Meet Steven Williams

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Steven Williams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Steven below.

Steven, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

This is honestly a very tricky question to answer. If someone were to ask if me if I was confident in my abilities, I would say it depends. For example, if someone asked me if I was confident in ability to perform surgery, I would say “no”. But if someone asked me if I was confident in my ability to be mayor of a city, I would say “yes”. Both being a surgeon and a mayor are difficult jobs, with the result of failure being catastrophic, however, I am confident I could do one role and not the other. So as stated, my confidence in my ability to do something depends on what that thing is I’m doing. My confidence stems from me having tried and tried again to succeed in a space I’m passionate about. I love writing and I love public policy. I care deeply about both areas of interest. And because I care so deeply about writing and public policy, I have worked hard to learn as much as I can about each area and as I have learned, my confidence in my own ability has grown. So, I think to answer the question of “how did I develop my confidence and self-esteem”, I would say that I leaned into spaces that I was interested in and therefore, each failure was not a ding to my ego, but rather a lesson learned and with each lesson learned, my confidence in my own ability grew. I have no desire to be a surgeon (I’m not good with blood and guts), so I never bothered to learn anything about the field and as a result have zero confidence in myself to be a good surgeon. I do, however, have a lot of interest in public policy and have studied the field for years and thus I am confident I could be a mayor. The same goes for writing. I am confident I could one day write a masterpiece because I spend every waking moment thinking about my stories. I think I have rambled enough at this point, so I’ll just say for me, confidence is rooted in genuine interest in something.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Well first and foremost, I am an author – a fantasy author to be specific. I’ve been writing for years, with the goal of one day being traditionally published. In 2021 it finally happened. Sunbury Press, which is an indie press located in Pennsylvania, published my debut novel “Skadi”. “Skadi” is a Norse Mythology based sword and sorcery fantasy about a Viking named Skadi Hervor who must defend the town of Fensalir from a monster that eats children. Since that first book, Sunbury Press has published two additional books in my Norse fantasy series – the second was called “Thyra” and the third is a follow up to the first book, called “Skadi and the Geats”. I have three more books planned in the series. I’m not sure what I find more joy in, writing the stories, or hearing from the folks who read them and enjoy them. But the whole process, from start to finish is a ton of fun. To be honest, I was not sure how my books would be received when Sunbury first sent me a contract. I was nervous that my books were too action-focused, but it would seem all age groups and men and women really like them. Obviously, my books are not for everyone – someone who hates fantasy is perhaps not going to get the most out of my books, but those who do like them seem to really like them and that feels great. I also love that I get to craft stories and worlds from scratch. Yes, my books are based on Norse Mythology but the stories and the characters I focus on are my own and creating like that scratches an itch that is hard to explain. I’m overjoyed I get to create like this, and that people seem to be having a good time with me.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Earlier, you asked about confidence and that was a tough question to answer. This one, however, is not so difficult. The three qualities that were and remain to be the most important to my journey are as follows: open-mindedness, persistence, and patience. Open-mindedness because I have to be willing to take in new information and be malleable. The only constant in life is change and I have to be able to adapt to changing circumstances and new ideas. Persistence, because I cannot give up on my goals at the first sign of resistance. There is absolutely nothing in life worthwhile that comes easy and persistence is what it will take to make my goals a reality. Patience, because like I said, goals that are worthwhile take time. I have to be willing to stick it out for the long-haul and not rush the process. For those of you early in your journey, I would say prioritize patience. We live in a world where instant gratification is seemingly prioritized, but it is the slow-cooked meal that tastes the best. Take your time and really work on your craft. Be proud of the work you put in and hone your skills. The thing you make will have real staying power if you take your time to create. Then I would say, practice small victories. You can have one big goal but break it up into much smaller ones and try to achieve them. This will teach you persistence. It can be daunting to focus on just the big goal, but success and failure on smaller goals will teach you how to become more persistent and combined with patience, eventually you’ll tackle that big goal. Then when it comes to being openminded, I say read a lot. Don’t just watch videos or play games, sit down and read a book, a magazine, or a comic. Just read – it works your brain in a way that nothing else quite does. I’m not a scientist and I cannot back up that claim with facts, but I can say, I always feel more satisfied, having finished reading a book as opposed to watching a movie and I always find more to think about after that book as opposed to that movie. If you do what I just stated, you’ll find your way – it might be on a varied timescale, but you will find it for sure.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Yes, I am absolutely looking for folks to partner with or collaborate with. I want to make a comic book. That has been my goal in life since I was a kid. In fact, my first stories were comic books, they weren’t novels. So, if there are illustrators out there who would be willing to work on a comic with me, I am willing to connect. You can reach out to me via email, Instagram, my website or even Facebook.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

First Book Launch: Hannah Lauver
Book Covers: Derek Thornton
Scholar Event Pictures: Cory Smith
Headshot: Ryan Razon

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Productivity
Where do you get your work ethic from?

We’ve all heard the phrase “work hard, play hard,” but where does our work ethic

Productivity
Tactics & Strategies for Keeping Your Creativity Strong

With the rapid improvements in AI, it’s more important than ever to keep your creativity

Productivity
From Burnout to Balance: The Role of Self-Care

Burning out is one of the primary risks you face as you work towards your