Interview with Mark Knowles

1. Tell us a little about yourself. A potted history - Born in Newbury, Berkshire, UK. Grew up in Holland, back to the UK at age 19 (hated it.) Lived and worked in the UK until a personal disaster gave me the freedom and incentive to be somewhere else. Went to America and bought a Harley Davidson which I spent a year on, wandering aimlessly around the US. High points include - freak heat wave in Florida (127 degrees), the Grand Canyon in a massive thunderstorm, a dust storm in the Arizona desert and a freak snow storm in the Rocky mountains in the beginning of August. I had a great time, but the weather was against me the whole year. Nearly ten years as a massage therapist working with several hospitals. Got married and then won an entry to the World Series of Poker main event in Las Vegas, and went to try my hand as a pro poker player. Made a living, but hated spending all day in a casino. After six months got fed up and went back to England. After England, decided to find somewhere else to live and settled in France. The story continues...
2. What brought you to HubPages? HubPages was one of the several venues I decided on to try my hand at making a living writing online. I was a relative novice and the easy-to-use platform was attractive.
3. What do you like Hubbing on, with respect to topics? Recipes. I love cooking and love to share what I think is the best way of doing a particular recipe.
4. What has been your best Hub so far (in your opinion)? Why? Top Ten American Recipes. This one was a labor of love. I gave no thought to how long it would be or how much time it would take to do - never even crossed my mind. I just wrote it to share all my favorite recipes. When HubPages saw it, they liked it so much they offered to pay me for a Flagship Hub and add it to their list. I really believe that many American recipes are good enough to stand up against any cuisine in the world and hate what companies like Applebees and McDonalds do to them.
5. What is your favorite Hub by another Hubber? How to make Marmalade, by Mr. Marmalade. Because it is so wacky, and so "from the heart." There is nothing going on here other than a wacky Aussie wanting to share his love of marmalade. How can you not love this? Of course - I am still waiting for the promised free jar - hint, hint.
6. What is one nice thing about HubPages (the site) that many might not know? The nice thing about HubPages is the wide variety of topics that are Hubbed about. Apart from the "internet marketing experts," we have religious writers (I keep out of those discussions because I take a dim view of organized religion) poets, artists who are freely sharing their work, astrologists, witches, and just about anything else you can think of. We tend to see the hot Hubs and the top Hubbers, but hidden away in the nooks and crannies there are some pretty amazing Hubs. Sometimes I click on a random Hubber's profile, then one of their fan's profiles, and so on, until I end up at something I wasn't even looking for.
7. Name one thing you learned about from another Hubber's Hub that you didn't know about before. I learned that there are lots of different kinds of "fancy" rats from reading Whitney05's Hub, Homemade Rat Recipes. Of course, I went there thinking I would find interesting ways of cooking rats, but that was not the case.
8. What kind of Hubber do you typically join the Fan Club of? I pretty much don't join anyone's fan club any more. I did when I first started, but not now.
9. If you could impart one piece of advice to a new Hubber, what would that be? Take your time and don't be in too much of a rush, or you will become very disappointed very quickly. Success - whether that is making money, or creating a readership, or whatever is important to you - takes some time to do. You will not achieve success overnight.
10. Tell us something that we'd never guess about you—surprise us! I always cry at the end of "Sleepless in Seattle."