10 Questions with Lala of Coastal Commentaries
Ten Questions with Lala of Coastal Commentaries
1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
The easy answer is “a southern belle turns beach bum.” After a tough year last year, a death and a separation, this life-long-land-locked-lady moved to the coast of Florida, a place I had never been before in my life. So my posts and photography are about my exploration of the area, the little “hidden gems” outside the tourists’ radars, the beauty of nature around me, the people I meet, and the basic lifestyle of coastal living. Sometimes I’ll just post a photo, or sometimes my posts are semi-personal, but it all usually relates to the bigger theme of my new life living on the Cape.
2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
That’s tough to say because I think they just about all define who I am, but it would probably be these two that are related through my love of nature.
- Like Mother, Like Son – Because I have an almost insane love of thunderstorms.
- Show Some Respect for Nature – Because I get irritated by the laziness and irresponsibility of people who take nature and their fellow human beings for granted.
3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
What sets me apart from other bloggers is observation. Through simple observation, I (hopefully) open people’s eyes to both our differences and similarities, and the dozens of people and things we see everyday yet dont really see.
4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
I first discovered journaling online back in the early 2000’s. I had been a member of several writing workshops when a group of online friends and I discovered a small site called Journalscape. It is exactly how it sounds, a place to journal. It was (and still is) a site mostly for writers and artists, a place for us to share thoughts and accomplishments about our work, and even write about our personal lives. There are no ads, no monetizing, no spamming, no marketing. In fact, it’s strictly forbidden…it’s just a nice place to commune with other like-minded people. I tried blogger a few years ago, but at that time there was no way to pull people in (like with blogcatalog, my bloglog or Entrecard) to read your blogs and it didn’t “feel” like a community. A few months ago, a friend and I were slaving away over our computers writing seo/marketing copy for a woman, getting paid next to nothing. We decided to do our own sites, with better quality content, and have since been in the process of setting them up. After moving to Florida, I decided I wanted to start my own blog about living on the coast and…well now, here I am.
5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
My biggest pet peeve about blogging in particular would be these people who don’t keep up with their blogs. Personally, I write at least one post a day, if not more. I get frustrated to (while dropping ecards) visit the same blog over and over and see it hasn’t had a new post in almost two weeks. And these are people who have tens, sometimes hundreds of readers (per their feedburner chicklet.) Oh, they’ll still drop a card in your widget, but yet they don’t update their blogs. I also don’t like these sites (like the woman I used to work for) who cram 50 or more crappy, keyword-filled articles on their site to raise themselves up in the search engines just so they can sell a book they probably didn’t write themselves.
6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
I love the Adsense Plugin for WordPress. I don’t know a thing about css or php, and the Adsense Plugin (which isn’t just for Adsense) allows me to place any java or html widget (including the Entrecard widget) or chicklet on my sidebars through the dashboard, without having to manually go in and edit the template code itself. It’s like “Blogging for Dummies”
7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
Wow, that’s a tough one. I’m not real big on guest posters either. I might be if I ran a blog on Internet Marketing or SEO Optimization, but I don’t. I would do it as an interview. Since I’m a lover of history, Katherine the Great, or maybe the author of one of my favorite books, ”A Confederacy of Dunces,” John Kennedy Toole. However, even the interview would be within the theme of my blog, “So is this your first visit to Cape Canaveral?” “Do you think you’ll take surfing lessons at Ron Jon’s?”
8. How has blogging made you a better person?
Well, I know online journaling has made me a better person because as a closet introvert it helped me to open up. My newest blog has just taught me to be myself. I also enjoy meeting other bloggers and anytime you can meet other bloggers that makes you a better blogger.
9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
See answer #8. No seriously, just be yourself. If writing about yourself, make it relatable to others, find the universal truth. Also, there’s a writer’s rule, “to become a good writer, a writer must read” so I’d say, read other blogs, leave thoughtful, relevant comments and those bloggers will generally come back and not only read, but comment on your posts as well.
10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
The one great blog I read is on Journalscape, and so as not to “out” her often personal journal, I’ll just have to keep that one to myself. However, I really enjoy reading Caledonian Comment, The Thinking Blog. Not only does he cover stories, mostly political, around the world, but Americans don’t always know about the inner nuances of the British government. I mean, the whole world saw President Bush do his best Elaine Benitz dance in Africa, but we didn’t see PM Brown lull to sleep a group of Israeli school children during a speech to the Israeli Parliament. So for me, it’s very educational, and I enjoy his use of photos and subtle wit. Plus, I like that he has the CNN latest news widget on his sidebar, so I can easily check out some of their newer feeds right off his page.
1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
The Blog – 
