A Life In Chapters
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ|April 2018

Many people dream of a book publishing deal. Tammy Robinson is one who has seen that dream come true, but the road to success has been fraught with her own personal nightmares. Emma Clifton met the Kiwi writer to hear her remarkable story.

A Life In Chapters

When Tammy Robinson was young, she knew she was going to be a writer. It took a series of unfortunate events to get her there. Long before the Waikato mum of three was a successful writer with an international book deal, she was a voracious reader, writing in an exercise book during her lunch break while working at a Rotorua shoe shop. But it was a turbulent time in her 20s and 30s that gave her the impetus and the life experience to set out on the right path.

Sitting in an upmarket Auckland hotel, the 41-year-old Differently Normal author is the first to admit she feels out of place. Tammy and her husband Karl have recently relocated from Rotorua to a farm in Otorohanga, in the King Country, and she’s only just started driving, so getting around Auckland’s convoluted inner-city streets is especially terrifying. To top it all off, her car battery died when the hotel’s valet tried to shift it. If that doesn’t immediately endear you towards the Kiwi author, I don’t know what to tell you. There’s a reason Tammy had already built an online community who were fans of her writing before there was ever a physical version of her books, and that is because she is a delight. A delight who still can’t quite believe she’s made it this far.

Following on from a childhood ambition to be an astronaut, but with a sadly irreconcilable hatred of maths and physics, Tammy instead decided to pick a warmer career path and started working on international cruise ships. After a couple of years at sea, she came back to New Zealand to spend time with her dying grandmother. The tropical life was still calling, though, and her next move was to the Whitsundays to work at Club Med. How long, might you ask, can one live on a pristine island before all that paradise starts to become claustrophobic? “Three years,” Tammy says drily. “After that I got cabin fever, and it was time to move on.”

This story is from the April 2018 edition of Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the April 2018 edition of Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY NZView All
PRETTY WOMAN
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

PRETTY WOMAN

Dial up the joy with a mood-boosting self-care session done in the privacy of your own home. It’s a blissful way to banish the winter blues.

time-read
3 mins  |
July 2024
Hitting a nerve
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Hitting a nerve

Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes could aid physical and mental wellbeing.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024
The unseen Rovals
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

The unseen Rovals

Candid, behind the scenes and neverbefore-seen images of the royal family have been released for a new exhibition.

time-read
2 mins  |
July 2024
Great read
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Great read

In novels and life - there's power in the words left unsaid.

time-read
2 mins  |
July 2024
Winter dinner winners
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Winter dinner winners

Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of budget-concious recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.

time-read
3 mins  |
July 2024
Winter baking with apples and pears
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Winter baking with apples and pears

Celebrate the season of apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the cold weather blues away.

time-read
7 mins  |
July 2024
The wines and lines mums
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

The wines and lines mums

Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July 2024
Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE

Auckland author Sacha Jones reveals how dancing led her to develop an eating disorder and why she's now on a mission to educate other women.

time-read
7 mins  |
July 2024
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN

When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START

Responsible for keeping the likes of Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis in shape, Malin Svensson is on a mission to motivate those in midlife to move more.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024