Friday 27 September 2013

Interview With TapDancing Fingers

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

Okay, I'm a frustrated, slightly sadistic architecture student like everyone else in my field who chose blogging as a hobby to vent my anger and disappointment on my readers and sometimes share my random thoughts, hopes and aspiration of graduating without chugging out money (No, I swear to God, I've never done that.)Not that I don't love my course, but it can get on my nerves at times, and when it does, I know exactly what to do - Tap dancing on the keyboard! 

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

Blogging was more of an 'experiment' towards discovering a new hobby. I would say I am an imaginative person considering the fact that my imagination starts running haywire when I start thinking about something. Sometimes people even find me jumping from one topic to another which frustrates them but then, I can't help it!

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

The fact that I don't write about a particular topic makes it challenging, because then I have to write on something as random as a pencil box in a way that doesn't put my readers to sleep as well as convey my opinion on it which should at least seem to be important.

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

Not many. Probably because I'm an introvert who likes to stay in her own world (I bet you're surprised now). But I have met some really interesting people in the only two IndiBlogger meets I've been to and via my blog's comment section.

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

I blog about everything and anything that comes in my mind which gives me the freedom to just go on about something like my work on one day and maybe narrate a car accident on the next. So most people use the word 'random' for my blog.

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

I am mostly trying to meet deadlines, completing assignments, sheets and models, wasting time, sleeping or just procrastinating my submissions to the last minute, and weirdly enough, that last minute is the time when I suddenly feel like blogging and I can't sit still till I have written a post. All calls and conversations are ignored during those 30 minutes. 

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

6 months? I guess I'll probably be a few more posts older and maybe a bit wiser, sitting with my head high in front of my laptop.
5 months? Haven't been looking out that far.

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

Firstly, I never give blogging the 'business' tag. It's my hobby, and there is only a limited time I can devote to it.
But any way, if you can't write stuff that is insanely funny, you can always spam you friends' Facebook homepage with links of your latest posts, or go around commenting on random posts just for the sake of having some more readers. (Not saying that I do all that, I have a strict 'Say something you actually feel or just shut up' policy)

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.

Like I said before (or maybe I didn't), even when I don't have something particular to write about, the urge to write gets so strong that I just keep writing about anything that comes in my mind. Sometimes, even the most simple daily activities and chores can seem interesting enough to write paragraphs about. So like I said, I write about anything and everything out there.

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

Strategy? Uhmmmm...Did I mention that blogging is a hobby for me and I don't really get that beautiful time to plan out my blog's future?

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

Write what you want to write, not what you think others want to read. Kindly use the mind boggling feature called spell check in MS Word if you're unsure of your writing skills. Be yourself and don't judge your blog on the basis of the number of readers you get, at least not during the first few months (which was my case).

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

I love Readers, I really do. But the content is what brings them (and traffic) to the blog.

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

A good laugh, something new to think about, an opinion, an emotional experience or just a good way to pass his time.

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?

Tips? You're asking the wrong person. I have zilch experience in that field. My blog is strictly my space which runs the way I want it to and I want it to stay that way.

15. What motivates you most in life?

Experiences, hopes, desires and failures.

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

Visiting other blogs, sharing opinions and respecting them, writing original content and posting links on social networking sites like IndiBlogger, Facebook etc.

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

There always comes that point when you feel like you don't have anything to write about, and the more you avoid writing because of that reason, the harder it becomes to get back to blogging. That happens with me at times and that is the time when my blog posts are written just for the heck of it and sometimes, they even look like it.

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

Best - It's hard to point at one. It's like asking a mum to pick her favourite kid out of her swarm of 80.
Worst - I got two. I probably won't make the best mum in the world. :/
·         http://tapdancingfingers.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/india-todays-mind-rocks-youth-summit-2012/  It went so long that I got bored reading it.
·         http://tapdancingfingers.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/my-blog-turns-1/ It was just for the heck of it.


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

I religiously follow bloggers like:
·         IHM (Life and Times of an Indian Homemaker) who has a strong opinion which is to the point.
·         Sankara Jayanth (Black and White Heart) who has an emotionally stirring take on a lot of things in life.
·         Leo (I rhyme without reason) who writes beautiful poems.
·         Don Mills(The problem with young people today is...) who's got an insane and awesome sense of humour.
·         Athenian and a Berliner (Hovercraftdoggy) who make me go "Ooohh" and "awesome!" with their creative stuff. 
·         Craptivate - the bunch of bloggers who make me crack up everytime.

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

Being my first and only blog, I admit to have spent about 20 minutes just thinking of a name for my blog and fortunately, I came up with one which does amuse people a bit. I named it 'Tap Dancing Fingers' because I feel that writing is a beautiful thing, like dance which has the ability to move you, quite literally (hopefully because of laughter, or maybe the urge to just wring my neck. Whichever way you go).

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

I got on the IndiBlogger network almost an year back and haven't looked back since. It is parallel universe where I can find so many bloggers with varied interests with the opportunity to interact with them. Going to those few IndiBlogger meets have made me feel like a part of a huge family, where barriers like distance and strangerness (not sure if that's a word) don't come in between.

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

Probably blogs on social causes, fiction and poetry.

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

Follow via email

24. Five adjectives that describe you.

Creative
Sarcastic
Funny
Honest
Unpredictable

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

I don't read that much. *Now I'm feeling a bit awkward.*

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

Not really. I like reading positive ones, but the negative ones help me improve my writing. It's all good unless people get personal (which they never do, at least not on my blog).

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

Not really, because a book needs time to devoted to it along with a lot of hard work, and I lack the former. So I day dream away instead.

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

Yes, I am judgemental to some extent. I prefer having an opinion about everything rather than standing somewhere in the middle. 

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

I've never had a guest post on my blog or written one for any other blog. I'm slightly more rooted towards the real world rather than the virtual one. Though I've made a few really good friends via the blogosphere.

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

I find fiction the most appealing and like most bloggers, I tend to refrain from tech reviews, or subjects I don't have knowledge about.

31. Your Views on Contests and increasing plagiarism?

Contests are a great way to interact with fellow bloggers and experiment with your writing as you are made to step out of your genre and try a new one.
Plagiarism is what people do when they weigh popular material over individuality which is sad. What is the point of writing when you're simply copy-pasting someone else's thoughts? That is a brutal way of killing the joy of writing.

32. Words for me and my blog.

I really like the idea of having blogger interviews. It lets you know more about so many people from different genres and gives them a platform to talk about their blog. All the best to you and thank you for having me here. :) 

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

Awards are encouraging and make you feel good, but one shouldn't

take them to the head because that ultimately destroys the fun in writing. I think a blogger can always survive without an award.


Cheers!!


No comments:

Post a Comment