Setting goals and resolutions seems all the rage these days, and I have decided to enter the meme fashionably late.  I’ve never been one for resolutions.  I don’t believe I even ever got so far as resolving not to make resolutions.  But I do have some goals I have set for myself and I set January 1 as my start date.

1)  Be more productive.

Alright, so that is probably on just about everyone’s list.  But I mean a certain kind of productivity.  I may upset a whole lot of my homeschool mom friends, but let’s face it:  The life of the average suburban housewife is not really that productive.  Now I don’t mean that we don’t do things.  Meaningful things, even.  Especially if you homeschool, or are “just” there for your kids when they walk in the door after school.  But beyond that, I desire to do more than simply care for and continually reposition our belongings.

I desire to be productive…to produce things…to positively benefit the economic well-being of our family.  As in Proverbs 31 productive where I’m assessing the value of vineyards and marketing my wares in the street.  Except I have no plans for doing either, exactly.  Instead, I’m focusing on three areas of productivity:

• Saving money through being a little more conscientious about our purchases.
• Earning money through writing and other ventures down the road.
• Producing a portion of our family’s food on our land.

2)  Write more seriously.

Barring the unforeseen, which unfortunately I cannot bar, I should have more time to resume regular blogging.  I have missed being an active participant in the homeschool blogging community and am looking forward to getting back into reading and writing and discussing regularly again.  But I have plans beyond that.  Plans for which this blog will be a supporting influence rather than a distracting one.

I have outlines for a few e-books I would like to finally finish and publish.  I would like to query a few magazines with some article ideas I have.  Most of all, I would like to begin working on a book idea.  I somewhat enthusiastically set a one year goal on the project awhile back, but if I’m to complete it in a single year, I doubt it will be this one.  But I still can begin.

And I’m pleased to announce I have taken a tremendous step outside my comfort zone already in this area and joined my first professional writer’s association.  I am now a proud member of the Nebraska Writer’s Guild.  Well, I sent off my money, anyway.  Paid for by the little bit I earned from the ads running on my old blog.  I am so excited for the opportunity to meet with other writers, learn from their experience and hone my craft a bit.

3)  Be more involved.

We’re moving to the country and undertaking a lifestyle change.  One challenge for me will be to get involved in the community, especially since I cannot even see the neighbor’s from our house.  It will be far too easy for me to keep myself occupied with the work on our land, allowing the daily chores to eat up the time to get to know the people around us.  I want to get involved with the little community center and shop at the hardware store on the main street.  I want to get to know the people around us, and I really, really hope to get to know our neighbors well enough that they feel comfortable just dropping by to say hi.  After all, I have these great built in benches in the kitchen which seem made for an afternoon chat over coffee.

We’ll see how it goes.  After all, that is a lot for a single year, though I haven’t exactly set any deadlines. Do you have any goals or resolutions for the year?  Feel free to drop the link to your relevant post if you’ve already blogged about them because I’d love to read them!