Leo's Interview

This Time I am back With a very Famous Blogger Leo !!! Lets know about him 

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

I’m Leo, I turn 25 this coming August and I am a writer. I took up this pen-name, which is a nickname bestowed on me by a very close friend, early in late 2008 as part of my 100^th post celebrations. My blog, I Rhyme Without Reason is mainly a poetic blog, though I do write short stories as well. I aspire to be a published author someday, and have begun writing my novel, though time and distractions haven’t been very helpful in that quest. Other than writing, my hobbies are gaming (mainly FIFA series), collecting pens, and reading a lot of novels.

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

Blogging was never my first choice as a way to express my thoughts, but it was one of my friends, an ex-blogger who got me involved. He created the blog for me, and told me to write. It didn’t have much effect till 2 years after, when I needed the space after a torrid time in studies.

Yes, imagination is a powerful tool of any writer, I feel and I’m imaginative. The scenes of the stories that I write usually flash through my head, and if I feel it’s going good, I put it to words.

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

My niche is creative writing. The most challenging parts I find are thinking of the plot, and then keeping the readers interested. To continue with the plot, or the direction you want the write-up to go, is something which will happen more easily once you know what the plot is. Even poetry… once the thoughts form, putting it in verse is easier. To keep readers interested, I think you have to first get the post to appeal to those who also write in that same niche. A poet would find it easier to understand what the poet is trying to say. Also you need to read more. A bulk of your readers would be other bloggers, who would want you to peruse their works of art too. If you understand their thoughts, they’ll definitely try more to understand yours.

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

I’ve met many of my blog friends already, and spoken to some others who aren’t in Bangalore. I’ve met up with Renie and Vineet during Indiblogger meets, and others like Someone is Special, The Pink Orchid, Shravan, Nethra, Anil Sawan, Rachana, Lakshmi Rajan, Pramatesh etc. who I’ve known since the beginning of my blogging days. Other than that, I’ve spoken with Captn Awesome, Janhvi who is one of my best friends who I found through blogging, Stephen the Solitary Writer. I also interact regularly with friends like Pramod, DS, The Fool, Pooja Sridhar etc. I hope to meet all of them someday.

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

My blogging style would be carefree I suppose. I write whatever comes to my heart, be it inspired by nature, or by a quote or by a word given as a prompt. I am proud and honest when I say I live in words, because without writing often, I find myself to be soulless.

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

I work on my blog more than actually work, I find. :D So when I am not working on my blog, it’s only right that I do some work, lest they find me incompetent. Web designing, programming, etc. is what I do for earning the monthly salary. If not that, I’ll be reading or watching cookery.

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

I see myself still writing at my blog, be it in next 6 months, or 5 years down the road. I’m not one to see the stats for a serious note, thinking of traffic numbers, and visitor counts to assess my blogging journey. I do check often, just for fun. The last new country to visit my blog was apparently Latvia, and that was like two months ago… so I wish more come in the next few months :D

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

Frankly, I don’t find blogging to be a business. I find it more of a passion. My new post updates go on my FB page, and on Twitter, and whenever I can, I add it to sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Reddit etc. I find traffic from these sites to be minimal at present, and the Indivine traffic to be more.

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 write at multiple spaces. I have a Hindi blog, which I don’t update that often. And I write at my friend Captn. Awesome’s blog, Story in Pieces, sometimes for a group magazine blog called Write Space. I’m not as active anywhere except for my blog, so I think you could say that even I have only the one blog. I don’t look to be different with each post. I write whatever comes to my heart. If it’s different, well and good; if it’s not, I really don’t mind.

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

In general, my strategy is to write. I’m looking for an audience to share my thoughts with. It helps me to free some part of my mind of a worry or a burden or a joy. So I do it. Like they say, worries dwindle when shared, and joys multiply. So I enjoy the strategy more than plan it.

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

Yes. One specific tip… be yourself and write what you love. I can come say that you have no talent, you won’t become a “professional blogger” or try to change you from the style you are comfortable with to something I think might pull you to better heights. But if you aren’t doing what you love to do, and giving that post 111% love and passion, I feel you are better off not doing it.

12. What would you prioritize: Content, SEO, Traffic or Readers?

Priority from highest to lowest would be Content, Readers, Traffic, and SEO. I think any blog’s crux is its content. If you write with passion and what you want to put out comes as you want it, then that’s a success for your blog. Any blog needs readers. It is they who motivate you to write more, and write more better, be it by praise or by criticism. If you show yourself to be as good a reader as you are a writer, and an understanding one at that, the readers will also come. Traffic comes when you share the post and network it right I guess. My traffic comes from places like Indiblogger and BlogAdda, and some poetic forums like D’verse Poets Pub. Some of the traffic transforms to readers too. I’m not one to take optimization in search engines very seriously. The reason for that is partly that I’m a Wordpress blogger, and I cannot edit the HTML to put meta-tags etc. Another part is a belief that if you read well, you are also read well. So far, I find it satisfactory.

