Salon de Maria Blog

My Cure For Writer's Burnout

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:33:23 -0800

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....

Aww...Now I feel better!

How I Stay Grounded and Relaxed

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:59:17 -0800

"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...

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...

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.

A Fascination With Flowers

Fri, 16 May 2008 01:17:49 -0800

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...

Buy flower photo prints at my online shop!

A Day In the Life of a Blogger

Mon, 05 May 2008 11:20:20 -0800

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!

Making Jewelry: My Creative Process

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:16:39 -0800

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".

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!

A Twitter Haiku

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:47:54 -0800

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 ;)

Have I Told You "Thank You" Lately?

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:33:09 -0800

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.

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!

Digital Art is Exciting Again

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:38:43 -0800

When 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 :)

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

Maria Palma: Designer, Writer, and SEO Geek

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:38:07 -0800

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

Life is Abundant

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:06:41 -0800

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....

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.

Life in California: Something Out of the Ordinary

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:07:47 -0800

Most people think California is all about glamorous celebrities, the beach, easy breezy living, and palm trees. As a long-time resident who has lived in just about every major city in California except for Los Angeles (I vowed "never" to live there, but you never know!), I've traveled up and down this gorgeous state which is home to a wealth of agriculture.

There's a long stretch between San Francisco and Los Angeles which has been torture for me to drive in the past because it's just a straight drive with miles and miles of flat land. Fortunately this past weekend I was a passenger on a trip to Magic Mountain with my family who live in Central California...When lo and behold, I caught a shot of one of those oil drilling thing-a-ma-jiggers...

Not really sure why I was so intrigued by this picture. It's just something out of the ordinary that many tourists don't get to see. Now you know.

And here's a shot of the grape vines which also grow in Central California, but are very common in Napa Valley, of course.

I'm taking a trip to Napa in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for pictures!

It's Time to Publish the Book!

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:43:22 -0800

Although I don't really believe in labeling or giving yourself a title - like for many years I was an "Artist" - I would like to include in my bio the title "Author". I've been visualizing myself sitting with Oprah while she interviews me about my latest "Best Selling" book and this year I've been taking the steps to reach that goal. I've also visualized a publisher approaching me with a million-dollar book deal ;)

For the past several months I've been researching ways to self publish my own book. I've looked at several Online Book Publishing companies like WordClay. I like that WordClay guides you step-by-step through the process of publishing a book, plus they offer marketing and distribution services to help you get the word out.

I've already started on my book. It's going to be a memoir/how-to book of sorts. So if I don't come around here much in the next few months or so, you'll know what I'm doing!

How to Be a Better Blogger

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:26:29 -0800

I’ve been playing hooky. Can you blame me? After all, it’s spring and who wants to be cooped up inside staring at a computer and doing “work”. Besides, it was high time that I take a break from blogging and just follow my bliss.

Yes, I’ve been caught in a blogging rut and this time my cure for it was to visit Balboa Park with my boyfriend…to take in all the nature and soak up some warm sunshine. Of course, I took the camera with me to share some of the beauty with you…

Check out more pictures from my Balboa Park adventure over at my Flickr album.

It’s amazing what a simple change in scenery will do for your creative energy. I’ve now come back to blogging with a clear head. Words are flowing with ease. The voice that used to ask, “Is that sentence really relevant?” has gone bye-bye. Finally, after years of questioning every word…every sentence…I’ve found complete confidence in my writing. I’ve found my unique voice.

To be a better blogger sometimes it’s as simple as stepping away from the computer and going out to play!

Living My Childhood Dreams

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:46:19 -0800

The other day I watched this video that Steve Olson put together where he talks about living your childhood dreams...

My mind went back to when I was 4-years-old and asked my parents for a typewriter. I wanted to be a secretary "when I grow up". Even when some of the keys had fallen off from excessive use, I was still tapping away at that typewriter! Thank God for computers because it was so frustrating to have a typo and have to put white-out on the paper. Then you had to wait for the white out to dry! I'm sure some of you can relate ;)

My aha moment came the other day when I realized that I had taken for granted the fact that I have reached my dream of being a writer! I somehow never did become a secretary...Well, actually, in some ways I did become one because my first job out of high school was working as a telemarketer for an insurance agent. I also answered the phones and entered info into the computer.

Those dreams of being a secretary were replaced with dreams of being my own boss and doing something I love. It was five years ago that I was working at Nordstrom thinking, "Wouldn't it be great if I could be paid to write all day?"

Handmade Easter Greeting Cards Now Available!

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:37:52 -0800

The blooming flowers and chirping birds have inspired these newest Easter handmade greeting cards which I've added to my Etsy shop.

For the full collection of handmade greeting cards, please visit my online greeting card shop

Have you thought about starting your own greeting card business? Check out my Squidoo lens for resources: Start Your Home Based Handcrafted Greeting Card Business