Tamara Hoffmann Shipp

Tamara Hoffmann Shipp wrote her first novel at age 10. She wrote her second when she was in high school. She shared her stories with her friends, who would eagerly await the next installment.

But her dream was not to be a novelist. She wanted to be a journalist. Finding herself in need of a way to make a living, however, she found a full-time job and went to work on for a Florida congressman on Capitol Hill two days after graduating from high school. She dabbled in college classes during the decade she worked on the Hill, before leaving her job to get married and start a family.

Tamara was 40 years old when she finally decided to take a leap of faith and enroll in college full-time, while also raising a family and running her own business. She couldn't wait to take her first journalism class. But being a mom came first. When she discovered that the journalism course she had signed up for would conflict with her son's football games, she dropped the class. Then, when she finally had the opportunity to pursue her intended major -- journalism -- she discovered that it was not the right fit for her. "Maybe if I was still 20," she told her advisor, but now in her 40s, her interest in chasing down the news story had waned.

So, Tamara switched her undergraduate major to Professional Writing. Over the course of 7 years, she earned three degrees, including a Master's degree in English, focusing on rhetoric and composition.

Then, finally, at age 60, Tamara achieved her dream of becoming a published author.

Tamara lives in Chesapeake, Virginia, a little more than an hour's drive from her beloved Outer Banks, with her husband and five cats (one adopted from a Kitty Hawk cat rescue shelter).