Let’s Get Serious (For Once)

I hope you, loyal readers of Almost An Author, will bear with me as I get serious this month.

I know it’s a big change. I’m not the most serious person in the world, either in person or on paper (on screen, for you techie people). I love to laugh and to make people laugh. Things are just different this month.

Right after I submitted last month’s blog post at the end of July, my region of Eastern Kentucky was hit with a devastating flood. The immediate area where I currently live was spared, but the neighboring county, where I grew up and where many family and friends live, got hit extremely hard.

People are calling it a 1,000-year flood. I call it a tragedy of epic proportions.

Lives were lost. Homes, businesses, and vehicles were washed away in a blink of an eye. Many schools were heavily damaged or outright destroyed. My college has a campus in the affected area, and one of our buildings was ravaged by the waters.

I have seen decimated places that I never, in my lifetime, thought would ever flood. I have driven by schools that were once vibrant places of learning but are now in ruins, with destroyed desks and equipment piled up in a muddy mess. At least one public library, a relatively new facility, was practically wiped out.

My heart goes out to these people—MY people.

My “teacher heart” aches for my fellow educators who had their classrooms decorated, stocked, and ready for students. Many now have no idea when they will be back in their schools and how they will replace what is lost. I could go on and on.

I know readers of this blog are more than “almost authors.” You are true writers, actual authors, and good, compassionate people. I treasure this community, as I do my hurting community back home.

As for a call to action, I ask, if you are a praying person, that you pray for these people and communities who have experienced unspeakable losses. God knows the situation, and He will restore . . . in His way, in His timing.

There are collection drives for books and supplies to restock schools and libraries in the affected areas. If you are so led to help, feel free to contact me at carltonwhughes@gmail.com, and I can connect you with the right organizations. Please do not feel obligated—only if you want to help.

Bubbly, funny Carlton will return next month. Stay tuned.

Carlton Hughes, represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary, wears many hats. By day, he is a professor of communication. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, he serves as a children’s pastor. In his “spare time,” he is a freelance writer. Carlton is an empty-nesting dad and devoted husband who likes long walks on the beach, old sitcoms, and chocolate—all the chocolate. His work has been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dating Game, The Wonders of Nature, Let the Earth Rejoice, Just Breathe, So God Made a Dog, and Everyday Grace for Men. His latest book is Adventures in Fatherhood, co-authored with Holland Webb.