The ideas include a summary post, a best of reads and feeds, annual appreciation post, and a humorous year end post.  She ends with a suggestion for those without enough time to do much on their blog.

Click here for more detail and inspiration.  I encourage you to subscribe to her blog as she has many useful tips for bloggers.

Here’s the format I’m currently using:

• List 25 Accomplishments from last year
• Choose my top five accomplishments
• List three ways I have grown over the last year
• What didn’t I do that I wanted to do or should have done
• What I need to change
• Contemplations & prayers as the New Year begins
• Goal ideas for the New Year

Understandably, this can take a while to work through.  I find it satisfying for several reasons and worth the work:

• It reminds me that I did in fact accomplish a lot despite all that remains undone
• I review it frequently for encouragement and as a reminder of what needs change
• It helps me prioritize my time better

I also write a long entry in my journal that I title “The Year In Review”.  It’s different than the 25 Accomplishments – those are the things I got done during the year, big and small.  The year in review is more of a recording and rant, bringing closure to the year.  It’s a letter to myself – what went right, what went wrong, people I interacted with (good and bad), and it becomes a recording of my life in hindsight.  Those can be painful to reread later, but they are cathartic and clear my mind for the days to come.

Do I finish this all by New Year’s Eve?  Sometimes, but usually not.  I like to do the accomplishments by then, as it’s a good way to start the New Year.  The Year In Review sometimes doesn’t get done until later in January.  I keep notes as to what I’d like to put into it, which makes it easier to put together when I finally have time.

Here are some examples from last year:

Accomplishments From Last Year (2011) - parts of this post were excerpted from there

2011 Blog In Review - my public “Year In Review”

Here’s what Paige is inviting you to participate in doing:

Celebrating Women

My plan today was to put up a post highlighting accomplishments achieved in February and new “stretches” coming my way for March. In my quest for a piece of clip art I learned that it is Women’s History Month with a specific emphasis on education and empowerment in 2012. This of course has my juices flowing. My passion and purpose in life is to empower women. For me this is exhibited through my work as a nurse helping women with cancer and most recently my involvement with the organization Dress for Success.

The purpose of Women’s History Month is to increase consciousness and knowledge of women’s history: to take one month of the year to remember the contributions of notable and ordinary women, in hopes that the day will soon come when it’s impossible to teach or learn history without remembering these contributions.

Anyway I thought it would be fun to invite my readers to participate in a month long celebration of women’s history.

If you would like to participate you could simply once a week or more often if you choose write a post on a women of history.

Some ideas to get YOUR juices flowing…

Maybe she is one you know a lot about already or perhaps one you would like to dig into a little deeper. My friend over at Stopping the Wind recently used a quote by Helen Keller to get her out of her slump.

Or you could head over to Women’s History Month and check out the daily celebration and write accordingly.

Perhaps my photo blog followers have pictures and stories of women they would like to share…

How about my poetry followers sharing a little on their favorite woman poet…

Or maybe my fellow healthcare/conscience bloggers would like to give health facts important to improving women’s lives…

This may require you to stretch beyond you comfort zone, so be it…

I hope you will join in the Celebration. I will try to have a widget to use soon(no promises here though as it is beyond my current skills).

[From Nancy - Paige would love to know if you post about a notable woman / women.  Leave her a link at The Authentic Me to let her know what you did.]

I was pleasantly surprised to see how this helped my blog writing as well for the same reasons as it helped my photography – it gave me something to write about.

As time went on, I grew more comfortable that my readers were interested in hearing about my trips, seeing pictures of what I saw, and short write-ups of where I stayed and what I did.  This insight came gradually to me and I missed several opportunities to share.

The great thing about taking a field trip is that is takes you out of your comfort zone.  You see things fresh and different.  There are new experiences to be had, both big and small.  Sometimes, you simply come home more grateful for what you have.

I wrote up posts using my observations while walking.  I also wrote about:

• Where we stayed and why
• What I liked about our accomodations
• Other points of interest, including historical notes

I didn’t just take overnight trips.  I also went to local points of interest.  I shared with my readers about seeing the Elvis Exhibit, walking in the botanical gardens, and going shopping downtown.

If it is interesting to you, it can be made interesting to your readers.  It might be something they haven’t seen before or seen recently.  There might be interesting tidbits that you can share.  The big thing is – why do YOU think it’s interesting?  Your passion can make any topic interesting to share.

Not every trip is successful of course.  I didn’t write up about the restaurants that were terrible, the backroad that scraped the paint off our new car or how we bottomed out on the same road.  In hindsight, I probably should have shared some of that, using humor to poke fun at myself.  We all enjoy discovering that others do the same stupid things we do and your readers will find it amusing too.

So if you find your ideas are running out, get out of the house for a while.  Look around you – notice, observe, take notes and photos.  You don’t want to a dry, boring recitation.  You want to show why you enjoy a change of pace so others can enjoy it with you.

A first draft should be written from the heart, getting out your emotions and passion.  But while editing it is helpful to have some suggestions to ensure your post tells a good story.

Here are some ideas to enhance the tale about your walk:

• Where were you?
• Why were you there?
• When were you there - date / time / season?
• What was the weather like?
• What were you thinking about at the beginning of the walk?  Partway through the walk?  At the end of the walk?
• What did you see?  What were the colors, shapes, textures?
• Did you smell anything?  Can you describe it?
• What did you hear or not hear?  Was it what you expected?  What made the noise?  Could you see it?
• What did you feel?  What was underfoot, was your face in the wind / sun, were you hot / cold, comfortable / uncomfortable?
• What were your emotions?  Why?
• Did you solve any problems during your walk?  What were they?  What solutions did you think up?
• Did any quotes or Bible verses come to mind as you walked?
• Were there any birds?  Bugs?  Animals?
• Who did you see?  What were they doing?  What, if anything, did you say to each other?

