Student Life faculty member doubles as successful novelist
Pictured above is Dr. Tara Shollenberger, otherwise known as T.S. Krupa. Photo by: tskrupa.com
By Holly Gambrell // Staff Writer
Renowned author of novels “On the Edge” and “Safe and Sound,” T.S. Krupa, is known by High Point University students as Dr. Tara Shollenberger, Director of Student Conduct and the HPU club field hockey coach.
Dr. Shollenberger has written two novels under the pseudonym T.S. Krupa and is currently working on a third manuscript. Her first novel, “Safe & Sound,” released on Jan. 1, 2014, depicted a widow finding new love after suffering the loss of her husband.
She originally planned to write a novel concentrating on romance for her second book, “On the Edge,” but quickly realized that the mother-daughter relationship was going to be the main focus.
“I thought I was going to write specifically about a male and female athlete, but it ended up morphing into a story about a mother and her daughter,” Dr. Shollenberger said.
Released on June 9, 2015, “On the Edge” is about a war widow Andy Parker who is raising Hayden Grace, a fifteen-year-old avid snowboarder whose passion for the sport begins to falter, a result of missing her father who was also a snowboarder.
“A lot of my friends have young kids at this point and I see the sacrifices and how tired they are at the end of the day and wanted to share that story in a more public way,” Dr. Shollenberger said.
She does not have children of her own, so she drew some inspiration from experiences with parent-child relationships at her job working in the Office of Student Life, but says her position at HPU and her writing career are two separate realms.
“It’s a fun escape,” Dr. Shollenberger said. “At my job, I don’t want people to worry that I may write about them. I’m not going to name names or draw on specific things. I have tons of other ideas.”
Dr. Shollenberger enjoys the anonymity between her two worlds, which is one of the reasons she chooses to write under a pseudonym. Krupa is her mother’s maiden name, and T.S. stands for her first and last name.
Besides mainly focusing on crucial relationships in the novel, Dr. Shollenberger’s other main concern while writing “On the Edge” was to ensure accuracies about snowboarding terms, slang and culture.
“I don’t know a lot about snowboarding, so I reached out on Twitter and got connected with Hana Beaman,” Dr. Shollenberger said.
Dr. Shollenberger communicated with Beaman, a professional Olympic snowboarder, first through Twitter and email, eventually interviewing her for her perspective on snowboard technicalities.
“She helped me with some of the lingo and also with what it’s like to be a female in the sport,” Dr. Shollenberger said. “I wanted the book to be believable.”
Dr. Shollenberger says she balances being the Director of Student Conduct, an author, a field hockey coach and a wife by researching and writing her material during summer months or over university-sanctioned breaks.
“A lot of the things I do are seasonal in my life. Field hockey has a time and a place in the fall and conduct is mostly August through May, so in the summer I have a lot more time,” Dr. Shollenberger said.
She also mentioned that her husband, Brian, is supportive through the writing and publishing processes.
“In the summer I have time to sit down and write and I’m lucky that Brian gives me space to do that,” Dr. Shollenberger said. “He’ll go play golf or does something else while I sit down to write.”
Dr. Shollenberger hopes to see “Safe & Sound” turn into a movie and is planning on publishing a sequel to “On the Edge,” both of which are available at HPU’s bookstore and online at Amazon, Apple iTunes and Barnes & Noble.