Building It Up

If I have learned anything from writers conferences and other instruction, it’s that writers like me need a platform—a presence on social media, discoverability online, and a horn to toot, so to speak.

That’s all well and good. People have to know who I am, right? Don’t I need to make a name for myself?

The only problem? I am no carpenter. There are times when my platform looks splintered, downright rickety. I wouldn’t trust it to hold a person up for any length of time.

Have I mentioned I am really good at beating a metaphor into the ground?

I admire people who are good at the platform thing–those writers who blog, who post frequently on social media, and who have a knack for getting noticed. One of my goals for this year is to improve in this area, to do more to make myself more discoverable.

The other day I was having a pity party about not having a bigger platform, and I decided to listen to the new Casting Crowns album (Do we even call them albums anymore? Would it be a new release? I am so old), which I acquired a few months ago and have listened to repeatedly.

The first song that came on was “Only Jesus,” about how our only legacy that matters is Jesus and how we make Him known. The next tune was “Nobody,” my favorite, which asserts that we are all “nobodies” trying to tell people about “Somebody” Who can save their souls.

Well, knock me out with a brick, Lord! It’s not about ME–it’s about JESUS. How am I making Him known? How am I highlighting what he has done for me? Getting my name out there really means getting HIS name out there and telling HIS story in a unique way that only I can do.

So I’m getting out my hammer, nails, boards, and the like. I have some platform-building to do. My Best Friend is a carpenter, after all.

Carlton Hughes wears many hats. By day, he’s a professor of communication at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, he does object lessons and songs with motions as Children’s Pastor of Lynch Church of God. In his “spare time,” he is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including Chicken Soup for the Soul and several devotional books from Worthy Publishing—Let the Earth Rejoice, Just Breathe, So God Made a Dog, and the soon-to-be-released Everyday Grace for Men. Carlton and his wife Kathy have two college-age sons, Noah and Ethan. He is on the planning committee for Kentucky Christian Writers Conference and is a year-round volunteer for Operation Christmas child.