1.
Can
you tell us a little about yourself? your blog , and your aspirations and your
hobbies !!
The first
thing you’d notice about me is how much I talk! I hate being alone with no one
to talk to (though my mom says I have this innate ability to make walls talk
too if I’m ever left alone!!)
After a
successful 12 yr long career in the Pharmaceutical and Banking sector, I am a
full time home maker, and mother to two amazing boys.
I blog at
“The little princess” (www.titli15081977.blogspot.in). Someday I hope to see books authored by me flying off
bookshelves (and hopefully the reason isn’t an impending earthquake or
Tsunami!)
Reading,
listening to music, and gardening are my hobbies. Nothing pleases me more than
lounging in my hammock, amidst my plants, with a book in my hands and Kishore
da crooning in the background. Ah! Divine!
2. How you first got involved in with blogging , are you an imaginative person?
I have been writing ever since I was 14 or 15, and I had been diligently
filling up every conceivable corner of every diary, book or journal that came
my way. Finally the stack assumed gigantic proportions enough to replace all our
clothes in the cupboard, cockroaches and termites not withstanding…So my friend
suggested that I try my hand at blogging. That’s when my family heaved a sigh
of relief too, as my books would no longer eat into the space meant for their
clothes!! Unfortunately the roaches have been complaining of malnutrition ever
since.
3.
What do you find most challenging about blogging about your topic?
I don’t see blogging as a challenge. The only thing I find challenging
is my inability to type as I sleep. Sometimes there is this compulsive need to
write in the middle of the night, even as my body wants to retire to bed, but
my brain wants to write. On such days, I wish I could type lying down without
denying both of them their individual pleasures.
4. Tell me about some of the people you
have met while working on your blog?
How does one work on the blog? If you meant, guys I met while blogging
or outside of blogging, I haven’t met anyone of my blogger friends. Our
interaction is all in the virtual world.
5. How would (someone) describe your blogging style?
5. How would (someone) describe your blogging style?
I’m not a niche blogger, I write everything from fiction to family,
poetry to parenting, humour to horror! Whatever comes to mind, basically! If I
had to choose a favourite, I enjoy writing crime fiction above everything else.
6. What do you do when you are not working on your blog?
6. What do you do when you are not working on your blog?
When I’m not
writing I love to read, cook and make creative designs out of Kundan stones,
Rangolis and Mehendi. I have a dedicated blog for each of them! I am self
proclaimed, die-hard fan of Kishore Kumar, and as much as I would love to sing
his songs, my vocal chords went on strike the day I was born, never to return
again, and in their place left behind a poor cousin , who at best makes me
sound like I’ve swallowed a hundred frogs!!
Other than
that, going off on a trip with our friends is something I enjoy. We are a gang
of 6 couples and 12 kids, and all of us share this love of travelling, so we
often get away for the weekends, vacationing.
Tending to
my plants and kids take away a chunk of my time too!
7 .Where do you see yourself blogging wise in the next 6 months, and 5 years down the road?
There’s a popular saying that goes, “If you want to make god laugh, tell
him your future plans.”
So blogging wise, there are no plans. I have no intention of humoring
God!! He already is guffawing away at us.
When I started blogging two years
ago, I did not think I would write 150 posts in two years or have 40000
visitors on my page. But that did happen.
8. What networking do you do that you feel helps your blogging business?
If you look at my blog, you would see that it is completely a personal
blog, with no business running through it. And I intend to keep it that way!
My initial post did not have a single reader for quite some time (read
that as 6 months!!). And while I sat scratching my head how to go about the
whole thing, a solitary reader came by. I was thrilled and then I ventured into
his blog out of sheer curiosity. There I saw a lot of blogs in the comment
section, and I visited all of them leaving behind comments on posts I liked.
And viola! Most of them came back visiting
my blog! So it was a self taught lesson basically. Read other blogs, comment on
the posts I had something to say or contribute.
Then I found the Indiblogger link on some blogger’s page and it led me
to IB. I think I got many of my readers from there.
But over a period of time I realized there was a lot of irrelevant
traffic on the blog, some just promoting their blogs, some of them were the
‘you scratch my back I scratch your back’ types, and some leaving comments
without even bothering to read the post (we can always spot these kinds from
their comments, can’t we?) and it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. But one gets to
learn this with their own experiences, and I’ve come to a point now, where I
just visit those blogs which I actually love to read and most of these guys
read my blog. Most of them have also become good acquaintances over a period of
time.
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.
With a
person who can talk nineteen to a dozen, there is usually no dearth of topics!
The people around me are more cheerful now that I have stopped bothering them a
little with my incessant chatter. It’s the blog that gets a huge portion of
thoughts that my head churns out!
The other
blogs are about my experiments in the kitchen, my experiments with my camera
and the creative side of me (rangolis, kundan et al). Everything is an
extension of me, so there’s so real effort, because there’s no pressure to
perform.
