TAF’s 2023 “Wrapped” and Plans for 2024

By Maya Spikes

Now that the New Year’s Eve confetti has fallen, it’s time to look back on the past year. If you have the Spotify music/podcast app, think of this as Triangle Association of Freelancers’ version of “Wrapped.”

Last year marked TAF’s 20^th anniversary! Our founder, Don Vaughan, and our members have built a rich history of supporting all types of writers from those who aspire to be published authors to those with careers spanning decades.

Here are some of the ways we spent 2023 building on this history:

Our membership has increased to 159 people, including 10 new members who joined during 2023.

TAF kicked off last year in January by hosting a reading/signing at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh for the first volume of The TAF Omnibus: Stories & Poems. Several contributors to the anthology read poems or portions of their stories, followed by a question-and-answer session and a book signing.

In September, TAF continued its growing series of anthologies with the publication of The TAF Omnibus: Stories & Poems Vol. II edited by Arlene Bice. We’re also planning to create another TAF Omnibus in 2024 that will feature short stories, essays, poems, and novel excerpts.

We continued having success with Zoom meetings, which included our monthly meetings and four TAF Talks (in-depth interviews) during the year. Our TAF Talks guests shared their experiences, great advice, and humor. They included thriller writer Joseph Finder, New Yorker cartoonist Sidney Harris, romance author Reese Ryan and historical nonfiction writer Nathaniel Philbrick.

We also hosted a special educational session on plotting with author and novelist David Morrell. His debut novel, First Blood was later adapted as the movie of the same name starring Sylvester Stallone.

Our virtual meetings for TAF Talks and our monthly meetings are great, but it’s also nice to meet in person. TAF held two in-person dinner gatherings at Milton’s Pizza, which were great fun.

For 2024, TAF has exciting plans to continue encouraging and inspiring writers both inside and outside of our group.

The new year will mark the return of our Write Now! conference on April 27, 2024 at the McKimmon Conference Center at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

If you’ve never been to the conference, I highly recommend attending. Many of our past attendees connect with other writers and leave the conference with actionable writing tips.This year’s keynote speakers will be award-winning science fiction author Nicole Givens Kurtz and Writer’s Digest magazine editor-in-chief Amy Jones.

Sessions include creating realistic secondary characters, the art of the interview, tips for those new to self-publishing, and writing query letters to grab an editor’s attention, among other discussions.

Our session presenters include national magazine award-winning journalist Sean Flynn as well as four TAF members: Reese Ryan, Karin Wiberg, Don Vaughan and Kyle Marie McMahon.

Mark your calendars for this special event now. Stay tuned for upcoming announcements about Write Now! 2024 and other updates.

I would like to thank everyone in TAF for making 2023 and the past 20 years successful. I’m so grateful for our motivational and helpful discussions, both in person and virtual, that have created a supportive community of writers.

I wish you much writing success in 2024.

Happy New Year!

Maya Spikes Executive Director, Triangle Association of Freelancers