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July 06, 2008

My Cure For Writer's Burnout

It's been awhile since I've connected with this blog.  I've been engulfed with client work which hasn't left very much room for anything else.  No drawing.  No painting.  No making jewelry.

Just writing.

I seem to have reached writer's burnout - or information overload.

They say that you should be careful about what you wish for - because it may just come true.  Just a little over two years ago I was thinking, "Hmmm...wouldn't it be great to make money from writing?" 

Now I have enough work to keep me writing from now until eternity!  I don't want to come off sounding like I'm complaining about all the work I have to do.  I am truly grateful to be able to do something I love and get paid to do it.  I just miss the paint brushes and the jewelry making.

I was in the bookstore the other day and came across a magazine called Artful Blogging.  As I browsed through the magazine, I kept saying to myself, "I wish I could be art-fully creative right now." 

A little voice inside me says, "Why don't you do it right now?  You always have time to create art..."

I started making excuses for not being creative.  I have too much writing to do.  I have blogs that have been neglected.  There's a project that needs to be done tomorrow...

I finally told myself to shut up and started doodling....

Flower Child


Aww...Now I feel better!

June 18, 2008

How I Stay Grounded and Relaxed

"The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself."--Anais Nin

It's been a very busy few weeks for me.  Between working on my book, catching up with friends and family, doing work for clients, blogging here and there, watching the NBA Finals, and the U.S. Open - I'm just now catching a breath! 

Between it all, though, I still make time for myself.  Whether it's in the bookstore browsing through magazines or a little retail therapy (Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills is the best place for that - even if it's just window shopping), I manage to keep myself sane...

Versace Window DisplayGianfranco Ferre Window Display

I still meditate and say happy affirmations to stay grounded.  Even a little doodling in my new sketchbook allows my mind to stay calm and relaxed.  I even went to a party at an ocean front home in La Jolla where I met people who told me some phenomenal stories of traveling abroad. Of course, I had to take this photo of the beautiful California sunset...

Sunset at La Jolla Shores


After all is said and done, life is best lived when you enjoy it - and that's what I do each and every moment of the day no matter what I'm doing. 

May 16, 2008

A Fascination With Flowers

The flower is the poetry of reproduction.  It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.  ~Jean Giraudoux

I find much inspiration in taking closeup photos of flowers.  Sometimes I feel like I'm channeling Georgia O'Keefe, the famous artist who was known for her paintings of flowers.  I think it started when I did an interpretation of one of O'Keefe's paintings for a drawing class in college. 

Another reason why I'm so fascinated with flowers is because they have so many things to teach us about life.  For instance, every flower is unique in its own way - as we are - and yet they are all beautiful...every single one of them.  There is no such thing as the "perfect" flower because in essence, they are all perfect. 

Pictured here are just a few of my latest additions to my flower photo collection...

 

The Budding Yellow RoseTwo Pink Roses

 

Buy flower photo prints at my online shop!

May 05, 2008

A Day In the Life of a Blogger

People are very surprised when I tell them that I have all these blogs and the first question out of their mouth is, "How do you manage it all?"  One of the reasons I get so much done compared to many people is that I don't have any kids, so that leaves a great deal of open time for me!

Well, I decided to take one day out of my life and keep track of everything I do just to see how I spend most of my time.  This is just one day out of my life...

8:00 am - Wakeup, meditate, have breakfast, and watch about 10 minutes of the Today show.  I normally don't watch the show, but I heard that James Ray was going to be on. 

8:57 am - Work on my book

9:35 am - Check email, moderate comments, and read article, "A Miracle Set in Stone". It inspired me to write about overcoming beliefs, so I started writing down notes for a future post at The Good Life

10:38 am - Checked "Customer Service" folder in my Google feedreader to see what everyone is talking about and to find any inspiration for articles on my customer service blog. Start writing...

11:42 am - Took a break from writing customer service article to Twitter.  Find out about Singapore Airlines' A380 cabins

12:00 pm - Go back to writing customer service article.  Revised it and looked for picture to include in post...Published!

Continue reading "A Day In the Life of a Blogger" »

April 28, 2008

Making Jewelry: My Creative Process

Making Jewelry

After a little break from jewelry making, I decided to explore the bead inventory and see what I could put together.  After seeing the same beads over and over, it's a challenge to feel "fresh" about creating something...

Usually when I start to make a jewelry piece, I don't really have any particular plan or design in mind.  In this case, I took out this little pendant I bought from a local San Diego artist.  She calls her business "While My Babies Were Sleeping" because she did all her work well, while her babies were sleeping!  I bought it a few years ago, but have yet to find the right beads for it.  So, I started pulling out beads to see if I could find a combination of beads that would "fit just right".

