cannot differentiate them
as favorite/least favorite post. But based on my readers feedback, I have
listed the top five posts.
19. Name some of the
bloggers whom you look up to and why?
Vinay Leo, who blogs at “I Rhyme Without Reason” – http://artofleo.wordpress.com. He is my
first friend on Blog-o-sphere, best critic and my Haiku Master.
Rachana Shakyawar, who blogs at “Humming Today” – http://rachanashakyawar.blogpost.in. She is
an awesome storyteller.
I admire a lot of bloggers. I would like to mention
a few – Saru Singhal, C Suresh, Panchali Sengupta and Simran Kaur for the
honesty in their works.
20. What is the story
behind the name of the blog?
It’s a secret. If someone asks, “Why Few Miles”, I
say, “Few Miles is result of inspiration from Wordsworth’s ‘Lines composed a
few miles above Tintern Abby.’ It also reflects my life’s journey and my love
for writing.
21. Your connection
with any Blogger Network like Indi blogger or Writeupcafe or any other and the
experience?
IndiBlogger is a fantastic place to showcase the
talent. The team behind IB puts their heart out in arranging for meets and
contest. I personally prefer to write for IB contests as they bring out the
best in me.
WriteupCafé is a nice place to meet energetic
bloggers. I know the admin Binoy for almost a year now. He is really an awesome
person giving his best to run the site.
I am not sure why BlogAdda is missed here. The
encourage people to write regularly on weekends. I just love to write for #WoW.
22. Which genre do you
feel gets the raw deal?
I think it is romance.
23. Which one plug-in
would you suggest all bloggers to have?
Subscribe by Email
24. Five adjectives
that describe you.
Talkative, Friendly, Genius (Mathematics), Handsome,
Blogger
25. What book would
you say has made the biggest impact good or bad on you?
The Notebook The impact is I wanted to lead
a life like Noah and Allie.
26. Do you get easily
provoked by positive/negative comments?
Yes. Positive comment excites me. Negative too, but
at times, I feel bad when someone criticizes my grammar. I know I am not good
at English, but I am continuously working to improve my skills.
27. Do you plan to
write a book, as every bloggers dream it is?
Writing a book is my dream. I am working on a story.
I hope I will get it published someday.
28. Are you a
judgmental person, do you prefer to take sides instead of standing neutral?
I am judgmental. I judge based on their behavior,
and I prefer to stand neutral.
29. Your collaboration
with other bloggers, are you much into social networking, tell us everything
about it?
I host Haiku Challenge every year. In fact, that is
what helped me to reach people. I am a Co-Marshal of Blog-a-Ton – an online
marathon of bloggers; where we decide and we write. It is a fantastic place to
highlight talents.
30. What genre
attracts you the most and which genre you avoid?
Romance attracts me the most – I love writing and
reading romantic posts and books.
31. Your Views on Contests
and increasing plagiarism?
Contests – I wish I can rename contests as challenges
and challenge happily as it bring out the best of me.
Plagiarism is like using someone’s sperms to impregnate
one’s own wife.
32. Words for me and
my blogs Desire v/s Destiny and Blogger Interviews.
DVD is a blog where one could find anything and
everything. I am glad to get my blog reviewed by Rahul
and now happy to be interviewed by Rahul. Continue the good work!
33. On winning the
Award/s , Are they Really necessary.
If this is about IB Awards 2013, sorry Rahul I did
not win any there. But if this is in general. Winning a contest is like
drinking a cup of coffee, motivates me to write better. Visit here to read my winning posts.
Fan Pages/Links:
FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/fewmiles
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/FewMiles
FB Profile: https://www.facebook.com/gmsaravana
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/gmsaravana/
Photography: https://www.facebook.com/TheAnonymousPhotographist
ah! great knowing the person behind "a few miles"! blog-a-ton is how i came to know you...and that is one platform i have been immensely enjoying!
ReplyDeleteThank you Tilti. Glad to know about Blog-a-Ton as well :)
DeleteMy all time favorite Few Miles and Sarav!! :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your interesting answers...
Thank you so much little one :)
Delete