Today we’d like to introduce you to Mickey Goodman.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was five and penciled my first story about my favorite doll, Plassie, who got measles at the same time I did! Growing up, my dad was a pilot in the Air Force and we were transferred so frequently that the characters I invented and those in the hundreds of books I read became my best friends.
I was the editor of my high school newspaper and graduated from Tulane University with a double major in Journalism and English. But I cut my writing teeth at the University of North Carolina News Bureau where I interviewed people like Malcolm X and the prime minister of Indonesia whose son attended UNC. The News Bureau’s stories went out over the Associated Press wire (think of the Old Days waaaaay before the Internet).
I took time off to raise three kids and teach creative writing, and at age 59, I decided to try my hand at freelancing and Dick Williams, veteran newspaper reporter who had just bought the Dunwoody Crier, gave me a chance. A few months later, a tornado ripped through Dunwoody and I walked into the devastated community to cover the story. Other reporters fanned out and we scooped the AJC!
Those stories about the recovery launched my freelance career and led to more than 700 articles for local, regional and national magazines, including Simply Buckhead where I currently write the Local Salute column featuring Atlantans doing great things in the community.
Segueing into ghostwriting seemed a natural progression from traditional journalism. I’ve helped people write six books, including two for children. The most recent is My Pursuit of Beauty: A Cosmetic Chemist Reveals the Glitz, the Glam and the Batsh*t Crazy with Vince Spinnato whose perfume “Judy,” commemorating what would have been the legendary Judy Garland’s one-hundredth birthday, debuts in June. My current book project is helping a former ring announcer for World Wrestling Entertainment tell her story.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The life of a freelancer is always feast or famine. You’re either buried in assignments or have gaping holes between assignments, making it difficult to budget. I’m fortunate to have another income source, but many of my writer friends–particularly single parents–aren’t so lucky. Times were particularly hard during the Covid-19 lockdown when a number of publications shuttered, some permanently.
Diversifying my assignments to include both traditional freelancing and ghostwriting has given me a tremendous advantage.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I did plenty of straight news in my early writing years, but for the most part, I write about the fun stuff–people, homes, non-profits, profiles, etc. However, in 2005, when Atlanta became known as a prime national and international distribution hub for the sexually exploited kids, I plunged in. I talked to Mayor Shirley Franklin who was leading the charge against trafficking. I sat in Juvenile Court Judge Sammy Jones’ courtroom and listened to young victims of sexual abuse spill their stories and sob. I perched on a chair beside a young detective at the Peachtree City Police Department and listened as she posed as a young girl in a chat group looking for excitement. She immediately attracted predators. I talked with three teenage girls in a safe house who had been abused by the very adults who were supposed to protect them, as well pimps who groomed, drugged and rented them out as prostitutes.
They broke my heart.
The article was first published in Atlanta Magazine and garnered a number of awards. I was also interviewed on CNN and CNN-Radio where the anchor quietly confessed that he had been exploited by a priest as a young boy. Reuters approached to do a follow-up story, as well as Pink Magazine, and I dug in.
I continued writing on the issue until I began receiving death threats in my email box and stepped back. But I’m proud that these articles helped open dialogue that strengthened the sentencing laws for people who prey on the young.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I’ve been blessed with good karma for my entire writing career. The first was working with Dick Williams, editor of the Dunwoody Crier. My articles caught the eye of Fran Kaplan, then editor of Style Magazine, who gave me a meaty assignment, followed by dozens more. I ventured into writing for shelter magazines like Veranda and Canadian Architecture & Design that led to working with HGTV star Mike Holmes’ magazine and others. At a writing conference, I met a group of travel writers who led me into to their world of writing about exotic locations and upscale resort properties. When I wrote an article about a Holocaust survivor, his wife asked me to write a book about her experiences during that horrific time. It launched my foray into ghostwriting! And the list goes on.
Contact Info:
- Website: mickeygoodman.com
- Facebook: @mickeygoodman
- Twitter: @mickeygoodman
- Other: Instagram Mickeygoodman 9204
Image Credits
Headshot: Seeing Southern Photography Remainder are mine.
