Every year, sometimes several times a year, I make goals. Many of them I never reach (I understand many other people have this problem). On the other hand, I have achieved some goals. I’m not quite sure why I am able to succeed on some goals and not others. I suspect ease and time are part of it. But I haven’t given up on making them and taking steps (even if its just a few steps) to achieve them.

This year my goals are:

1) Be a better blogger. Its not that I don’t have stuff to write about. Instead its other activities take precedence and by the time I can blog, I’m so sick of sitting at my computer the idea of blogging, no matter how clever my post might be, is not something I can manage. So all blogs – Work-At-Home Success, Pajama Mama Living, Better Living on the Web, Moms At Home Success, and Busy Mama Weight Loss – will have at least 3 posts per week (except for Work-At-Home Success, which will have 5 daily job posts plus at least 3 additional posts) starting January 4, 2010.

2) Be on national TV as a work-at-home expert. Part of me thinks this is too ambitious. After all, I’m a pajama wearing mom in the middle of rural Virginia. On the other hand, I was on a national morning show (The Daily Buzz) in 2009 (not in person but by phone…that counts doesn’t it?). So Oprah, Regis and Kelly, Whoopie, Barbara and gang, Matt, Meredith and the Today Show crew, and even Stephen Colbert (although I’m not sure how well my fragile ego might do with Colbert), if you’re reading I’m available. We can talk scams. We can talk Pajama Mama Living. We can talk about how working at home can help someone keep their house and feed their children. Call me!

3) Finish my first mystery book AND sell it. The finishing part should be fairly easy as its nearly done as it is. It needs a good edit…and possibly a good writer. After that, selling it will be up to the publishing Gods. If only I could have a good dream and karma like Stephanie Meyer.

4) Complete 12 30-day challenges I’ve set up for myself. January’s challenge is to not go back to bed when the kids get on the bus each morning. Other months will include no t.v., exercise everyday, etc. I don’t actually have 12 (one for each month) figured out yet. But I decided this method would be a great way to mix things up and meet goals. I can do anything for 30 days…right?

5) Read one classic a month. I generally pick current genre fiction mostly because I know it will end well. Literature too often ends badly. No redemption. No happy ending. And sometimes they end in death. I don’t want to invest my free time in that. But not all “literature” or classics end badly. On my list to read are books by Jane Austin (I’ve already read P&P, but I haven’t read any others), Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre), Sir Conan Doyle (I’ve never read a Holmes book), Agatha Christie, Bram Stoker (Dracula), Twain (something that wasn’t required in school), Flaubert (maybe not, Madame Bovary ends badly) , Poe,  maybe Dumas, and Orczy (I just finished The Scarlet Pimpernel. I think I’d like to read Eldorado about the Pimpernels rescue of the Dauphin) .  Of course, I retain the right to change my mind and add or remove authors or books from the list.

I also have the traditional lose-20-lbs-double-my-income- goals like everyone else. Boring, I know.

So here’s to another year! What sorts of goals or resolutions do you have?