Review: The Temple of the Crystal Timekeeper

Chit Chatting with Naomi D. Nakashima 

Interviewed by: Jill Sheets

 J: Tell us about yourself and how you got your start writing?

N: I actually couldn’t tell you how I got my start in writing—I just always remember writing. I know there have been a couple of pivotal moments that have helped shape my career, like when I was nine years old, watching Romancing the Stone, that’s when I knew the kind of impact an author could have on people. Or in my last year at grad school, several of my professors had asked for my help with writing and publishing their books, and that’s how I learned I have a real knack for helping people tell their stories.

J: Tell us about your book, "Write Out Loud," and how did you come up with the idea for the book?

N: I have actually wanted to write a book that would help other people learn a bit more about how to write a book for a really long time, it’s been sitting in a pile with other works in progress for years. But then last year, as I was closing in on my 20th anniversary as a ghostwriter, I realized that I wanted to do something big to celebrate. Something that really marked that milestone. And, after 20 years of helping people write and publish their books, I have heard just about every fear, struggle, and obstacle that blocks authors, especially new authors. So it felt like the right time to take everything I had learned over the past 20 years that has helped my clients get over those fears and write their books, and put them all together into a book that can help a new generation of authors come up and share their stories.

J: What is your writing process?  Do you outline, or do you start to write?

N: I am what I call a recovering Pantser. I used to hate planning ahead of time, I felt like it would restrict my creativity somehow. But overtime, especially as I started working more and more with clients, I have found that planning is actually a way for me to unleash my creativity better, and it actually works with my brain a little more easily so I don’t feel like I’m fighting with the words trying to figure them out as much. So now I do start with a bit of an outline, it’s not always a full outline, but it does usually have my key points. Whenever I feel a little bit stuck, I revisit the outline, and that usually helps me figure out what I was trying to do in the first place, so I can really easily get unstuck. And doing it this way helps me have the flexibility that I need to feel creative, but still gives me the structure that I need to actually finish.

J: What advice would you give someone thinking about writing a book/s?

N: Whenever someone asks me what my best advice would be for a new writer, I always tell them “write the book.“ Whatever you do, do not forget to write your book. I know that it sounds trite, it doesn’t even really sound like advice. But I hear from authors all the time about how they started writing their book and then before they knew it, they were completely overwhelmed. They started getting advice about marketing and hiring editors and alpha readers and trying to figure out how to get agents or self publishing and all of these things were flying at them and they would get overwhelmed and shut down or lose confidence or lose hope because it felt so big all of a sudden. And, you know, it is big; but it doesn’t have to be big at the beginning. You can just write the book, and everything else can come after. You can’t do anything until your book is written now, so that has to be your focus.

J: When can someone call themselves a writer?

N: This is always such a great question because it’s one of the biggest fears that people have. And being a writer, or an artist, or any other type of creative profession, it’s so different because it’s more than just a title that we earn or grab, right? It becomes a part of our identity in a way that other professions don’t. And I think it’s important to recognize your persona as a writer or as an author as early in the process as possible. So, to me, you are a writer the minute you start writing with the intention that the writing will contribute to your livelihood in a meaningful way. Does not necessarily mean that it will become your full-time income or your only income, or even profitable, but that you have the intention that it will contribute to your life in that meaningful way, in a way that will impact who you are. And you are an author when you start writing a story, real or imagined, with the intention of putting that story through a formal publishing process, whether it be a traditional publisher or self publishing. These two terms are not necessarily interchangeable, not all authors identify as being writers, and not all writers would identify it as being an author, especially if you’re more a writer for hire, or if your writing is for a blog or something like that. But, either way, the title basically comes to you once you start doing the thing and adopt it into your identity.

J: How can one get through writer's block? 

