Gotta Have Goals

It’s a new year, and we all know what that means: resolutions! Love them or hate them, we all make them.

I have resolved to lose weight for the last 45 or so New Years. I’ve had success here and there, but I am reminded of my favorite quote from Erma Bombeck:

“In two decades I’ve lost a total of 789 pounds. I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.”

Pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?

I have been thinking about resolutions as a writer and have decided to call them “goals” instead. That might give me more of an incentive to complete them:

GOAL ONE: Establish a better writing routine. I tend to be one of those “pantsers,” who writes by the seat of my pants without a plan. I’m still that way, but I hope to be more consistent with daily/weekly writing.

GOAL TWO: Finish what I started. I have a few projects that have been stuck in limbo, and I need to finish those. My agent and collaborators will applaud this one.

GOAL THREE: Pray over my projects. Sometimes I try to push through, forgetting the spiritual side. Without God, my writing will go nowhere. What’s the point if He’s not in the center?

GOAL FOUR: Eat less, exercise more. WHOOPS—wrong set of goals! However, the healthier I am, the better everything goes.

There they are, my goals in black and white. Maybe having them in print, in public, will motivate me. Now watch me as I write while avoiding Hershey Bars.

Carlton Hughes is a professor of communication at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, children’s pastor at Lynch Church of God, freelance writer, husband to Kathy, and father to Noah and Ethan. He enjoys long walks on the beach (He really does!), photography, and classic sitcoms like I Love Lucy. Hughes has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Simple Little Words, and several devotional books from Worthy Publishing–The Wonders of Nature, Just Breathe, So God Made a Dog, Let the Earth Rejoice, and the forthcoming Everyday Grace for Men. He is on the planning committee and serves as a faculty member for Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. Hughes is a true blue fan of Kentucky Wildcats Basketball and loves to cook and bake, especially anything involving chocolate.