10. What’s your strategy with your blog in general?
10. What’s your strategy with your blog in general?
There’s no strategy. I write because my head is too small to hold the
million thoughts that swarm it. Besides that there’s nothing I strategize.
11. Any specific tips you have for newbie bloggers who want to make it in the blogosphere?
11. Any specific tips you have for newbie bloggers who want to make it in the blogosphere?
If there’s one thing that puts me off, it’s the bad grammar and spelling
mistakes in a post. MS word is generous enough to point that out to you, so it
beats me, why anyone would want to showcase a poorly edited post to the world?
So I’d say, take the pain to edit your post because if you do not think it’s
important enough to be read again and corrected by you, why should anyone else
bother to read it in the first place?
Secondly, write from the heart,
and write what you want to write, not
what you think others want to read. People visit you for your uniqueness, for
the content you churn out, and not for being someone else.
And lastly, when you visit someone else’s blog treat it with the same respect
you would like them to accord to your blog, be it while commenting sensibly or not
spamming their space.
12. What would you prioritize? Content? SEO? Traffic? Readers?
To me, Content is of utmost importance as are the Readers. If someone is
investing their time reading my blog, I better learn to value their time by
writing good content. And a great blog would still be worth nothing if there
are no readers to appreciate it.
Traffic, like I said before in question 8 above, is mostly irrelevant. I would rather have dedicated readers than
heavy traffic comprising of people, who hardly spend a couple of minutes of my
blog.
Since I’m not a niche blogger, my blog might hardly ever get picked up
by search engines.
13. What’s the best thing a blogger can give to his readers?
13. What’s the best thing a blogger can give to his readers?
Entertainment…. Entertainment….
Entertainment!! i.e If it’s a personal blog.
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?
Like I said before, I intend to keep my blog free of being a business
venture. I don’t look at my blog as a business. I did not start it to make
money out of it. My blog is my space, and would like it to remain that way.
I don’t think there’s anything
wrong with guys who want to make money from their blogs, but let the money
making not eat into your creativity and the love of writing. If the main
intention of the blog is money making, well, then I can hardly contribute with
my non-existent expertise here!
15. What motivates you most in life?
15. What motivates you most in life?
The dream to author a book one day keeps me motivated enough to keep
writing and keep improving my skills.
16. What has been your strategy for creating visibility to yourself and
your blog?
I don’t know
if it qualifies to be called a strategy, but I’d say, visiting other blogs,
commenting on their posts, posting a link to Facebook, Indiblogger and twitter
occasionally. I don’t frequently take part in contests, because writing for a
prompt is my nemesis. I’d rather be free to write what I want to write. But
yes, I have taken part in some of them and it does increase your blog
visibility tremendously.
17 What was the most challenging moment in your blog content development process and why?
17 What was the most challenging moment in your blog content development process and why?
I do not
have an IT background. So though blogger is usually quite friendly, I still
have to struggle if I encounter something new. Luckily, some of my blogger
friends bail me out each time. You will see that my blog is as simple as it can
get!
18. Everyone has a favorite/least favorite post. Name yours and why?
My favourite post is “The
heart break” (http://titli15081977.blogspot.in/2013/05/heart-break.html)
This was for a contest and it won me the first place, but that’s not the only
reason why it’s my favorite. I was shopping with my mom when I came up with the
idea for this post, and I remember running home immediately afterwards and
writing it in one sitting. It was almost like the post wrote itself! I remember
feeling quite smug after I wrote this. The prize was the cherry on the cake.
I don’t have a least
favourite. Those are the ones that are still in draft stage on my PC. If I am
not satisfied they don’t reach the blog.
19. Name some of the bloggers whom you look up to and why?
19. Name some of the bloggers whom you look up to and why?
Sriramana
Muliya, who blogs at “Malignant Humour in my Head” under the pen name
“phatichar”, Suresh, who blogs at “Life is like this”, Shilpa, who blogs at “A
rose is a rose is a rose”, Panchali, who blogs at “Panchalibolchi”. There is a lot of honesty in each of their
writings.
Sriramana
helped me polish my writing skills. If you look at my earliest posts, the
presentation was very amateurish. He helped me hone my skills. I regard him my
mentor.
Suresh on
the other hand is a total genius when it comes to humour. (Psst…I have been
secretly tutoring at his blog, learning to write humour. )
Shilpa and
Panchali are so good with the written word, prose and poetry respectively, that
it inspires me to write better.
20. What is the story behind the name of the blog.
20. What is the story behind the name of the blog.
I wrote random stuff and could not call myself a niche writer. And since
I had intended it to be a personal blog, I didn’t have to bother about giving
it a fancy or appropriate name. So when it came to naming the blog, I decided on naming it - "The
Little Princess". That's what dad calls me.....his little princess and
being daddy's little girl, it sounded perfect to me. That my stories are more
female oriented happens to be a coincidence!! And yes, that they sound like a
fairy tale, is even more!!
