From a Long Career at Procter & Gamble to Novelist and Short Story Writer: An Interview with Don Tassone

"When I retired, I thought shifting to creative writing would be a layup. I was wrong."

Jun 27, 2024

In June 2014, I taught at the New Harmony Writers Conference in southern Indiana, and Don Tassone, today’s featured author, was among the participants in the week-long fiction workshop I led.

From the first moment, Don’s gentle presence and engagement set the tone for the class. He was an attentive and supportive reader of his classmates’ workshop submissions and turned in pages of his own that were among the strongest in the group. It was no surprise after the week concluded that he continued to write with unwavering focus and commitment.

Since his first book appeared in 2017, I daresay his publication record rivals Joyce Carol Oates’ and James Patterson’s! You’ll find his bibliography at the end of our interview.

Don’s most recent book is a story collection, Journeys Within, which was published on May 15. Copies are available from Bookshop.org.

Christine/Bookish: Not long before you began writing fiction 10 years ago, you retired from Procter & Gamble as a vice president. What made you decide to dedicate yourself to writing stories and novels?

Don Tassone: I’ve long wanted to write creatively, but I put creative writing on hold for decades while I focused on my family and career. I was an English major in college, and writing was a big part of my job at P&G. When I retired, I thought shifting to creative writing would be a layup. I was wrong.

I had trouble writing even one short story—it was terrible. I realized I needed training, so I went away to a summer writing workshop in New Harmony, Indiana. It was a wonderful reimmersion in the fundamentals of creative writing. After that, I started writing short stories and submitting them to literary magazines.

I’ve now had more than 400 stories published. Most of my stories are literary fiction. That’s not the most popular sub-genre. But I’m not writing to sell a lot of books or make a lot of money or become famous. I write because writing brings me joy.

CS: You've published 10 books since 2017 and have another one coming out in 2025. What accounts for your extraordinary productivity?

DT: I’ve simply applied the discipline that helped me succeed in the business world to my writing practice. It’s in my blood. I write every day, usually in the morning.

CS: You've been published by several independent presses. How did you find them?

DT: Directories of publishers, online articles and recommendations by other writers. Of course, finding publishers and querying them are two different things. I’ve spent countless hours reaching out to publishers — part of the business end of the writing process, I suppose. But I’d really love to find an agent.

CS: Would you share with us a few of the most important things you've learned — good and otherwise — since you began publishing your work?

DT: The good things have predominated. I’ve been so moved that my stories have resonated with people. For example, after my first novel, Drive, was published, a woman I didn’t know wrote to me. She told me her husband had taken his life and my novel (whose protagonist contemplates suicide) helped her understand why. She was writing to thank me. I wept.

Stories connect us. We’re living in a time of great division, when bringing people together may be more important than ever. What a joy to connect with others, many of whom I wouldn't otherwise know. Of course, writing is also hard work, and you never get used to rejection or checking Amazon only to find your book sales have slipped. But eventually, as Thomas Merton wrote, “You start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.”

CS: How do you get the word out to readers about your books? Were there one or two publishers who did an especially good job in this regard?

DT: I reach out to my personal contacts, post on social media, attend book fairs and do interviews and author events. My first publisher, Golden Antelope Press, was helpful with marketing.

CS: Who are some of your primary influences?

DT: Hemingway, Steinbeck, O. Henry, Merton, Paulo Coelho, Kahlil Gibran, Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling, and Dan Fogelberg.

CS: What are you working on now?

DT: A novel. I have a story idea that I expect will take me a year to fully bring to life.

Three recently published stories:

“The Garden”

“Time to Choose”

“The Apostle”

Bibliography:

Get Back — 2017 (stories)

Drive — 2017 (novel)

Small Bites — 2018 (stories)