This is my second interview on "The Shrug". I have to say leading up to this interview, I was nervous. I have so much admiration for Naomi Gold, and I was not ready to find out that this person was so genuine and lovely. I was also not prepared to see such a beautiful smile and amazing eyebrows. I decided not to edit too much of the conversation, I loved the humanity of the conversation and that she is just like us. Therefore, this is mostly the raw audio of this conversation.
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This conversation was one I had thought about for weeks. I was ready to talk to Naomi about bullying, and harassment on Vocal. As I am sure we were all very interested in what she did next. Whether you were on her side or not, the receipts were interesting and the story was poignant. See her story below.
Next, I was so excited to explore why writer's block doesn't exist, and Naomi's advice on how to overcome creativity block. You might just need to get into nature or do some shadow work. Please don't spend money on a writer's block cure.
If everyone likes it, nobody will love it. -Naomi Gold
You might be surprised to know that Naomi writes consistently, and has been since 1993, however, she was only publishing around 5% on Vocal. 75% of her writing doesn't see the light of day. Sadly, since Naomi has chosen to remove herself from Vocal (we will miss you Naomi) quite a few of her stories are gone, so the story that I wrote a response to is not posted, called "Vocal Etiquette", my own response is called "Screw Vocal Etiquette" which I linked below. I was so worried about how she would receive this post and I am happy to say she was not offended. So in its place, I will show a poem she wrote that won one of Real Poetic's challenges.
"A lot of the writing I do is just trash, and that is just me warming up for when the real writing is going to happen." -Naomi
This was one of my first stories to make a top story when I returned to Vocal, and I was so excited when Naomi commented.
This story is her first prize in the Painted Prose Challenge. Which I can't believe took me months to read. I thought I read it, Forgive me, Naomi, I truly thought I had.
That means when people are watching you with ill will, you’ll be blessed before their eyes. -a quote from Thru the Eyes of Ruby
I'm sad her other stories are not on the site, they were very good. This creator will be sorely missed here on Vocal. She was so great at leaving comments and making someone feel like their story was great.
"I don't want you to ever feel like you have to earn my reads." -Naomi
Naomi is gifted in haiku, as well as other forms of writing and poetry. I loved this haiku.
Real Poetic if you are reading this far just know that I have gotten a lot better at my artist profiles for the interviews and I owe you a better profile. Just saying.
About the Creator
Jazzy
Follow on IG @booksbyjaz
Head of the Jazzy Writers Association (JWA) in partnership with the Vocal HWA chapter.
Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insights
Easy to read and follow
Well-structured & engaging content
Eye opening
Niche topic & fresh perspectives
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
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Comments (10)
Jazzy, absolutely loved this interview! You have such a wonderful and conversational style, and just loved hearing from Naomi herself. Both of you have beautiful radio voices! So happy you did this interview! Naomi is truly missed! Great work to both of you! 💞💫
I miss Naomi so much. I mean I do see her stories on Instagram but it's just not the same as Vocal. Vocal isn't the same without her, at least for me it isn't. Deep down I still wish she would come back. I've not listened to the podcast yet but I'll be back!
This was a great interview, well done to you and Naoms!
Loved it as usual! Naomi is a wondeful interviewee -so insightful! Your poetry does not suck 😂 Looking forward to the next one! 🤍
I jumped! I can’t wait to listen to this one 🫶
Aww, Naomi will be missed. Please tell her I said hi if you stay in touch with her. The podcast was easy to listen to. Your personalities melded together well. You have the gift of gab, perfect for this sort of thing. Thank you for sharing this.
Jazzy, i love your podcast. I’ve listened to the first 15 minutes so far, and every episode you are improving and getting better and better. Keep going and don’t stop. (I couldn’t tell you were nervous at all. Wonderful job.) I’ll be back to listen to the rest when I get a minute. Been waiting for this interview with Naomi. She is certainly missed on Vocal.
I'm really loving this, it would be hard to find a better interviewee. Her versatility and startling turn of phrase are always brings a sparkle to your life, and always stimulates to higher though. She and I have had such a wonderful sharing experience in the comments section. She will be so very missed, and the platform won't be the same without her. Taking a quick smoke break before the second half of the interview. Such a beautiful voice! Kudos to you both.
I hope she returns as she was one of my favourite creators here. Very talented for sure. I loved your writing in this article Jazzy! I particularly loved the quotes highlighted from Naomi. A really lovely piece to read ❤️✨🥰👌
I know I didn't read a lot of her stuff, but she has really good writing. I'm probably entering this too late and need to head to an earlier episode. I know that people would leave Vocal, as it's not the one drop stop. It's a small fish in the frying pan in comparison to the grander scheme of things for all authors included, that is unless Vocal steps its game up. Even though the 75% doesn't see the light of day, I feel that publishing or posting it somewhere would give her audience a larger sample size for more work to constructively critique. Then again, this is also coming from the person who made well over 100 haikus for a competition. I'm more of a quantity helps to improve quality person. "Practice makes perfect practice. Perfect practice makes perfect."