21. your connection with any Blogger Network Like Indiblogger or Writeupcafe or any other and the experience ?
I stumbled
upon IB at a fellow bloggers page, and it gave me a perfect medium to showcase
my blogs. I have not been too active participating in the contests, but again
writing for a prompt is not my cup of tea at all! But I do hope to be part of
an indiblogger meet someday and meet some of these lovely bloggers.
I got on
board Writeup café as a part of the ongoing IBL( Indian bloggers league) and as
part of Team Central India. We were a team of 25 members and coordinating with
the team, cruising along the contest and reaching the finals, has been one
unforgettable experience. To top it, my entries at the quarter final and
semifinal rounds garnered maximum votes by the judges. The results of the final
are awaited.
22. Which genre do you feel gets the raw deal?
As such, I
think, people don’t read long posts, whichever genre they might belong to,
maybe except humour. The time spent on someone’s blog is hardly 2-4 minutes. So
after writing reams of fiction, it is difficult to get readership for it. And for someone like me who thrives on
writing fiction, my stories usually run into a few thousand words. I find it
difficult to write in brief. But all said and done, I continue to write my
mammoth posts because I want to write them any which way!
23.Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?
23.Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?
I wouldn’t
know if an elephant ran amok into my blog!
24.Five adjectives that describe you.
Emotional- That side of me reflects in my writing too!!
Talkative
Optimistic
Friendly
Fun loving (read that as prankster!)
25. What book would you say has made the biggest impact good or bad on you?
Just like I want a blog to provide entertainment, entertainment and entertainment,
I read a book for the same reason too. I read books till I enjoy reading them.
I don’t carry back messages. I read mainly fiction, so the only impact it has
is, on my style of writing.
26.Do you get easily provoked by positive/negative comments ??
26.Do you get easily provoked by positive/negative comments ??
Provoked? No. While positive
comments excite me, negative comments make me ruminate. On hindsight, I don’t
remember reading a negative comment on my posts so far… But like I told you my
mentor has always pointed out what can be bettered in my stories. I have learnt
so many things, like how not to rush an ending, just because the story is
getting too long, how not to crowd a story with italics… and as a newbie
writer, it always helps to take suggestions in the positive way. And if it is
coming from a master story teller and accomplished writer, and helps to improve
your writing, doesn’t it make sense to learn the nuances than think yourself to
be invincible or know-all?
27.Do you plan to write a book, as every bloggers dream it is ?
27.Do you plan to write a book, as every bloggers dream it is ?
Yes, I do. That’s something that would satisfy me no ends. To see my
name in print.
28.Are you a judgmental person , Do you prefer to take sides instead of standing neutral ?
28.Are you a judgmental person , Do you prefer to take sides instead of standing neutral ?
I was like that before. But now as a mother to two boys, I have learnt
not to be judgmental. I cannot afford to take sides, because you know how it is
with kids!! They will make you listen to their point of view and you are forced
to take a neutral stand on the issue!!!
That part of me has also extended to all other spheres and I find myself
increasing tolerant, neutral and non-judgmental of most people around me.
29. Your collaboration with other bloggers , are you much into social networking , tell us everything about it ?
29. Your collaboration with other bloggers , are you much into social networking , tell us everything about it ?
I did an Ulimate Blog Challenge in the month of July. We wrote a post
for every day of the month. That brought me in touch with a lot of bloggers.
The IBL at Write Up café too was one such opportunity. As co-captain for the
Central India Team, coordinating between the team members, getting consensus on
posts, etc was a huge challenge!
30.What genre attracts you the most and which genre you avoid ?
30.What genre attracts you the most and which genre you avoid ?
Fiction,
mainly crime thrillers and romance and humour is what I love to read and write.
IT and pre dominantly educative ones, like pertaining to specific subjects, I
avoid.
31.Your Views on Contests and increasing plagiarism ?
31.Your Views on Contests and increasing plagiarism ?
Contests are an excellent platform to know other bloggers and to let
them know you and your blog. It also helps you stretch your creativity and
fosters competitive spirit. But for some strange reason, I have this typical
anti-contest mindset, because I think I just cannot write on a given prompt!!!
At least not before the deadline! Once someone gives me a topic and a deadline,
I find that I can no longer write on it!!
Plagiarism is cowardly. If you cannot write, and you have picked it up
from somewhere, at least mention the source and give the rightful author his
due credit. People reading you are not fools, they would know it is
plagiarized. Why would you knowingly demean yourself and lose respect in your
community?
32. Words for me and my blog .?
I came to your blog quite
late, in fact only after we got in touch. However I have read a few of your
writings, and liked the poem “Ah I wish!” , the hindi one- “kya sabko..” and
“The final goodbye”. There’s certain honesty
in your writings, and that’s the first thing I notice when I read a blog. Keep
doing the good work. All the best!
