Interview with Lela Davidson

1. Tell us a little about yourself. A few years ago I realized I wanted to write. Since then, I have been learning and writing. I have a stack of notebooks, and too many Word files to mention, that have accumulated during breaks from the real life of raising two kids. I grew up on the west coast, but relocated to the very middle of mid-America five years ago and some days I'm still very much in culture shock. However, most of the time I love it. My husband's job has put us on the pick-up-and-move-every-three-years plan, but I wouldn't trade any of the friends I've made for any amount of roots.
2. What brought you to HubPages? When I found HubPages, I knew it was just what I needed to add some accountability to my writing life. I had been reading William Zinsser's On Writing Well where he counsels new (let's say young) writers not to worry about being original or brilliant, but simply to write. He says if you write an article every day for a year, you'll be a better writer at the end of the year. So that's what I set out to do. Carolyn See says if you want to be a writer, write—1000 words a day, every day.
3. What do you like Hubbing on, with respect to topics? I keep it close to home. I've chosen to stick with the parenting niche, and I try to keep Hubs mostly factual, although I let my opinion into many of the articles. I love multi-tasking, so if there's ever anything I'm looking up regarding my own kids I'll turn it into an article.
4. What has been your best Hub so far (in your opinion)? Why? How to Start the Halloween Boo in Your Neighborhood. I had just read a tip on Darren Rowse's ProBlogger site where he'd had great success by figuring out what people would be searching for in few weeks time and writing posts on that. I tried it with the Boo. That turned it around for me. My Google adsense revenue tripled and I really started to look at this writing as a way to make money. Up until then, writing Hubs had been a writing discipline for me, as well as a way to promote my other writing.
5. What is your favorite Hub by another Hubber? Why? I like to read the ones about getting traffic. There is so much to learn and I try not to get overwhelmed. I find myself going back to Paul Edmondson's Hubs over and over.
6. What is one nice thing about HubPages (the site) that many might not know? Search engines find you! I read somewhere how content sites like HubPages only got traffic from other contributors. That hasn't been my experience. The biggest kick I got was when a friend came up to me at an event and she was thrilled because when she'd searched the web to learn how to make a balloon arch, my Hub popped up.
7. Name one thing you learned about from another Hubber's Hub that you didn't know about before. This is so mundane, but I'm learning how to make household cleaners from a number of Hubbers.
8. What kind of Hubber do you typically join the Fan Club of? Why? If the Hubber writes on something of interest to me, I'll join. Also, I join the Fan Clubs of successful Hubbers so that I can learn from them. I often join the Fan Club of someone who joins mine because I figure if they're interested in my stuff, I may want to read their stuff as well.
9. If you could impart one piece of advice to a new Hubber, what would that be? Just write and let the articles accumulate. Enjoy wherever you are in the process. And try not to obsess over your stats! Sorry, that's three things.
10. Tell us something that we'd never guess about you—surprise us! I'm a recovering CPA. And I stopped reading parenting books when my son was less than a year old!