In my job as a labor & delivery nurse, I often hold the hands of women who are excited to welcome a new baby but terrified of the process of getting there. I walk with them through every twist, turn, and bump in the road and counter their fear with my calm and steady. I promise them that I’ll be whoever they need me to be to help them get through to the other side feeling confident in the decisions they made. I help them uncover a strength they never knew they had.

When the opportunity presented itself to write a book, I found myself feeling that same joyful terror that I know so many of my patients feel–excited at the thought of holding a book I had written in my hands but terrified of the process of getting there. Nikki Van Noy was my book labor & delivery nurse–my tour guide of book writing. She walked with me through every twist, turn, and bump in the road and countered my fear with her calm and steady. She helped me find the hidden writer inside, giving a purpose and a voice to my lived experiences.

Nikki Van Noy is whoever you need her to be. Although she can ghost write too, I needed her to be the hairdresser in those movies where the “not conventionally beautiful” main character gets a makeover–the expert that has the vision to be able to recognize the beauty lying underneath and knows exactly what to do to bring it out. In telling my stories, I write them how I would tell them out loud and sometimes I say weird stuff. But that’s what my audience loves about me. Nikki was able to help me preserve my unique voice while also elevating each story to be as impactful as when I lived it. 

Nikki Van Noy is the only person I will ever trust to walk with me through the labor that is writing a book. Just like actual labor, it can be scary, painful at times, and long. But with the right person by your side, you can leave that experience feeling confident in every decision you made and proud of the art that you created. 

If we are talking about what Nikki gave me, I could go on for hours. But I know in reading these, it’s helpful to know exactly what to expect. Nikki was able to come in, create a schedule for us to keep us on track, help me outline and structure my chapters, elevate each story, talk me through every logistical part of book writing and the publishing process, tell me what to expect, helped me pivot gracefully when things came up, gave insightful feedback, articulated my own thoughts back to me in a way that helped me communicate them better, helped me find clarity in the chaos in my head, and above all, she cared about me as a human being and cared about the message I was putting out in the world. She cared just as much about this book as I did. 

There was a moment in our book journey, after the manuscript was written, that the publisher wanted to change the title. That title change caused me to want to pivot the message of the book. I was understandably freaking out because we were done but the new title with the current manuscript didn’t feel right together. I wanted a vision of the book that was even cooler and more impactful than I originally thought but if possible, would require a ton of daunting work. Right after that meeting, Nikki and I met together and within one hour, we had a completely new plan that changed everything and made it ten times better than it already was. Her ability to see through the scary and into the future of awesome is a skill that I do not possess but I was so grateful that she was on my side. 

What’s crazy is that I’ve never met Nikki in person. She has only ever existed on a zoom screen or in my phone but in our time together, she became one of my dearest friends. She caused me to find a level of comfort with her that I don’t have with most other people in my life. I’m sure it has something to do with the amount of communication you have to have during a project like this but above any of that, my comfort with Nikki was a direct result of who she is as a person. 

As I write this, I now have a completed manuscript that I could not be prouder of and Nikki Van Noy is directly responsible for the quality of art we created together. Nikki is worth every single penny ever invested into her and more. I am so grateful for her presence in my life and she will absolutely be right by my side in any future publishing project I have the honor of working on. 

-Jen Hamilton, author of Birth Vibes