Interview with Saurabh Chawla

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

               My name is Saurabh Chawla. I started to blog in April 2012. I like to read fiction especially in    Thriller/Suspense/Mystery genre. I like to write stories/poems/life events. Saurabh's Lounge is my blog where you can find my writings as stories/poems etc. I have recently started book reviews section in my blog. I prefer to write suspense stories mostly whodunnits.

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

I first got involved in blogging in April 2012 through a friend's reference. I had a flair for writing. Even in school, I used to be good in writing section of the English paper. Yes, my inclination towards imagination helps me frame stories and poems which I scribble in my blog.

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

Blogging on my topic has a lot of challenges. There are lots of top writers who are awesome in their own way and frame stories which blow my mind away. All I take home from them is inspiration and motivation to write more and keep learning. Blogging as a community needs a lot of dedication and consistency in order to survive and not get lost in a crowd.

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

               Blogging is a platform which I initially underestimated. But 1.5 years down the line, it helped me to learn many things and meet some awesome people who had same tastes as mine and to grow my network. There are lots of people who are my friends also. To name a few of them are

1.       Saru Singhal

2.       Arvind Passey

3.       Valli

4.       Meera

5.       Privy Trifles

6.       Kalpana Solsi

7.       Amit Aggarwal

And there are lots of other people who have always inspire me and will keep on inspiring and motivating me.

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

               This one is pretty tough but I would summarize from the comments I get on my writings. The poems I write are straight from my heart and mostly written in subconscious state of mind. I guess there is no other way of writing a poem at least for me. For stories, as per my readers, my whodunnits are liked by all of them. The main goal of a suspense story is to keep the reader guessing and I try to involve much twists and turns in order to keep my readers engaged and most importantly, to keep guessing.    

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

               I am in a full time job. Sometimes I may even not get time to concentrate on my blog but I make sure to not to neglect it at any cost. I make sure to update my blog whenever I get a new thought or inspiration from my fellow bloggers, authors, writers. Rest of the time, I am either sleeping or doing some daily chores.

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

As far as blogging is concerned, it's a great platform and I want to keep on going. In 6 months, I see myself as a good writer/blogger with lots of motivators/readers. For next 5 years I see myself as a published author and a known blogger.

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

               I make sure to read other bloggers whenever I get time. I have joined many bloggers networking websites like Indiblogger, Blogadda etc. I do make sure to remain in contact with them via Facebook, twitter social networking platforms.

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.

              Writer's block is something which I feel can be completely cured when a person invests some time in reading. When he/she starts reading others, new fresh ideas start coming in mind automatically.  Well sometimes watching movies and keeping some time off from writing also helps a lot.

10.   Whats your strategy with your blog in general?

                I started as a fresh novice not knowing where exactly I would end up to. But as I have come here till now, I have planned approach for updating my blog. Also I take care for researching beforehand if I plan to write something which requires a well researched approach. I currently try my best to update my blog every 3-4 days. 

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

               As of now I would like to tell the newbies who plan to start a blog of their own is to be original and try not to imitate or do copy paste kind of stuff as sooner or later you will get caught and then your entire reputation would suffer. Also, it will help you to go a long way which is not at all possible when one follows a copy paste strategy.

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

               Going by my priority, I would rate Content as first, and the reader s and traffic will automatically follow. For SEO and traffic is concerned I will surely take its help in growing after some time. Basic SEO I guess all who have been in blogging know but advanced SEO is often required when you have to grow large.

13.   Whats the best thing a blogger can give to his readers?

                That depends on his talents,. The things he is passionate about. There are lots of people out there. One cannot master all things. There are different passions in different people. I guess if the blogger sticks to his own passion/interest, he might be able to give his readers valuable insights on the subject he is good at.

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?

               As of now, I am currently not aware about how much one can earn. I have seen many making millions and many quitting blogging as an option for earning. My take on this is to write or blog if you love it. It will make you master of your subject and if everything one starts doing for money only, then I guess he/she will hit a bottleneck and start stagnating after some point. Learn learn and learn and  then there are plenty of options in blogging itself which will lead you to earnings from it. Just do it if you love to do it and not just for the sake of it.

15.   What motivates you most in life?

               There are several factors in my life which are my motivations. Firstly my parents who always support me in what I do. They just don't force me to do this and do that. Secondly, I would like to thank all my readers  who take out their valuable time to read my blog and encourage me more and more. When I sense their expectations rising, I start learning more and try to improve myself  in my next writeup.

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

               There are many platforms available like Indiblogger, Blogadda, Technorati, Paperblog  etc. These help you to form a community with bloggers out there. Also, social networking like Facebook, Twitter has helped a lot. Rest you have to read others as well for letting them know your existence.

