I don't remember how and when I met Sarav but then I guess that is the beauty of the blogosphere you meet such amazing writers that you feel as if you have known them for long.
To introduce you to him, Saravana Kumar Murugan (Pen Name: Someone is Special) is the contributing author of several anthologies that include “Uff Ye Emotions 2”, “31 Crimes”, “A Little Chorus Of Love”, “Love Stories Around Us”, among others. He also is the compiler and editor of the books “Friendship- Bonds Beyond Time” & “Colors- Shades Of Life” by Shades Publications. His poems have been published in several online magazines and his debut book as a poet is to be released soon. He is the Marshal of Blog-a-Ton, the online marathon of Bloggers; where bloggers decide a theme and write on a monthly basis. He writes under a pen name “Someone is Special” at “Few Miles– shortlisted as one of the Top 12 Creative Blogs of India in 2014”, and winner of more than 25 contests in blog-o-sphere.
Hailing from Chennai and currently based in Hamburg, Germany he dons many hats of that from a successful author, wonderful editor to being an award winning employee. Oh yes apart from writing, he is a senior software engineer at Wipro by profession. He has won Best Campus Joinee Award, Technology Innovation Spark Award for his work. He is graduated B. Tech in Information Technology. He loves capturing life through lens, giving life to paper with pencil, and at times, he satisfies his stomach with his own cooking. You can connect with him here:
*Phew* that's such a long list ! Wonder how he does it all...Over to him to listen as he bares his heart :
*Phew* that's such a long list ! Wonder how he does it all...Over to him to listen as he bares his heart :
- A warm welcome to Reviews & Musings. Coming to your first anthology as an editor Friendship, please share your experience of compiling it and working on the stories to bring it to the shape it is in today.
Thank you, Namrata. It’s a pleasure to be interviewed at Reviews & Musings :D
Sachin, The Publisher, a good friend of mine, wanted to release the second title of his publishing house on Friendship Day. He chose the theme “Friendship” and signed me as the compiler and editor of the project.
It was exciting at the start, but when I started reading the entries, I realized the complexities involved in selecting the best stories. It is a tough job because you are not just rejecting an entry, but also denying the happiness one get when they get published. At times, it hurts a lot, when I had to reject a good entry just because it is 0.1 point less than the selected ones. Thanks to Sachin. He gave me the freedom to select the entries on my own, which not all publishers of these days do.
Editing the book in less than two days (I think so) was a good experience. I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we could not release the book on Friendship Day because of the wonderful printers who never understood the word “deadline”. Maybe, it is for good. We released the book on Sachin’s Birthday.
- You are an engineer by qualification and have been a blogger, a reviewer, an author now an editor and compiler. Which role is your favorite out of all and why?
“Blogger” – Few Miles is very close to my heart. The journey from a boy scribbling in his diary to an editor and compiler of the book Friendship- Bonds Beyond Time is very exciting. I can write a book on it :D I like appreciations and criticisms. Tag lines like “undisputed king of romance on blog-o-sphere”, “Out of Box thinker”, and close to hundred plus emails from unknown people and anonymous messages are the most value possessions. It helped me recognize my creativity, my love for words, and gave me confidence to grow as a writer. For more details please visit HERE.
- How does it feel donning so many hats successfully in day to day life?
The journey from a newbie blogger to a recognized blogger in India, to a contributing author of anthologies, to a compiler and editor of a book, to a co-author of a book, makes me feel good and excited! In a few days I am going to wear a new hat, which is more interesting and fulfilling. I will spill the beans soon on Facebook.
- How did writing happen to you? Was it something you wanted to do since childhood?
Dreams. I am a big dreamer. When I was 16-years-old, I first penned a poem titled “Sorry” for my dream angel, and from that day onwards, I wrote free verse, rhymes, fictions and real life stories, most of them being romantic ones.
- What is your writing routine like?
I am a night writer. I write my poems and stories sitting by the windowpane and looking at the moon or I wake up in the middle of the night to scribble my dream. These days, after joining Deutsch Language Course, I write whenever the mood strikes and when I get free time.
- Who is your favorite author and why?
I have a long list of favorite authors. I have listed the names on all my sites. Instead of listing the same names again, I wish to list the names of my favorite authors from this book. They are:
1. Aashi Dahiya, the author of SCARLET’S ROSE.
2. Prachi Agasti, the author of THE SCARLET TINT OF YELLOW ROSE.
3. Anmol Singh & Sanjana Radhakrishnan, the authors of CAMARADERIE.
- It has been observed that today’s youth has a general misconception about mixing friendship with love which can be found even in the stories. Your thoughts on this?
It’s sadly true. In the stories as well in reality, people mix up friendship with love, and end up either as a couple or as strangers. Or if we look at this from the other side, friendship (a tag) was the first step to get into a relationship. At least till 2010 this was how it is. Now, I see a welcoming change, people date if they are interested and if everything goes out well, they get into a relationship. Remember, this is a welcoming change for the society, only if it is not misused.
Friendship, in its unadulterated form, is the most beautiful relationship in the world! Love, in its unadulterated form, is the most beautiful feeling in the world!
- How different do you think is this book from the other anthologies that are flooding the market?
If you see in the market, most of the anthologies are of genre love, romance or crime. We do not want to follow the suit. Hence we came up with an anthology of short stories on Friendship.
“Friendship is the only relationship in the world without any actual blood relationship. No expectations, no compromises. And true friendship stands across ages.”
Do you agree? If you agree to this quote grab Friendship- Bonds Beyond Time book. It is a collection of 25 short stories on Friendship, handpicked by me, and published by Shades Publications.
You can find out more about the book and buy it from:
- If there is one thing that could change about the book what would that be?
If I get a change I will change the order of stories, preface to editor’s note, and add blurb on the back cover above the author names.
- Please share something about your upcoming projects.
I am currently working on my second project as a compiler and editor – Shades of Life: an anthology of short stories and poems reflecting the various shades of life. And I am co-authoring a short story collection titled “Twelve and Half” with one of the talented author of India.
- Your advice to aspiring authors?
Write, read and rewrite, because only practice makes you perfect. When you write, do listen to your heart, as it will help you write heart-touching stories instead of mere bestsellers.
- Message to all the book lovers
I like to take this opportunity to thank my publisher Sachin, the contributing authors of the book (Aashi Dahiya, Apurva Joshi, Shubham Sinha, Dr. Disha Bhatt, Biswadeep Ghosh Hazra, Anmol Singh, Sanjana Radhakrishnan, Varina Rasquinha, Prakash Guru, Elora Rath, Nikita Tak, Anisha Mohata, Anirban Nanda, Mahesh Sowani, Tapobrata Kumar, Prachi Agasti, Prachi Sharma, Kiran Lalwani, Kajal Lalwani, Nidhi, Akash Shrivastav, Adyasha Panda, Kalyani Yadav, Rishabh Patel, Abhipsa Mohanty, Rounak Roy Chowdhury & Debasish Mishra), my sweet mom, my wonderful wife, my other family members, my friends (it’s a big list) and readers who supported me no matter whatever I wrote in all these years. I wish to see the same support in future.
Do read the book Friendship- Bonds Beyond Time and share the feedback with us. I am sure it will encourage all the contributing authors of the book.
Finally, a very big Thank You, to the wonderful person in you!
P.S: All picture copyrights with the author. Please seek permission before using them.