Below is an interview with blogger LaFrieda Smith of MMM of Family Entertainment. Learn about her lifelong love of writing, how her family inspires her blog posts, and her travel history and goals. Be sure to check out her blog below, and follow her on social media.
About the Blogger
Name: LaFrieda Smith
Blog Name: Music, Movies and Madness of Family Entertainment
Links:
Genre or Niche: Entertainment and Relationships
Blog Summary: My blog is all about family life and relationships with friends and loved ones along with entertainment and adventures.
Three posts that best sum up the blog:
My Weekend as a Queen…Trip to New York City
Talking Shop
Why did you start your blog?
I started my blog in 2018 after I stopped working full-time because of a work-place injury. I have always wanted to be a writer. Even back when I was in high school, I wanted to go into journalism.
In the late 90s, after I graduated, I didn’t have an opportunity to go to college nor did I know what it took to achieve a degree. I used to write short stories in my English classes and my teacher said that I had a lot of potential.
My blog was an outlet for me to express myself and it serves as a platform for people to get to know me and all the things I care about. It has been successful, and I plan to keep on writing.
How often do you post on your blog?
When posting to my blog, I generally try to stay active once a week. Finding topics to talk about has become easy for me because my life as I observe it gives me lots of ideals. Every day is an adventure for me, and I love talking about things that excite me about life.
How have you promoted your blog? What has worked best? What has failed?
When I started my blog, I wanted to promote it on Facebook to my family and friends and see what kind of support I would get. After posting to my Facebook, the feedback I received was positive about the writing but as far as followers were concerned, it was just like promoting a business where you don’t get a lot of customers or subscribers. Plan B was to start promoting in groups on Facebook, which didn’t work out well due to lack of activity in groups.
I found out that Twitter was a great platform for promoting my blog and I was right! After 4 months of my blog, I received over 100 followers!! Learning along the way what kind of content is interesting to readers, I have over 200 followers in almost 2 years including platform of followers on Instagram of 500 and I am becoming an expert in Pinterest pins. I love Pinterest!!
Do you have a writing ritual or any odd habits or superstitions?
At home, I have my own office after waiting so many years. My office includes my executive chair, wooden desk, and with my phone and speaker, I am comfortable. I sit down to write, and complete silence is not an option. I know that I hate chaos in the house. But for some reason, I must have my phone with television apps playing. I know it sounds weird, but when I would do my assignments for college, I would be listening to music. It helps me concentrate.
What is your favorite post that you’ve written? Which one is the most successful?
I wrote a post last year on Valentine’s Day about relationships. I came up with this ideal while sleeping one night and I woke with the title of the post. Me and my husband always talked about how we owned a business long ago and how our marriage is like it. I wrote about the many similarities between marriage and owning a business and how attention to detail is key. This was my favorite post to write called Marriage and Relationships are Like Owning a Business…Ladies and Gentleman
The most successful one I’ve written featured fellow entrepreneurs of mine and how I networked with them in advertising their businesses called Networking with Your Business in Mind, where I received over 20 bloggers who liked my post.
What” If “Scenarios
If you could have one person who you admire. Living or dead, read your blog, who would it be?
I have always been an independent woman who has goals and know what she wants when she orders food at a restaurant. A woman who I’ve always admired is Oprah Winfrey. She is always advocating for women’s rights and taking care of the less fortunate. I would love for her to read my blog. She stands for empowerment, women’s rights and making the world a more positive place.
You’re offered to write a book about any topic, what is your book about?
If I wrote a book, it would be about Autism. I have a 19-year-old son who was diagnosed at age 3 on the Autism Spectrum. He has been so resilient in going through the many stages of growing up in the general population. I have become a lot more involved other mothers who have adult children on the spectrum. It has been eye opening to learn about how different and unique each child is and how they overcome so many challenges daily. I wrote a blog post about it called Living with Autism…The Child, The Parent, and the Friend.
You’re offered free trip to go anywhere in the world for a blog post. Where do you go and why?
Free trip to Paris would be nice to write about for my blog. I have heard about and seen how beautiful it is. I love to learn about different cultures and how they communicate. People in other countries seem to be straight forward and enjoy the finer things in life. I love places that are beautiful, artistic and historical. I don’t speak French, but I will have a great time learning…lol.
