Don

Hello! My name is Donald Vaughan, and I've made my living with words for more than forty-five years. During that time, I have worked as a staff writer and/or editor for The Lake Worth Herald, Your Health Magazine and The National Examiner. Since 1991, I have worked as a full-time freelance writer, publishing more than 2,700 articles in scores of magazines and newspapers in the United States and abroad, including Writer’s Digest, Scout Life, Encyclopedia Britannica, VFW Magazine, Vanderbilt Magazine and MAD Magazine.

 

 I have also written, co-written, ghosted or contributed to nearly thirty-five books. Among them: an examination of the Columbia space shuttle disaster (Sixteen Minutes From Home (with Mark Cantrell for AMI Books) and two celebrity autobiographies (Hollywood Inside and Out: The Kenny Miller Story and Reel Tears: The Beverly Washburn Story, both for BearManor Media).

In addition to writing, I am the founder of Triangle Association of Freelancers (TAF), one of the largest organizations in North Carolina devoted to all aspects of fiction and nonfiction writing. Every spring, TAF hosts a one-day, multi-track conference called Write Now!, in addition to monthly meetings and moderated conversations with prominent writers and editors called TAF Talks.

 

In 2009, I tapped my journalistic skills as a researcher for the television series I Survived on The Biography Channel. My duties included finding and interviewing individuals who had survived extraordinary circumstances, and writing a comprehensive report about each for the show’s producers. Among those I interviewed, and who were featured on the show, was a California woman who had been viciously mauled by a mountain lion, and a North Carolina woman who had been shot nine times and left for dead as part of a violent gang initiation.

I’m also a public speaker, lecturing often on freelance writing, censorship and other topics close to my heart. In 2022, I presented two craft sessions at the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference in New York City. Previous speaking opportunities include the annual conference of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), where I lectured on writing and promotional opportunities for nurse practitioners in private practice, and the annual conference of the Garden Writers of America, where I spoke on conducting the perfect interview.

I don’t know where tomorrow will take me - but as long as I’m writing, I'm happy.