There are many other things that can be added to this list.

Use details and be concrete in your descriptions.  The post shouldn’t be overly long or excessively detailed, but neither should it be vague.  You want to engage reader, so they feel they are walking with you and enjoying your company for a few minutes.

Feel free to leave other ideas in the comments.  What do you write about when you take a walk?

I asked Kate to share some thoughts for readers to try in recording their own lives in the love of work and love for and from people.  Her questions for you to consider come first, then she has reproduced her post below.

One last comment about Kate – she is also the creator of the Candle Lighter Award, used to recognize blogs and bloggers who bring light into the darkness of the world.  You don’t have to receive it to give it away and it be given any number of times.  Please check it out.

Here’s from Kate:

How long have you been aware that you are loved? What circumstances built that awareness? What love have you received? In what ways does love affirm you? What is the difference between the love you feel for the work you do and the love you feel from others?

On December 31, 2011, I wrote:

We were loved before we existed

“The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.” ― Charles Dickens

An old friend of mine posted the above quote on his Facebook wall. Now, I absolutely love Charles Dickens’ writing. I always have. Of course, this time of year most people DO love Dickens–especially The Christmas Carol. The above quote truly reminds me of God, of course. He loved us before we were born. He loved the entire human race before He began to create it. There was never a time when He did not love me. Ever. On a bad or down day that is especially reassuring.

I think about my son and know that I have loved him from the moment I knew he was formed. God loved him even before that. It is life-affirming to know that one has always been loved. Yes, there are times when we feel lost, alone, lonely, or perhaps even abandoned. But we must remind ourselves at those times that it is an illusion. We are not alone. God has not left us. He never will. He is steadfast, loyal, and true.

By this point in my life I have some friends that I have known for decades. They are spread out all over the country, because I have moved many times. I had a phone conversation with my friend, Renee the other day. She lives in Ohio and we met the fall of our freshman year of college. We rarely get to see each other, and don’t even get to talk on the phone very often. But when we do, the decades apart just fall away. I said to her the other day….do you know we have been friends for close to 40 years? [yeh, I'm getting up there, right? I've even known her longer than I've known my husband!]. She paused. She said ['you know, i can no longer remember a time in my life when we weren't friends']. She is right, of course. I cannot remember a time when we weren’t friends. Many of my other dear close girlfriends have been friends since my son was tiny. He is a grown man now. One of my other girlfriends has been a friend of mine since we were in junior high. We aren’t in regular close contact except through our blogs. But she is in my heart. Friendships are such a gift. It is just so life-affirming to have friends…to have love.

My girlfriends around the country know me warts and all. I am a full-disclosure kind of gal. It is too hard to maintain pretenses and masks. I figure if people are going to reject the ‘real me’ I would rather know about it sooner than later. I have been lucky, and blessed. Friendships have been showered upon me. I don’t mean I was in the ‘popular crowd’. I wasn’t in that group. But in my youth group at church, speech team at school, and various other community involvement type groups I had friendships that mattered to me…kindred spirits. That was in my teen years. In college I found kindred spirits–always at JUST the right time. God continued to provide love, friendship, hugs, kindred spirits. That has continued to this day.

Why has He been so kind and generous with me? Oh that is SO easy to answer. He expects me to pass that love on. He expects me to make a difference in the world. He expects me to give 100 times more than I receive. How do I develop the strength to do that? Again…easy to answer. I ask the source of all my strength….God. He loves to help me help others. He loves to do the same for each of us. He has truly loved us before we existed (and ever since).

2011 has been a banner year. We have had suffering, illness, loss, difficulties, challenges, and mountaintop glorious days, weeks, and moments. I thank God for each person I have encountered (face-to-face, by phone, email, and in the blogging world). May God continue to bless us abundantly. I am a perennial optimist. I shall continue to light a candle in the darkness. I shall not curse the darkness. I shall light it up as much as I can.

My post here did that.  It just happened, something I felt like doing.  My writing was simple.

Others though have told deeper stories with their walks.

The Simple Life of a Countryman’s Wife had a fantastic post about walking, that evolved into a remembrance of the past.

The Smitten Image did “Think of a Tree“, which showed pictures of her walk set to various quotes.  It too was very powerful.

The next time you wonder what to write about, share your day.  Tell us what you see.  It’s far more interesting than you realize.

Check out this later post for a checklist of things to consider including when writing about your walk.

At the bottom is link to Pam’s post where she has her own answers.  She’d LOVE to hear from all of you how you answered these questions for yourself.  It’s only January 6 today – it’s not too late to look back at last year and leave a record of it for your future self.  It’s easier to do now than to remember five years from now!

From Pam:

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’ve never done before?

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year?

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

4. Did anyone close to you die?

5. What countries did you visit?

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

7. What date from 2011 will remain etched in your memory and why?

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

9. What was your biggest failure?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

11. What was the best thing you bought?

12. Where did most of your money go?

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

14. Compared to this time last year are you:

a. Happier or sadder?

b. Thinner or fatter?

c. Richer or poorer?

15. What do you wish you’d done more of?

16. What do you wish you’d done less of?

17. How did you spend Christmas?

18. Did you fall in love in 2011?

19. What was your favourite TV show?

20. What was the best book you read?

21. What was your greatest musical discovery of 2011?

22. What did you want and get?

23. What did you want and not get?

24. What was your favourite film this year?

25. What did you do on your birthday?

26. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

27. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

28. What kept you sane?

29. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

30. What political issue stirred you the most?

31. Who did you miss?

32. Who was the best new person you met?

33. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

34. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

I answered these questions on my own post here.

Why not link up with Nancy with your own answers and we can compare notes? I’d love to hear from you!