I'm still fairly new to FMQ - have meandered a bit with decent results. My plan is just that it looks random, I try to avoid meadering across, then down, then across then down ... so I'll try to do peninsula's going waaaay down then backtrack to fill in ... hard to explain :)
My hands are fairly close roughly at 2:00 and 8:00 - give or take depending on how far I'm moving. Eeach hand is roughly 3-5" (no more than 5) from the needle at the center. My hands are somewhat splayed and I use gloves.
Yes, sometimes I'll hear/feel a rough spot where there might be a particularly heavy seam, and it's more noticable if I'm turning on a seam, and even more noticable when I'm doing micro meandering.