N: Writer's block can be tough because I think there are so many different things that can block an author, and the block can manifest in different ways. Sometimes, authors will stare at the screen, and they know what they want to say, but they can’t figure out what the right words are, or they feel like the words they’re using just can’t do their story justice. And in cases like these, the block is based on a fear of judgment, but it’s manifesting in a type of imposter syndrome or perfectionism. In which case, the best way to get through it is to prove the imposter syndrome is wrong and work on perfectionism; understand that your first draft is not what is going to be published, or even read, you will have a chance to edit and fix anything before anyone else reads it. On the other hand, some people have tons of ideas and motivation at all the wrong times, and then when they sit down at their laptop to start writing, they can’t remember them or they do remember them, but they no longer feel excited about them or they can’t seem to make the words work while they’re in front of the computer, like they can belt out that idea they had, but then from there they don’t know what comes next anymore, and their brain stops giving them new ideas. In these cases, setting up a writing routine and doing that writing routine every time you want to sit down and write can really help train your brain to inspire you when you’re sitting at your computer rather than when you’re out in the garden or in the shower. So, basically, the best thing you can do if you are experiencing any kind of a writer's block is to identify what the writer's block is actually a symptom of, and then once you know that you can put things in place to help you either eliminate it or prevent it from happening again.

J: Tell us about "The Freelance Writing Success Summit."

N: Oh, yes, the Freelance Writing Success Summit was the first summit that I had ever hosted. I had started putting it together back in 2019, but then the events of 2020 happened and I saw so many freelance writers lose their jobs and their clients practically overnight. Especially those writers who were in the travel or hospitality niche, and that industry just got put on hold, and all content stopped. But even in other niches, business owners were suddenly at home, and they found they had a lot more time on their hands, so a lot of them stopped hiring freelance writers for a while. So, I decided to take advantage of that lull and sped up my plans for the summit so I could help freelance writers set up plans for their business. And my goal was to make sure that it was a diverse panel of speakers on a variety of topics to help freelance writers from all over the world be able to find clients, brand themselves as a business, adjust and pivot when world events like a pandemic threaten a particular niche, and just set up a solid foundation for their freelance writing business. And I would say it was a big success, especially for my first one. It was not huge, but it was sponsored by ProWriting Aid, and we did have about 3000 attendees from all over the world come in. And I still get emails to this day from freelance writers who tell me that was the pivotal event in their lives that helped them get their start or helped them overcome that initial drop in the pandemic so that they could keep growing.

J: Tell us about Ghostwriting and what are some of the projects that you have done?

N: Ghostwriting is interesting, because I help people write and publish their books, but I don’t receive a byline or credit. I believe that the relationship between an author and the reader is a really intimate one, especially when you’re talking about books like memoirs. So there is confidentiality built into the industry, I can’t talk about the projects that I have worked with. But I can tell you that it is highly misunderstood; a lot of people will come to me and think that it means they can give me a title, and that I will go running off and write a whole book, and that’s really not the case. A ghostwriter is kind of a mishmash of a coach, a writer, and a developmental editor all in one. So we actually help our clients plan their books, putting together their premise and their outline and anything else they need to help them write it. It’s extremely rewarding, especially when those clients will come back to me later and share with me an email that they got from one of their readers about how their book changed their life. So, I kind of get a double whammy of pride, because my client will write to me about how their book has changed their life but then they will also forward to me an email about how that book changed their readers life. And I can’t imagine a more fulfilling job than being able to see the ripple of impact that can come from one book.

J: What is the best advice you have ever gotten?

N: The best advice I have ever gotten, that’s really hard to say because again I’ve gotten so much great advice over the years, and a lot of it has had an impact on my career in one way or another. One of the most recent pieces, I would say, came from Akemi Sue Fisher, the Queen of Amazon, and we were on the phone and I was going through a really hard time, a lot of things were happening in my life at the time, and I was facing a downward spiral in my mindset and my depression. And she said, “Naomi, things in your life can either happen to you or they can happen for you and so when you’re done with the spiral go back and look at these things and say now how can I use this to get stronger, how can I use this to climb back up. You have to make it happen for you.“ And I am never going to forget that. I won’t go so far as to say that things happen for a reason, because sometimes things just happen because random is a thing. But you can use whatever happened as a reason, kind of like when one door closes, go find the other door and open it. Kick it open if you have to. And I’ve been leaning on this advice ever since.

J: What are some of your social media sites?  Do you have an official website?

N: Yes, so, my handle on any social platform is helpmenaomi; a long time ago, close to 15 years ago now, when Facebook was brand new, one of my clients used to email me and always led off with “Help me, Naomi,” and and because I am such a Star Wars fan, I would always joke about how I was their only hope. And it just kind of stuck, so now I use it everywhere. My website is also helpmenaomi.com.

J: Is there anything else you would like to add?

N: I can’t really think of anything…just remember your story matters. I truly believe that stories change the world, they shape our future and the future of our kids, so make sure yours is a part of that.