Scott Douglas Vaughan

Through website reviews, social media, email, handwritten notes, and telephone calls, I hear from a lot of people who have read all or part of my books. I appreciate everyone's feedback and I appreciate the questions - either about the book content or independent publishing. Regardless of the feedback, there's a theme that sort of wiggles its way to the top of many conversations, especially from those of us growing up in the 1960s and 1970s. It's a theme of gratitude, which honestly has caught me by surprise. "Thank you, Scott, for taking me back to a simpler time." In all honesty, no time is ever really simple. As you will read in the next book, Hickory Trail , the backdrop is a time of post-Vietnam culture shock, Watergate, the rise of the drug culture, and the national oil crisis and recession . . . all happening at the same time. It was not so simple. But, if you think of it as a time without all the screens - no computers, no mobile te...

In Honor of Thanksgiving, I present an abridged Chapter 8, The Feast of Thanksgiving, from my book, Elm Street (2016). The main character, Frank Wilcox, has settled into second grade at the Acorn Primary School in Acorn. The night I wrote this story, I laughed so hard that I cried. I hope you enjoy it and Happy Thanksgiving! SDV The Feast of Thanksgiving (From Scott Vaughan's Elm Street)            The photo appearing in the newspaper I am pictured far right with the Clorox jug Mrs. Wright’s classroom had survived Halloween, complete with syrup-filled wax candy in the shape of cola bottles, cupcakes with orange icing, and drinks from the Coca-Cola machines. Those children who didn’t have a dime for a drink were treated to one by moms helping with the day’s party. Children were allowed to dress in their favorite costumes and then stand in front of the class to introduce themselves.             Frank had come to...

My maternal grandmother, Carolyn Holmes Yarbrough, was a public school teacher for more than 35 years. She died in 2003 at the age of 92 frail but not invalid and certainly of a good mind. If you didn't know her, I wish you could have known her. We called her Mema. She was not a "crawl up in the lap for a hug and a story" grandmother (I had another one of those). She was the "help me figure out this problem" grandmother. She was educated and smart in a math and science kind of way. She was an academic. As a widow in her 50s, she went back to college and finished her degree work at North Georgia College. That enabled her to teach Algebra, which she absolutely loved. She also loved her azaleas and all of her other plants, and she knew the scientific name of them and why they grew the way they did. Plants were her never-ending science project. She kept a daily journal that included the day's weather, important sports scores, and a note about anything...

Beth, left, and her friend, Catherine Last week, I opened an email from Beth from Lake Jackson, TX. She found my email address on my website and this is what she wrote: "I've read your two books to a friend who is 90 and blind. We have enjoyed them so much! Your books have brought us so much joy. Some days, she laughs so hard that there are tears rolling down her cheeks. We were hoping that there will be another book soon. Thank you so much for your books. From two huge fans, Beth and Catherine" In the photo, Beth is pictured, left, and Catherine is pictured, right. I have never been to Lake Jackson, TX, but it is south of Houston and west of Galveston along the coast. I've never met Beth and Catherine. But, I will be meeting them this Friday at 4 p.m. ET. By use of conference call, I will be reading them a chapter titled "Spin The Bottle" from my new book, Hickory Trail , due out in October 2018. I've written about two-thirds of the book...

On Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, Richard Evans Sale, 83, died in Florence, SC. I saw the announcement of his death in the November 2017 issue of The Baptist Courier, the monthly newsmagazine of South Carolina Baptists. I immediately went to Legacy.com to read Rev. Sale's complete obituary. You can read it here . In short, Rev. Sale was a Southern Baptist pastor, but will forever be known for his 40-plus years as both a hospital and a law enforcement chaplain. He was a graduate of the FBI Academy's Chaplain Training Course in Quantico, VA. Within his obituary, it mentions Rev. Sale's 60 years of service to the local church, his community, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Within that long descriptive paragraph, there is the mention that Rev. Sale " was a member of the Kiwanis Club . " Kiwanis, as you may know, is one of our country's historic community service organizations born during World War I when suburbs were being created and service organizations ju...

I bumped into a friend who reminded me of a story. Once upon a time, I was a young newspaper reporter, covering a crowded local election in a south Georgia community. I won't lie to you. I was so deeply embedded in that election that I had a personal favorite - I wanted one of the candidates to win. But, I had to remain neutral, obviously, because back then newspaper reporters at least worked hard to be neutral. The candidate that I privately supported had a big uphill battle to win, but I've always, always supported the underdog in everything. On election day, I went to a polling location where I knew many of the candidates would be voting. The person I privately supported was walking out of the polling location and I stopped him. "How do you really feel about your chances?" I asked him. "What does your gut tell you?" "Every single person I've spoken to in the past week is voting for me," he said. "Based on that, I'm pretty ...

I have never strapped on running shoes and participated in an organized race. I actually enjoy a pleasant walk or even a good hike, but in this Earthly existence, you will probably never see me run. Unless I'm running for my life. My Vicki, 1987, with her Peachtree Road Race shirt I have been to a race. In the two years between the time my Vicki and I married and our first son was born, Vicki actually ran in a couple of races. In 1987, she ran in and completed the big July 4 Peachtree Road Race in downtown Atlanta. In preparation for that race, she ran a 5K sponsored by a local elementary school PTA in Lawrenceville, GA. I couldn't get close to the finish line of the Peachtree Road Race, but I was there at the PTA 5K. I stood with a cup of coffee and a free doughnut along with a bunch of other people. Well, okay, two free doughnuts. We were in position at the finish line, lined up on both sides of the runners' approach, ready to cheer for everyone. When Vicki approa...