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

Earlier it was like easy for me to do while writing when I just started my blog. But as the number of posts grew, so does the hassle of handling them. The challenging part was selection of topics which I would love to write on and that too not for short period, but over a long period. After shortlisting about twenty topics, I cut down many of them and came out with 5 topics viz. Stories, life events, poems, how to's and quotes.

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

               My favorite post in my blog is the perfect plan which I wrote recently some time back. This post I came up while sitting the office and the moment the idea striked, I started penning it down. The expressions, the descriptions, the emotions which I portrayed in this post according to me were just perfect  according to me. It took some time to write it but it was worth the wait.  For least favorite one, I don't think there is any as of now.

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

              I try to read all the bloggers out there and try to reach new ones every next week or so. But some bloggers have left  impressions on me and those are the ones whom I always love to read. The list is long so to cut it short I would like to list some of them below:

1.       Saru Singhal (her poetry is marvelous and she knows how to say more with less words. She has been a source of inspiration to me since I started reading her.)

2.       Afshan Shaikh (her reviews section and creativity inspires me to scratch my head every time to come up with some new idea for my next post.)

3.       Arvind Passey (his research and dedication he shows is reflected well in each of his posts)

4.       Joshi Daniel (his photoblog is simply marvelous and the depiction with every photo is wonderful)

5.       Ankita Singhal (her dedication and creative thinking is well reflected in her each post which I just simply love to read.)

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

               The name of my blog was a tough one to think of. I changed my blog's name about 3 to 4 times before coming up with the name Saurabh's Lounge. There is no story as such behind naming my blog except It came up when I was actually sitting in a lounge and thought this name for my blog.(Haha)

21.   Your connection with any Blogger Network like Indi blogger or Writeupcafe or any other and the experience?

I share a healthy connection with Indiblogger, Blogadda, Writeupcafe etc and I make sure to actively participate in activities organised by them. My experience with them has been wonderful.

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

               I guess it's the love/romance genre. But nowadays suspense/thriller genres are also catching up fast.

23.   Which one plug-in would you suggest all bloggers to have?

                No particular choice as such but I guess they must have a join this site plugin for easy access to their updates by their readers.

24.   Five adjectives that describe you.

1.       Patient

2.       Emotional

3.       Compassionate

4.       Persistent

5.       Self Motivator

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

               I read “25 principles for reaching from where you are to where you want to be” by Jack Canfield. Though, the principles are tough to implement, but I am trying hard to implement on me. The good impact is if one follows these principles he/she can get to the top but the bad thing is if he/she is not able to cope with tremendous change then he/she might fall down.

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

               Earlier I used to be aggressive and replied instantly to any comment whether positive or negative. Now I take some time. If it's a negative comment, I analyze where I went wrong and if possible correct it.  If the comment is positive, it obviously motivates in its own way. But I take care and try to reply politely all the time.

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

               Yes! I have started one book. Let's see where it goes.  As time permits, I sit and write. It's very tough to write a novel. A short story is easy to write.

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

               I prefer to be neutral all the time but if some wrong is going on, then I might point a finger towards it.

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

               As a blogger, some networking is necessary to make sure you are not left alone. I feel like interacting with every blogger including some close ones to make sure I don't miss their updates and they don't miss mine. It's a small family where each and every blogger/writer  share his/her insight for others to comprehend. My collaboration with every one is good and healthy. I am not a social networking buff partially due to it being addictive and partially due to busy schedule.

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

                A tricky question. I love suspense/thriller genre as it forces me to do some mind work. I try to avoid love/romance genre as they tend to be predictive.

31.   Your Views on Contests and increasing plagiarism?

               Contests truly are encouraging and motivating and also help to curb writer's block as well. Increasing plagiarism is a big problem but I guess DMCA is getting strict and content copying will come to a halt someday. Well it's a hope only still :)

32.   Words for me and my blogs Desire v/s Destiny and Blogger Interviews.

                First of all Thank you for the interview. Rest I have been to your blog and found very useful information. I have been to blogger interviews and it's a great way for a person to know how other bloggers are motivating themselves and also it's a good platform for knowing new bloggers.

33.   On winning the Award/s , Are they Really necessary.

                Award(s) as I said before too are a great source of inspiration and motivation for the winner and a step towards learning for other bloggers. Learning never stops and if one thinks it has stopped, that person cannot grow further. So my request to all is to improve upon yourselves and don't be disheartened by not winning. Just keep on trying with an aim of getting the award and one day you will win.