Keep on hopping!

Debbie Nicholas From Country Heart and Home blog invited me to a blog hop answering questions about my work.

1. What am I working on? 

Quinn McDonald´s latest book: Inner Hero Creative Art Journal: Mixed Media Messages to Silence your Inner Critic for more help on how to deal with my own Inner Critic. Barbie, that´s my IC´s name, has been in full flow these past few days since the book arrived. 

Tried to make peace with her pointing out that she was shown in her full glory on page 16. In the first chapter, no less! All to no avail. 

I met Quinn through an on line friend and became a frequent commenter at Quinn Creative, her blog. Barbie showed up from time to time and we were invited to participate in the book. Yes, Barbie is a text book example of Inner Critic. She is a pro at confusing me and taking me off track.
 

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

According to Quinn´s instructions I will be creating loose leaf pages, a stack of creative responses to Barbie. The pages are loose-leaf so I can choose the Inner Hero who needs to confront the specific attacks. Man! She´s got quite a variety of negative emotions, destructive comments and hurtful directions! By the way of writing exercises I will find the heroes voices and skills. The cards will have writing on one side and an image on the other.
Each of the book´s chapters has two parts, one about an art technique and one about a writing technique. Way cool!

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

I trust Quinn. I have been reading her work for years now and we chatted and emailed a lot. Quinn was the illustrator for my week #37 last year and she also answered an interview about her creative space.

4. How does your writing/creating process work?

The same way I described last week. I procastinate and then work like crazy on everything. That being said, I NEED blocks oftime to work in an effective way with writing and crafting. No hopping like I do for housework or on line work.


And now as part of last Monday´s blog hop from Kim Switzer at MuseCraft let me introduce to you people whose blogs I have started reading recently and that have interested me particularly.

Giada C from Crafty Tasty Geeky I just love the weekly finds posts, both the geeky and the crafty. I like her inquiring nature and her sense of style. And of course the crafty, tasty, geeky combination is irresistible

Natalie from Natalie Patalie because of all the reading suggestions (I´m a librarian) and all the daily pictures (I did that for four years and I toned it down for this round) of her interesting adventures.

I will be bringing you more cool people to meet on a weekly basis! Next Wednesday: three more links to hop to.

Have you named your Inner Critic? That is the first step to recognize him/her and start working with him/her.

2014 Influencer Award

I´ve always been a cheerleader for my friends both locally and on line. This year I upped my game taking my enthusiasm for coolness, fun and kindness to the next level on line. In the first few months of 2014 I was e-ve-ry-where. And then, a mail with these came: 

Can you say "dancing around the house with my arms up high"? Because that is what I did after reading why I had been bestowed this award. ;)

Award recipients are known for doing the following:

• Consistently following link-up rules
• Sharing other bloggers’ content
• Mentioning others by tagging them in appropriate posts
• Leaving thoughtful comments on blogs and social media posts
• Responding to comments/mentions in a timely manner
• Engaging consistently, generously and politely on social networks

Confession time for Paula: it took me a veeeeeery long while to stop being upset with those not following rules. Not only speaking about linkies but generally, in life. Had quite a bit of a breakdown back in 2005 and spent two weeks sitting, staring at a mountain in the Patagonia. I built myself up again from there. Now I can follow the rules, knowing things work better that way and understanding that not everyone rolls like I do. Peace.

Back to the  International Bloggers Association What are IBA Certified Blogs?

Blogs certified by the IBA are held to a high standard for quality content and must:

• Update blogs consistently
• Be mostly original content (not just sponsored reviews and giveaways)
• Be family friendly (not pornographic or containing excessive foul language)
• Be pleasant to look at (not sloppily designed)
• Contain proper spelling and grammar (occasional typos are fine)
• Provide useful information to readers (IBA blogs are not personal diaries)

Honoured and happy that "Happysnappy, a storyteller with a camera" was selected to be part of this. I´m learning so much to make the most of my cyberhome to bring you practical tutorials on organizing, inspiring interviews on creativity, cool tips for on line communication and sharing my corner of the world through photographies.
Let´s keep  in touch! Follow me on my Facebook page here and get on my Twitter for daily inspiration. Big projects are coming on the second half of the year. I´m even planning the first of 2015.

And now as part of last Monday´s blog hop let me introduce to you people whose blogs I have started reading recently and that have interested me particularly.

Giada C from Crafty Tasty Geeky I just love the weekly finds posts, both the geeky and the crafty. I like her inquiring nature and her sense of style. And of course the crafty, tasty, geeky combination is irresistible

Natalie from Natalie Patalie because of all the reading suggestions (I´m a librarian) and all the daily pictures (I did that for four years and I toned it down for this round) of her interesting adventures.

I will be bringing you more cool people to meet on a weekly basis!

Do you participate in blog hops and social media exchanges? Have you ever hosted a linky party? Tell me in the comments. :)

Blog Hop Tour

Kim Switzer is a professional muse. As a Certified Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach she is a practitioner of whimsy who shares her work at MuseCraft. She invited to me to hop along in a great thread of blogs. I´m honoured to have been chosen to take part in this.

Kim asked me questions about my work:


What am I working on?

What I feel is the next stage of my work: my own dot com site! I´m designing the content structure: organizing and planning, creativity (both the theory and the crafting) and social (the interviews and life in general). I have a wall full of sticky notes! 

By the way, my 18 year old son is on the same journey. It is true that we teach by example. Here´s his wall:

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

There are a gazillion sites for youngsters starting their first job/project. There are a trillion blogs for young moms juggling work and home with toddlers. And even a few million for moms with young kids. Now by the time we have teens, we fall out of the market´s target. At least until we reach retirement and our disposable income becomes interesting for marketers again. 

Who is talking to me? And by me I mean a fortysomething woman with teens still at home but who are managing their own planners, pets that are old enough to have vet problems, parents old enough to need extra care and technologies that seem slightly baffling? Not many. So I am stepping in.

I went through hours and hours of training all over the cyberworld, so you don´t have to. I take a theme that looks overwhelming, put all the pieces apart and show you how to put them back together and make them work.

This is not only about cyber content, I wrote a series of "Keep it simple, make it work" articles related to decluttering and organizing your home so you can find more time and space for your own creativity. And many interviews to artists and coaches who share the way they do things which is entertaining and inspiring.


Why do I write/create what I do?

I found this quote a few weeks ago and was totally fascinated by it. I searched the web for the whole poem and I copied parts of it onto scraps of papers that I taped to my walls.
This is very much in line with what I´ve been working on: a map of me and the constants in my life.
How does your writing/creating process work?
I am very much a "Crash and burn" type, which comes right after I procastinated like a pro. Include a headless chicken routine in between and you have an idea of how my life is like. ;)

There are three wonderfully creative persons that I would love to interview: I´ll tell you who they are on Wednesday´s post!