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

The best thing a blogger can give to his readers is a glimpse into his heart. Often I hear during conversations with blog friends is that people are fake in their writing. Though I don’t find that to be true all the time, I do think that is shown at times. You don’t need to be absolutely honest and revealing of very personal details in your blog, that might not be good, but generically, letting a reader find that you write your posts from the heart is quite important.

14. What was the happiest moment on your blogging world?

Reaching a thousand posts for me was very happy. When I began blogging, I was very reluctant to think I’d reach ten, and six posts in the first two years helped strengthen that belief. But the three years that followed quite changed all that and I’m delighted to have been around as long as I have.

15. What motivates you most in life?

Failures and losses… When you fail, you can either die down and get lost to that sadness that follows or bounce back up and try again, take the loss and move on… the best way to do that I find is to write.

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

My main strategy has been to read other blogs. Not just go there, skim through the post and leave a random comment; but to try and understand that, maybe give a proper comment that tells the reader that you have read the post. Unfortunately, time is a big factor in that and I’ve not been able to pursue that of late.

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

The most challenging moment is to review. A pre-review before I publish the post is usually must for me. It takes out most of the small errors that might have come. I don’t usually draft my posts days beforehand, so writing it then and there, the review is a crucial part of my writing.

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

Of my own, my most favorite post is a poem called “On Heart’s Papers”: which I wrote when I was in blogspot. It was very well received by those who read it, and it was something that came to me easily and I could honestly it was truth what I penned there. I have many a post which I’ve not been pleased with. I’ll not pull out a least.

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

I admire many bloggers. The Fool, because he writes and critiques honestly, and says what he wants directly rather than sweetening it; Captn Awesome, because he’s a wonderful writer, inspired me to write episodic stories again after long time; Janhvi, who’s kept me writing even when I wanted to quit and not given up her blogging though she’s sometimes asked to; DS, Aame, Antara and Kirti, wonderful friends who write beautifully, and even they are some of the few who encourage me;  PL, who’s very jovial and wise… Nanka, for her haiku… I can go on with the list and it’d be longer than an Oscar acceptance speech!

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

No story as such, my blog is called I Rhyme Without Reason to indicate and express my unconditional love for poetry.

21. Your connection with Indi and the experience?

Like I mentioned before, Indi brings the most readers to my blog. Some of those readers just come for few seconds, then promote my post and not come back till the next time I share on Indivine; some stay and form a friendship that I feel become strong with time. As many would know and notice, I’m on Inditalk every day, and haunt the forum whenever I can. So it is an integral part of my blog time.

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

I don’t think any genre is left unsought or raw by purpose. Whereas it is true that if we make an effort we can like any genre, our heart would prefer some genre as well. I think, personally, I stay away from the genre of politics more than other genres. It doesn’t have that zing factor to appeal to me.

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

In addition to the necessary default ones like archive and followers and about, I think the random posts plugin is quite a useful one (though WP.com bloggers won’t be able to avail of that)

24. Five adjectives that describe you.

Broad-minded, down-to-earth, simple, supportive, fun-loving

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

I’d say that The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho would have made the best impact on me. It gave me a belief that dreams can come true if you pursue them with zeal.

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

I take them both, but I try to justify my point of view when someone gives a negative comment that I feel was because the point I was trying to put across was misunderstood.

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

Poetry, travel and creative writing attract me the most, and I avoid politics genre.

28. Your Views on Contests and increasing Plagiarism?

In general, I avoid contests. The topic may interest me a lot, but I think I’m not competitive in that way. If you plagiarize a post, then you are as good as saying you are worthless, not only as a writer but as a person. If you don’t have a view, that’s fine; don’t become someone else by taking their view and calling it your own.

29. One thing you want to change in India and in blogosphere?

Blogging is still looked at meagerly, rather than a media or a place of expression. My own parents think it’s just a waste of time, and they try to bend me to their POV. I think that’s something that needs to be changed.

30. Words for me and my blog?

I’ve not been to Desire v/s Destiny often, but I find you have talent. Your words have a soul to them; just the way you put them across might not have as much an impact as needs to be. Improvement can happen only by writing more, and that won’t happen with just interviews as has been the trend there recently. Write more stories, structure them properly rather than just in one big paragraph and pre-review it before you post for where you can better it. It’ll help on the long run. Most of all enjoy your writing!