You have the time and energy to write another blog. What is it about?
If I were to write a second blog, one of my biggest passions is kids. I would love to write about their point of view. Kids experience stress, families go on trips, parents argue in private, kids must make friends, and no one ever ask how they see things because they are kids. Writing about what they enjoy doing things they find funny and what they have always wanted to say to adults would be interesting.
If you could interview one famous person on your blog, who would it be?
If I could interview one famous person, it would be Betty White. I am such a big fan of The Golden Girls and this show was the reason why I moved to Florida almost 9 years ago. Florida is everything I knew it would be from great weather to wonderful vacations. I love Betty White. She is so cute, funny, has a great personality and positive outlook on life. She has been entertaining for decades, and I would love to know the secret to her longevity.
Just for Fun
One year of your life you’d like to do over (good or bad).
One year of my life I’d love to do over was the year that my family and I moved to Florida. In June 2011, me and my husband were taking a walk and I blurted out, “Let’s move to Florida!” My husband was really shocked I said it, but I thought about it for a long time and 2 months later, we were on our way. We drove 1200 miles for 2 days and with all the adventures along the way; we had such a great time getting here. I moved my family here almost 9 years ago. Although we miss our family in our hometown, being here in Florida has been the happiest for all of us since we left Ohio.
One bucket list item you’ve completed and one item that’s still on the list.
One bucket list item I’ve completed happened in 2019 with a trip to Puerto Rico. I went with a group of wonderful ladies where we spent four days in a resort. Me being the only one who wasn’t Puerto-Rican, they showed me their history and cultures with dance, food and they taught me Spanish words. This trip was unforgettable, and I would love to do it again.
One item that is on my bucket list that I haven’t done yet is scuba diving. I am afraid to go underwater. As far as I can remember which was high school during swim class, my swim teacher wanted me to go in and I was afraid of the pool, so he pushed me in and ever since then I never learned to swim. I always think If I go in, I go under. So I want to go scuba diving and feel what it’s like to be underwater. I love fishes, whales and especially turtles. So seeing them in their habitat would be amazing.
Favorite place you’ve visited and a place you want to visit.
I have been here in Florida for almost nine years and my favorite place to visit is Clearwater Beach. Every time I visit Clearwater, it feels so relaxing to me, and I had the opportunity last year to show my best friend of 25 years on her first trip to Florida, Clearwater, and she loved it, too.
A place I would want to visit is Washington D.C. I would love to see what all the hype is about with it being a place in history. From visiting the White House to visiting Lincoln Memorial, I have always been curious as to why the government and lawmakers picked this spot for history.
A topic you can’t shut up about and a topic you wish everyone would shut up about.
Let’s see, a topic I literally can’t shut up about is my kids. Everything they do is amazing to me, whether right or wrong, my kids are always going to be topic #1 in my life.
Now a topic I wish everyone would shut up about is politics. I turn the news on, there is politics. Radio is on, there is politics. Check Yahoo, there is politics. Everything in life should have rules and politics should not play a role in what’s fair for different classes of people. From the person we call the president, to who has millions of dollars to throw away. All this does is make people feel less than if they aren’t able to do what others do. If someone doesn’t share the same views, they are judged. If you are not fortunate, you get left out. It would be better if the ideal of politics went away.
A talent you have and a talent you wish you had.
A talent I have is writing. I am good at writing my blog of course. Also essays, short stories and poems. I can remember writing as early as high school and wanting to be in journalism.
A talent I wish I had is playing guitar. I have a guitar that I practice on but it’s hard to play with my carpal tunnel in both hands. I love rock-n-roll and dream of being able to play. My favorite female rock band is Heart. They are so talented. I have seen them twice in concert. One day I hope that I can play a full rift of a song. One song I would love to play is the first two minutes of the Eagles – One of These Nights.
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I loved reading that she posts about once a week b/c I always feel pressured to post more often. This was a bit of a relief to see such a successful blogger respond with that answer.
Very true. It definitely shows the importance of quality over quantity.
This is a such a fun read. Frieda’s personality oozes off the page through her love for writing and her son. I love her sense of adventure and love for travel.
Great, really thorough interview. I would also like a free trip to Paris if you’re passing them out.
This was such a fun post to read. It’s great to get to know more about the person behind the blog.