Handcrafted Beaded Necklace by Maria Palma

Well, after stringing a few beads on, I realized that it just wasn't working.  Usually I start to feel an adrenaline rush as I'm stringing beads together and creating the design, but this time I wasn't feeling it.  After a little while I decided to ditch the pendant and instead ended up with this piece pictured here. I call this necklace "Spring Fling" and it's now available at my Etsy shop!

April 21, 2008

A Twitter Haiku

It’s been awhile since I’ve written any kind of poetry.  When I was in grade school and college, I would write poems and song lyrics.  I’ll definitely have to dig through my storage and find those old notebooks to share some poetry with you.  

Well, I wrote a haiku about my latest online love:  Twitter.  This inspiration was spurred on by a challenge given to me by blogger buddy, Easton, of Visionary Blogging:

 


So, here it is... 

 

The bird and the blue
Keeps me in touch with friends
I dream of Twitter

 

The next step will be to turn the haiku into a song…In the meantime, visit me over at Twitter and let’s “follow” each other ;)

April 15, 2008

Have I Told You "Thank You" Lately?

When I worked at Nordstrom we were required to write two Thank you Cards a day to our customers.  Back then it seemed like such a hassle - after all, any time away from the floor meant that I was losing sales.  However, it wasn't until I left Nordstrom and began working on my own business did I realize the power of Thank You.

I haven't been consistent in saying Thank You to my customers lately, but today I'm committing to reviving the art of the handwritten thank you note.  Here's an example of what I would write in a thank you card to a jewelry client:

Dear Miss Customer,

I just wanted to drop a note to thank you for your jewelry purchase.  I hope that you are enjoying the necklace!  If you have any feedback, please don't hesitate to call or write to me. 

All the Best,
Maria
"Salon de Maria"

Very short and sweet, but hopefully it puts warm fuzzies in people's hearts.  It's rare to get a thank you note these days - and handwritten to boot!

If you just don't have the time to create your own cards like I do, CardsDirect has Thank you cards that you can purchase online.
Thank You Card
However, you don't have to have a business just to send a card - why not send a Thank You to a friend just for being a great friend? 

By the way, have I told you "Thank You!" lately for reading this blog?  I appreciate you! 
Thank-you-signature.jpg

April 12, 2008

Digital Art is Exciting Again

Bamboo small pen tabletWhen I first embarked into the digital art world about seven years ago, I had no idea how amazing it was going to be.  I got my first digital camera and I was ecstatic that I didn't have to buy film and take it to the photo lab anymore.  And now all the excitement is back again with the arrival of my new Bamboo pen tablet.  I felt like a five-year-old on Christmas Day as I opened the box and unwrapped this little tool.  It's the little things that make me happy :)Mother's Day greeting cards

With this pen tablet I can create freehand digital drawings and hand-write notes which can be turned into text documents in Word (although I still prefer to type...much faster).  There's a great deal of other stuff I can do with this pen tablet that I haven't explored yet.  However, the main reason I bought it was to draw freehand in Photoshop.  I bought the small version, but I know pretty soon I'll want to go "pro" and get a bigger one.

So I unleashed the creative juices today and created a couple pieces which I turned into Mother's Day greeting cards.  They're available at my CafePress shop.  Stay tuned for more!

Well, now it's back to the "drawing board" for more practice so I can start creating art like this "Cherry Blossoms" piece by Esther Kirby...



Buy your own Bamboo pen tablet at Amazon.com

April 10, 2008

Maria Palma: Designer, Writer, and SEO Geek

Maria Palma, SEO Geek As an entrepreneur and artist, I have many jobs and wear many hats.  What you may not know about me is that besides being a jewelry designer and writer, I've also designed all my blogs and do the marketing for every one of them.  This means one of the many hats that I wear is SEO Geek. 

I'm proud to say that I'm a SEO geek.  For those of you who don't know, SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization" which basically means that I work on designing and marketing my websites so that the search engines can easily find them.  Any and every person who owns a website or blog should be familiar with some SEO techniques and tactics - especially those who create their own content. 

I've spent countless hours researching all the different ways to rank high in the search engines.  It's great to come across other artists and designers like the ones over at this seo blog who have a passion for what they do.  All the reading and research has been worthwhile as I am now able to help the clients I write articles for become more knowledgeable about search engine optimization. 

If you need help getting your website indexed and ranked in the search engines, feel free to contact me:  maria [at] salondemaria [dot] info

April 06, 2008

Life is Abundant

My camera has been stuck to my hip since I got it for Christmas and the photography folder in my computer is bursting with photos that need to be edited and uploaded to my Flickr album. Today was the day that I focused on doing just that....

Abundance


Ok, so one project down. 99 more to go!

After looking at this mosaic, I realized - I mean really realized - just how abundant my life is! The vibrant colors...the gorgeous scenery in San Diego...I'm very grateful for eyes so that I can see all these wonderful things.

Read more about my abundant life over at The Good Life.

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