Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

Thursday, August 30th, 2018     by Debra DuPree Williams     Start the Conversation


by Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams
Last week I and several of my writer friends attended the North Georgia Christian Writers Conference sponsored by Word Weavers International. Under the direction of Eva Marie Everson and Mark Hancock, it was a great conference and my eighth one. Wow! I have no idea how it became that many. The wonderful thing is—I have learned something new at every single conference I’ve attended.

My first conference was back in 2014, the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. If you’ve read my blog, you will know that it was absolutely a God-incidence that I even wound up there. At that time, I was so naïve and green, I had no clue what I was doing or if I could even call myself a writer. I took a couple of picture books and some silly poems with me. Silly in that they really were silly in content, intentionally. I timidly showed those poems to Michelle Medlock Adams, noted children’s author, and Sally Apokedak, who now has her own literary agency. Am I a writer? That’s all I wanted to know.

God’s Vessel 

I’m still writing which is to say that those two sweet ladies confirmed that I do have some abilities and that I have a unique voice. Believe me when I say, it’s all God. I’m just the vessel He uses for His message. This is the case with all Christian authors.

Fast forward to 2018 and the NGCWC. I had no plans to attend this conference. It was the weekend of our forty-fifth wedding anniversary and we had planned a trip to Suffolk, Virginia, to attend the thirtieth annual Pow Wow of the Nansemond Indian Tribal Association. This was an important event to me since my seven-times-great grandmother was Nansemond. They were having all manner of festivities including drummers and a special dance troupe which I longed to see. But a family circumstance kept me from that event.

A quick trip to Florida to check on a family member took us right past the exit to Toccoa, Georgia, the site of the upcoming NGCWC. My husband said, “You need to go to this. It isn’t that far from home.” Well, we knew we had to see how the situation in Florida panned out before I could say that I would attend. But I texted the director to ask if it was too late to register. She responded with a “Not too late, and how far are you from GSP? Could you pick up Michelle Medlock Adams?” GSP, Greenville Spartanburg Airport, is about forty-five minutes from my home and is on the way to Toccoa. I texted the director back and said, “I’ll give you a tentative ‘yes’ provided things are okay on the home front.”

God’s Grace

So, I wound up at the NGCWC by the grace of God. I took great classes while in Toccoa. The teachers were excellent. Our keynotes were motivational and confirming. And, as is the case with every single writing conference I have attended, I learned something new. It doesn’t matter how many times you take the same or similar classes, because of where you are on your journey, because of the situation of your heart and your mind, you are going to hear things differently each time—and you will learn something new. At least this has been my experience. It seems the more I learn about writing, the more I have learned to listen and grab onto concepts I once found foreign.

One thing I did for this conference was to enter some of my poems in the contests. I had won several prizes in the past for my mystery, Grave Consequences, but I had never considered entering my poetry. There existed not one thought that one of them could possibly win a prize. After all, they were silly poems. Not written for children, but still silly. But one of my poems, A Party to My Confusion, was awarded second place in poetry. No one was more shocked than I. I felt that I had come full circle—from the timid lady who shook as I handed Michelle and Sally my little poems back in 2014, to award-winning, published author.

God’s Call

How did I get there? I stepped out of my comfort zone. I felt a call from God to write. Believe me, I knew I wouldn’t be telling myself that was what I was supposed to be doing. Uh-uh. I was a musician, not a writer. I wrote just to show my kids how to do a poetry assignment. But God was looking over my shoulder the whole time. He was creating a path and opening doors to conferences, to relationships with authors, agents, editors, and publishers. He knew where He wanted me. And I’m having the time of my life.

Have you felt a call to do something that scared you? Did you step out of your comfort zone? Share your experience with us.
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