Interview with Dipali Sharma

1.         Can you tell us a little about yourself? Your blog, and your aspirations and your hobbies!!

I’m an IT Professional and have been categorised as a Trainer, and do have adequate experience as a trainer. Besides my work I am very passionate about music and reading. It won’t be wrong to state that I love writing. I work for an IT software making company. Apart from writing, I have been working from 2003 onwards, ever since a cruel twist of destiny took my near and dear ones away forever. 

As far as my aspirations go, one day I want to prove to the world I am not only a good blogger but a sellable writer.

2.         How did you first get involved in with blogging, are you an imaginative person?

I don’t even remember how it started. It’s just that one day an old friend provoked me to scribe down my ideas and thoughts. Slowly from one topic to another I kept adding from my college days onwards. The twist of destiny did give my blog post the required depth. If I have to rate myself on a scale of 1-10, then I can rate myself at 7 or 8 as an imaginative person.

3.         What do you find most challenging about blogging about your topic?

Getting time; professional and personal commitments don’t give adequate freedom to write.

4.         Tell me about some of the people you have met while working on your blog?

Priyanka Dey, Shilpi Dutta, Shivani Goyal, Shwetabh Mathur, Geetanjali  Kaul, Neeraj  Bhushan, Nimmi and many others. At present I’m working on a book.

5.         How would (someone) describe your blogging style?

Most of my personal views and experiences do get reflected in my writing. However I am careful not to give a personal touch on subjects that do not require the same. I do give opinion about books I have read, and also cover general social or lifestyle issues.

6.         What do you do when you are not working on your blog?

As mentioned above I do attend office on working days. Reading and writing does take most of my time. Listening to my collection of old Hindi songs and Gazals is my way of distressing after the hassle bustle of commuting in Delhi during office hours.

7.         Where do you see yourself blogging wise in the next 6 months, and 5 years down the road?

I don’t see anything much significant in next 6 months given my professional and personal commitments. But five years down the line, I will surely be a known author with at least one of my book out for people.

8.         What networking do you do that you feel helps your blogging business?

My blogging forums are restricted to Indi blogger, Social media like Face book and Twitter and then personal network like friends etc.

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.

Majorly it is based on my personal experiences in life and feelings from surroundings; I have a natural ability to analyze things. So, coming up with ideas to write is not a big problem for me. Although I do follow some fellow bloggers and writers blog some times.

10.       What’s your strategy with your blog in general?

I flow with the tide, analyse the situation; do a bit of research and then get down to writing my blog post.

11.       Any specific tips you have for newbee bloggers who want to make it in the blogosphere?

Most important thing is good content. Everything else will fall in place.

12.       What would you prioritize? Content? SEO? Traffic? Readers?

Content, Readers, SEO, Traffic

13.       What’s the best thing a blogger can give to his readers?

Amazing and unique posts to read J

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?

I haven’t experience that field so far neither keen on it.

15.       What motivates you most in life?

To explore and understand.

16.       What has been your strategy for creating visibility to yourself and your blog?

No specific strategy as such. I write regularly whatever I feel, connect to fellow bloggers and use social media for visibility.

17        What was the most challenging moment in your blog content development process and why?

To bring out the truth when the majority of the population tends to take sides due religion and such other considerations.  

18.       Everyone has a favourite / least favourite post. Name yours and why?

Encounter with a nomad in search for Love. Like for a mother none of her kid is bad, similarly for me all of my posts are my favourite.

19.       Name some of the bloggers whom you look up to and why?

There are many. To name a few Vikram Karve sir, and Arvind Passey sir. It is amazing to see how much he can write. I think he writes more than anyone else in the Indian blogosphere. Ritu Lalit Ma’am My God! Where does she bring all that energy from? She writes so well.

20.       What is the story behind the name of the blog?

There is no story behind it. This was the most appropriate name when I thought of starting up a blog.

21.       Your connection with Indi blogger and the experience?

I am on Indi blogger for last one year and it has been amazing journey. I learnt a lot there and met a lot of amazing people, attended few Bloggers meets also.

22.       Which genre do you feel gets the raw deal?

Fiction and poetry writing.

23.       Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?

If you are on self-hosted wordpress, ensure that you have Better WP security installed on your blog.

24.       Five adjectives that describe you.

Friendly, open minded, factual, accurate and true Liberian.

25.       What book would you say has made the biggest impact good or bad on you?

Bhagvit Gita. Has helped me to calm down.

26.       Do you get easily provoked by positive / negative comments?

No, never. I take everything in my stride.

27.       Do you plan to write a book, as every bloggers dream it is?

Yes, in the process of writing my debut novel.

28.       Are you a judgmental person, do you prefer to take sides instead of standing neutral?

No, I prefer to be neutral. But I must admit that sometimes I do take sides.

29.       Your collaboration with other bloggers, are you much into social networking, tell us everything about it?

I have some good friends from blogosphere and some of them are closer than my other friends. On social networking part, I am on Face book, Twitter and LinkedIn.   

30.       What genre attracts you the most and which genre you avoid?

Fiction is my favourite genre and I avoid technical reviews.

31.       Your Views on Contests and increasing plagiarism?

Contests are good. Many people talk about how brands take advantage of bloggers via these contest, but I think one has a choice of not to participate.

Can you stop plagiarism? Even if word to word copying is stopped, what about idea copying? It’s like any other crime which cannot be eliminated.

32.       Words for me and my blog?

You are a good friendJ I have read your stories in the past and they are good. J

You can check Dipalis Blog at http://sharmadipali.blogspot.in/