Year-End News and Musings

Can you believe it’s time for a year-end anything?

No matter how I try, this time of the year sneaks up on me.

From the moment I return from another 3-Day Walk for the Cure to the end of the year, life is one big blur.

So I take a deep breath and see what’s been and what’s in store for my year-end news with a dash of Miller musings.

What’s Been

Looking back reveals how much life happens between the bookends of January and December. Both in my personal and professional life. And since this blog is a little bit of both, I’ll share a few business and personal highlights.

Simply Stated Business

I experimented with a different approach to my business communication blog. I developed a year-long theme of an alphabetic journey through business communication.

I started with the letter A
And will end on December 28 with the letter Z
Each letter represents a business communication concept

I have been pleasantly surprised how much I’ve enjoyed this.

I’ve been known to overextend myself on the blog front (you may have noticed). This new theme renewed my enthusiasm and my readers seem to enjoy it as well. A whole lot of sharing has gone on. And I sincerely appreciate that.

Biz Site

When I first started blogging, I knew there was little chance of snagging a domain for CathyMiller. That’s how this blog became MillerCathy.

Quite by accident, I stumbled over the suggestion of using the Biz designation for my domain. I know at one time Biz was viewed as pretty worthless. However, I wanted to redo my business site and could grab the domain CathyMiller.biz. I decided to go for it.

Another pleasant surprise.

I began migrating business-related activities to my Biz site
I purchased a new WordPress theme and redesigned my business site

It’s still a work-in-progress but I have been happy with the results. Perhaps it’s coincidence, but inquiries for my business writing services have been steadily increasing.

Simply Stated Health Care

This has been the year of new looks. For my blogs. Probably the only new look about me are additional wrinkles.

I redesigned my health care blog to a minimalist look. You may have heard I like simple. The health care blog, too, is a work-in-progress.

On the Personal Front

This blog had a facelift as well. I told you it was a year of new looks. Even as I write, I continue to play around with font colors and style.

So don’t worry. It’s me. Not you. Maybe I have commitment issues.

My other personal blog, Why 60 Miles, evolved from my participation since 2003 in the Susan G. Komen, 3-Day, 60-Mile Walk for the Cure. It started as a category on this blog and grew into its own blog.

I also developed an Old Lady Walking Store at Zazzle to help raise money to participate in the 3-Days Walks. I go for Lucky #13 in 2016. With the news this year of a longtime friend being diagnosed with breast cancer, I hope 2016 is better in that regard.

Sadly, both the blog and the store started with a bang but have been nagging me for the lack of attention. You know – that overextended thing.

My mom has had a few health issues, but nothing major. Thank the Lord. There are not too many 92-year-olds who can say that.

What’s in Store

Year-end is for planning, right? Somehow a pattern is developing where my plans are bigger than my doing. But the following are some of those plans.

Redesign Simply Stated Business (hey, it escaped redesign in 2015) – the hope is for a go-to site offering business communication help to businesses of any size – free downloads, templates, ebooks and more
Market biz site – the plan is to step up my marketing and to continue to refine the site
Personal stuff – I hope to carve out time for my personal writing and hope to get a bit more travel time in as well – and, of course, there will be 3-Day Walk #13

Enough rambling on my end. I hope you have a blessed holiday season with much happiness and good health in the New Year. Feel free to share your year-end plans in Comments. We would love to hear them.

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Live…Laugh…Love

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