PiaC interviews rmcrayne
An experienced Hubber explains her multifaceted involvement in the HubPages community
1. Tell us a little about yourself.
My profile is pretty thorough, and I’ve been relatively ‘open book’ in the forums. I grew up in S.C. with one sister and a large extended family of Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. I went to community college right out of high school and was an x-ray tech for a while. I graduated college and became an occupational therapist 10 years after graduating high school, and 18 months later, at almost 30, I was commissioned into the Air Force. I retired after 20 years in February 2009. I borrowed against my investments and took 18 months off to recover my physical and mental health after working 12 to 15 hour days for my last 6 or 8 years on active duty. My step brother has been living with me since he graduated from OT school in 2003. We call each other Vern (Know what I mean, Vern?). My sister moved from Maine to live with us two years ago. We call her Sal. Vern and Sal are my biggest fans.
2. What brought you to HubPages?
I saw an ad on Facebook! One of the things I wanted to do when I retired from the Air Force was some writing. I had joined the San Antonio Writer’s Guild. I liked the constructive feedback, but SAWG was not a great fit. Most members wrote fiction, some wrote children’s stories, and some wrote memoir-type pieces. I wanted to write about some of the things I’ve learned as an occupational therapist working with clients for over 20 years. HubPages met my needs so much better. I’ve not only written about clinical topics related to OT, but I’ve written about Alternative Medicine topics and food & recipes. I’ve been able to share my mom’s “famous” cake recipes. Indirectly, she has fans!
3. I see you are part of the HubPages Elite Program. Could you tell us a bit more about this special program? What are its benefits to regular hubbers?
In the Air Force, we would call the HubPages Elite Program a “recognition program”. Elite recognizes the contributions of non-HubPages Staff volunteers. I earned my Elite status by being part of the HubMob Team. Each week I collect the HubMob hub submissions into a “roundup hub”. This is like one-stop-shopping for links to a wealth of articles on each week’s topic. It also gives each hub a backlink. The HubNuggets Team members and HubPages greeters are also rewarded with HubPages Elite status. I think Elite status gives credibility in the eyes of some hubbers. I think I have gained many followers largely because of my Elite status. I definitely think it is “resume worthy”, and I’m very proud to be recognized as HP Elite.
4. Tell us a bit more about your contest participation.
I love the contests! Each contest, I start a document right away with the topics schedule. I list my ideas for each topic. By the end of the contest I always have leftover ideas. Between contests and HubMob, I’ll always have a surplus of hub ideas. My first contest was the Helpful Health Hubs Contest in March 2010. I wrote 28 contest hubs and 4 HubMob roundup hubs. For the June 2010 Food Contest, I wrote 44 hubs and 4 roundups. I did not have my Analytics synchronized in March, but I can tell you several of my June contest hubs started earning from AdSense immediately. My participation will be limited for this contest because I have had to return to work part-time to support my writing habit!
5. What is one nice thing about HubPages (the site) that many may not know?
Well, I’m not really the kind of person who can pick ‘just one’ of anything! What comes to mind is how responsive the HubPages staff is to questions, problems, and ideas, and that the site is always changing. HubPages staff is always doing upgrades and launching initiatives to make the site better.
6. Name one thing you learned about from another Hubber’s Hub that you didn’t know about before.
Holy cow, there’s tons of stuff. I really like hubs on natural healing and Alternative Medicine. I pick up lots of tidbits when I’m adding hub links to the HubMob roundup hubs. I don’t have time to read all those hubs, or to comment, but often I get hooked by the title and scan the info.
7. If you could impart one piece of advice to a new hubber, what would it be?
Do your homework! Whether you want to make money, or whether you just want your work to be seen and read. Read, read, and read some more, and never stop. Read the forums and hubs about how to drive traffic &/or how to make money on HubPages. After a while you start figuring out who the true experts are. You also find certain hubbers whose style you admire, or you just like the way they explain things.
8. Tell us something that we’d never guess about you- surprise us!
Again, I’m pretty much an open book. I don’t know that I can surprise those that know me in the forums and from my hubs. How’s this: I’m a master of disorganization, in both my internal and external environment. It’s a common ADD trait. Hopefully it doesn’t show in my finished hubs, but it takes me a lot of effort to organize my writing and get my hubs published. Not having worked outside of home my first year while on HubPages, you’d think I’d would have cranked out four or five hubs a day, but I have averaged about 15 to 18 hubs a month. Here’s a fun one Vern thought of: When I was growing up, one of my cousins had a sock monkey. I always wanted one. My sister bought me one for Christmas two years ago.
9. I see that you’re a great cook- what’s your favorite recipe?
I’d say one of my recipes that I’m most proud of is my Macaroni and Cheese. It’s one of those dishes that most great Southern cooks make, but don’t have a recipe for. A few years ago, I decided to measure and experiment until I produced a decent recipe. Recently my mom said she thought my Mac and Cheese was the best in the family- and it’s a really big extended family!
10. If you could travel to one place in the world, where would it be?
I’m way too greedy to pick just one! If I never left the U.S. again, I’d have to count myself lucky for all the world travel that I was able to do in the Air Force, including living overseas for 3 ½ years in Turkey, and 3 years in Germany. I’d love to visit all of those places again. Maybe I’d finish out with all the Eastern European countries that I didn’t get to see.
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