HubPages Interviews Petra Vlah
In this special edition of the Hubber-to-Hubber Interview, we checked in with Petra Vlah, who recently saw publishing success via HubPages
1. What are your thoughts on the HubPages community in general?
When part of a community, you take the good with the bad and make the best of it. My experience as a member of the HP community has been great and I thank each and everyone for embracing me as a person and for welcoming me as a writer. When I first joined this site my only intention was to test the waters and see if there is any audience for what I wanted to say. As it turned out, it was.
2. How has the community in general or any of the HubPages Special Programs colored your experience on the site?
During my first 60 days on HP I won two HubNuggets, one for creative writing with “My stone markers” and another one with “Los Angeles, the good, the bad and everything in between”. That was an honor and the first encouraging sign that was possible to overcome the difficulties that came with writing in another language than my own.
I also had my share of grief because of it, but as it turned out, it was a blessing; a mean-spirited self proclaimed critic wrote a hub about me stating: “it is rare that any of Petra’s paragraphs could remain untouched. Her weakness is in the structure of the sentence and in the redundancy of her writing”. The entire HP community came to my support and their encouragement was overwhelming and heart warming. For that I will always be grateful.
3. HubPages is a great place to get feedback on one's writing, but that's not always easy - our writing is like our baby, right? How have you personally approached constructive criticism on the site?
I never tried or dreamed of pleasing everyone and I know that many times my views created controversy and inflamed passions; more than anything else I have a need to be true to myself and my beliefs. If that does not sit well with others, than so be it; I never ever deleted a comment and will not do so in the future. I welcome different opinions and my invitation is: “bring on your best arguments and let’s debate in a civilized manner without personal attacks”. Some goes for the forums where I never had a problem.
4. You were already a published author before you came to HubPages, but have you found the site at all useful in furthering your career as a published author?
I have indeed experienced the sweet smell of success by being published many times before, but I am extremely happy and proud that, for the first time, I can call myself a published author in English, a language I learned late in life and on my own. This is a direct result of my presence on HP and that should give hope to many aspiring writers. One of my poems caught the attention of the signor editor of “Eye on Life” magazine who saw the value and the potential of it and left a comment that prompted me to look up his profile on HP. Tom Rubenoff is also a member of this great community.
5. What are your thoughts on self-publishing versus taking a more traditional publishing route?
I have never believed, nor would I change my mind anytime soon in regards to self-publishing; it is detrimental to the reputation and credibility of any writer. It may get your name on print, but where is the satisfaction? It is, in a way, as being the judge and the jury all at once and so you give yourself a lighter sentence, “just because you can”. I don’t believe in that.
The old fashion way of going through the process of submitting, getting feedback, working with the editor and eventually getting published is the only way to validate one’s writing. The rest is self-congratulatory flattery as far as I am concern.
6. Are there any hubbers whose work you particularly favor?
I have great respect and admiration for many fellow hubbers, not because I always agree with their point of view, but because I feel their passion. I may be considered an elitist, but in reality I give an equal chance to all and I am not impressed by the “who is who” list which I am definitely not part of.
I value honesty, hard work and a willingness to keep an open mind and heart; many hubbers have that. My value scale is spelled out on my hub “There are Hubbers and… there are hubbers”, that should answer anyone’s question.
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