Setting Goals

By Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes

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As a new year unfolds, many of us may sense the need to set objectives for our writing, regardless of whether we’re novices or experienced. There’s also a business aspect to our writing careers, which requires us to focus on how we present ourselves. To achieve this, we may need to polish our editing skills, improve our social media presence, attend conferences to network, and stay updated on the latest market trends.

We can inspire and uplift our readers through writing, providing them hope, guidance, and encouragement. However, doing this requires more than talent and passion. We need a clear understanding of where we’re going and a well-defined plan. This includes identifying our target audience, developing a marketable brand, building a platform, and engaging with our readers through various channels. We should be willing to continually grow and improve our craft, seeking feedback and guidance and staying current with the latest trends and techniques in the industry. With dedication and perseverance, we can achieve great success as writers and positively impact our readers.

Setting goals is a crucial aspect of our journey as authors. It helps us to stay focused and keeps us motivated and accountable for our progress. By aligning our objectives with our values, we can ensure our efforts are directed toward what matters. To help us, here are tips to keep in mind while creating goals that are in line with our values:

1. Seek guidance: Starting with a strong foundation is essential. Whether seeking clarity on a specific goal or looking for general direction in life, mentors can be a powerful tool for gaining insight and inspiration. Before starting anything new, it’s wise to seek guidance from those with more experience and ask for help from them to lead us forward.

2. Establish a clear vision: Clearly define what we want to achieve. Once we comprehensively understand our end goal, we should write specific things we want to achieve. This should be measurable and achievable to track our progress and stay motivated. Setting clear and attainable objectives usually increases the chances of success and allows us to prioritize our focus.

3. Align goals with our values: It’s vital to ensure our objectives align with our beliefs to share our message with the world effectively. This means that before embarking on any writing project, we should take the time to reflect on our values and beliefs and ensure our aspirations are aligned. This way, we can create content that resonates with our audience and positively impacts the world. Ultimately, our writing should be guided by our desire to make a difference in the lives of those who read our work.

4. Break down goals into smaller steps: When we create aspirations for ourselves, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. However, we can make them more achievable by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable steps. We must create a detailed plan outlining specific actions to move closer to our aim. By breaking things down this way, we can feel more in control of our progress and motivated to keep going, even when faced with challenges.

5. Hold ourselves accountable: To take responsibility for achieving our goals, we set objectives and hold ourselves accountable to them. Another key tactic is to schedule regular check-ins with ourselves and those we trust to evaluate our progress and determine whether we are on track to reaching our desired outcomes. Through this action, we can identify areas we may need to adjust our approach or put in extra effort to stay on target.

6. Celebrate our success: Celebrating small achievements along the way helps to reinforce positive behavior and maintain our motivation to continue working toward our targets. We can learn from our failures by reflecting on what went wrong and using this information to improve our strategies. Adopting a growth mindset and viewing failures as opportunities for growth can turn setbacks into stepping stones toward success.

As writers, we can accomplish unprecedented success and leave an indelible mark on the world through our words. By setting goals, channeling our creative potential into our literary endeavors, and dedicating ourselves wholeheartedly to our craft, we can make meaningful contributions to society. Let’s relentlessly strive with unwavering passion and dedication to create works that inspire, motivate, and transform lives. Let’s unleash our full potential and reach the pinnacle of our literary journeys, leaving a legacy that’ll inspire future generations.

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Author, speaker, educational consultant, and editor–Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes, Ed. D., has had her hand in leadership for many years. She loves speaking to groups, delivering messages with quick wit and real-life stories. Katherine is a freelance writer/content editor, a content editor/writing coach for Iron Stream Media and a sensitivity reader for Sensitivity Between the Lines. She is a review board member and contributor to Inkspirations (an online magazine for Christian writers) and her writing has been published in Guideposts. Her work in art/writing is distinguished by awards including the New York Mayor’s Contribution to the Arts, Outstanding Resident Artist of Arizona, and the Foundations Awards at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer’s Conference (2016, 2019, 2021). She is a member of Word Weavers International and serves as an online chapter president and mentor. She belongs to FWA (Florida Writers Association), ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers), CWoC (Crime Writers of Color), AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association), and AASA (American Association of School Administrators). She serves on the board for the nonprofit organization Submersion 14 and is an art instructor for the nonprofit organization Light for the Future. Katherine is the host of the podcast Murder, Mystery & Mayhem Laced with Morality. She has authored a Christian Bible study for women and is currently working on the sequel and prequel to her first general market thriller novel, “A Fifth of the Story.”

The Real Professor Moriarty

By Bradley Harper

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Professor Moriarty

Batman has the Joker, Superman battles Lex Luthor, and Sherlock Holmes faced Professor Moriarty. A hero is often defined by their nemesis, the villain who is their equal in every way and who, given one or two different choices in their life, could have been the hero.

