An Interview with Our Founder

By Mike Rumble, www.rumblesrumblings.wordpress.com

I sat in a business seminar one time, and heard it said that “An organization is only as good as its leadership.” When it comes to TAF, we are very blessed to have Don Vaughan as our founder and the driving force behind the organization. I swear that if you look up “freelancer” in the dictionary, Don’s picture will be next to it.

The highlight of 2023 was that it was TAF’s 20th anniversary. One of the upcoming highlights for 2024 is that TAF’s yearly “Write Now!” conference will be held in person again on Saturday, April 27th, after a two-year hiatus due to Covid. I thought it would be interesting to interview Don and learn more about him and his storied freelance career. Due to our busy schedules, Don and I conversed over email. Here is our interview in full. . .

What inspired you to become a freelance writer?

I had wanted to be a writer since middle school, and became a staff writer with the Lake Worth Herald, a community weekly in my hometown of Lake Worth, Florida, while still in college. It was there that I truly honed my craft, learned how to write well on a deadline, and became immersed in all aspects of journalism — including freelance writing. I loved the idea of writing for national magazines and made my first freelance sales while working at the Herald to publications such as Cat Fancy, Bird Talk and Gambling Times. I continued to freelance when I transitioned from the Herald to a national health publication titled Your Health & Medical Bulletin, and later to the National Examiner, a midlist tabloid owned by Globe Communications. A change in editors at the Examiner sparked my decision to freelance full time, and I left the paper in September 1991 to do just that. I had around $3,000 in freelance assignments when I left the Examiner, and quickly found an abundance of work.

What challenges did you face starting out?

Pretty much the same challenges I face now, such as developing marketable ideas, finding appropriate markets for those ideas, and establishing relationships with new editors. The era in which I started freelancing was much different than the freelance world of today. I wrote my first articles on a manual typewriter and submitted my manuscripts through the mail. It was much easier to break into a new market back then, and you could count on editors to respond. That’s no longer the case today. One of my greatest frustrations is editors who never respond to a proposal. I find that very unprofessional, but it’s the nature of the beast now.

Over the course of your 40+ years as a freelance writer, what are some of your favorite articles?

It’s difficult to note a favorite, but my proudest accomplishment as a writer is my first sale to Mad Magazine in the early 2000s. I struggled mightily to break into that magazine, and when I finally did, I was over the moon. That sale was actually more rewarding than my first book sale.

There are a number of articles I’ve written that are memorable to me, such as a feature I wrote last year for Veterinary Practice News about the international effort to save the endangered northern white rhino from extinction (there are only two left in the world). Another is a feature on the history of film restoration and preservation, which came out in the January 2024 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Both were really interesting to research and write.

One of my favorite aspects of being a freelance writer is the eclectic nature of the people I get to interview. Over the years I have interviewed hundreds of people from all walks of life, including Pearl Harbor survivors, astronauts, actors, artists, writers, comedians and more. The list of people I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing includes Neil de Grasse Tyson, Susan Orlean, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist C.J. Chivers, Peter Ostrum (Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), noted paleo artist William Stout and Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who I interviewed shortly before she was shot.

What inspired you to start Triangle Association of Freelancers?

When I started to achieve a degree of success as a freelance writer, I felt it important to pay it forward by helping those who were new to the profession. Before moving to North Carolina in 1999, I taught a class on freelance writing through a continuing education program sponsored by the Palm Beach County, Florida, school system. I taught that class for several years, and established a group that would meet regularly to talk about our latest projects. I wanted to continue that when we moved to North Carolina, and a year or so after getting settled I started teaching Freelance Writing 101 through Wake Technical Community College. We started as a very small group meeting in the back of a Borders bookstore, and grew incrementally. One day, we decided to open the group to all area writers. That was the start of TAF. Today we have around 150 registered members, and are one of the largest writing organizations in North Carolina.

How did you feel as you watched the organization grow to what it has become today?

I’m incredibly proud of TAF and the many accomplishments of its members. TAF is one of my proudest achievements as a writer, and I’m thrilled at how much we have grown over the years. We have members throughout North Carolina and surrounding states, but also nationwide — we even have one member in Canada. I believe TAF is different from other writing organizations in that we are a welcoming and supportive family to writers both new and established. We’re a writing organization with heart.

Mike Rumble has been a member of TAF since 2008. He has had stories published in Chicken Soup for the Soul as well in two TAF anthologies. Mike is also a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW). You can follow Mike’s writings on his blog: www.rumblesrumblings.wordpress.com.