During a transatlantic crossing, Arthur Conan Doyle fell into conversation with William Pinkerton and first heard of the real “Napoleon of Crime,” Adam Worth, though he bore many names during his life. Worth was a German American who fought briefly for the Union Army during the Civil War, faked his death during the second Battle of Bull Run, and for the remainder of the war enlisted in one regiment after another, pocketing the enlistment bonus of $1,000, then deserting to enlist into another regiment.

Once the war ended, he initially turned to pickpocketing and became quite accomplished. Not lacking in ambition, however, he soon branched out to bank robbery and became so successful he began planning and bankrolling the robberies himself. After breaking into a Boston bank from an adjoining shop, however (which calls to mind the plot of The Red-Headed League), and stealing cash and securities valued at $200,000, he fled to England with the Pinkertons in hot pursuit. 

Adam Worth

Worth adopted the name Henry J. Raymond, settled in London, and lived a lavish lifestyle which included running a string of racehorses and sailing in his steam yacht. His home became the meeting place of the leading thieves of America and Europe and a clearing house, or “receiver,” for most of the big robberies in Europe. In the latter 70s, and all during the 80s, one major theft followed another that implicated Adam Worth, but his involvement could never be proven.

Worth’s greatest crime was the theft of Thomas Gainsborough's painting of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, painted in the mid-1780s. It had been stolen before, but resurfaced in the 1830s and, after passing through various owners, was purchased in 1876 for 10,000 guineas by art dealer William Agnew. Agnew put it on display in his gallery, from where Worth and his henchmen stole it on the night of Thursday, the 25th of May 1876.

Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

When Worth saw the painting, he fell in love with it and decided to use it to bail an associate out of jail.  He intended to either sell the portrait or use it to force the owners of the gallery from which it had been stolen to pay the bail for his colleague. 

But the prisoner was released before Worth had a chance to contact the gallery, and Worth was left holding a portrait too well known to sell and that he wanted to keep for himself anyway. At the time, nobody knew who had taken the picture, though rumors pointed the finger at Worth. In 1892, he was arrested in Belgium for a botched robbery and sentenced to seven years hard labor.  While in prison, he was approached with offers of freedom if he would return the Gainsborough, but he always denied any knowledge of the painting. 

In 1899 after being released from prison, broken in health and penniless, Worth contacted William Pinkerton, agreeing to meet with him in America to discuss the disposition of the portrait, and ultimately it was returned for $25,000. When the picture was put up for sale in London shortly thereafter, J. P. Morgan purchased it for $150,000.  In 1994 it was purchased by the llth Duke of Devonshire and Georgiana now resides "at home" in the Chatsworth House collection.

After his return to England, Worth lived a quiet life with his two children until his death in 1902.  Unlike Holmes' Moriarty, Worth was completely opposed to violence. William Pinkerton described Worth in a posthumous pamphlet (Adam Worth, alias ‘Little Adam’, 1904) 

In all his criminal career, and all the various crimes he committed, ... he was always proud of the fact that he never committed a robbery where the use of firearms had to be resorted to, nor had he ever escaped, or attempted to escape from custody by force or jeopardizing the life of an official, claiming that a man with brains had no right to carry firearms, that there was always a way, and a better way, by the quick exercise of the brain.

Whether Worth was the model for Moriarty, it is clear that he was, like Doyle's creation, a master criminal sitting at the center of a web of crime in London.  Unlike Moriarty, he spent time in prison and was loyal to friends.  As Pinkerton comments in his pamphlet, "this man was the most remarkable criminal of them all."

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Bradley Harper is a retired US Army Colonel and pathologist who has performed over two-hundred autopsies and some twenty forensic death investigations. A life-long fan of Sherlock Holmes, he did intensive research for his debut novel, A Knife in the Fog, which involved a young Doctor Conan Doyle in the hunt for Jack the Ripper, including a trip to London’s East End with noted Jack the Ripper historian Richard Jones. Harper’s first novel was published in October 2018 and was a finalist for a 2019 Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel by an American Author and is a Recommended Read by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate.

Knife went on to win Killer Nashville’s 2019 Silver Falchion as Best Mystery. The audio book, narrated by former Royal Shakespearean actor Matthew Lloyd Davies, won Audiofile Magazine’s 2019 Earphone award for Best Mystery and Suspense. The book is also available in Japan via Hayakawa Publishing.

His second novel, Queen’s Gambit, involving a fictional assassination attempt on Queen Victoria, Won Killer Nashville’s 2020 Silver Falchion Award twice, once for Best Suspense, and again as Book of the Year.