Rachel Tampa
An up and coming writer from Whidbey Island, WA.
By Patrick Donovan – Author/Screenwriter
US Navy Disabled Veteran – 1980 – 1991
Seattle, WA (The Hollywood Times) 7/22/2025
Rachel Tampa is a multidisciplinary writer who has always lived between worlds: science and story, structure and mystery, care and creation. After a decade of nurturing others through her nursing career, she’s now turning inward to nurture her own creative path. From coastal island life to the vibrant lights of Vancouver, this intuitive storyteller draws inspiration from seasonal cycles, patient narratives, and the unseen threads that connect us all. As she steps into the next chapter at film school, The Hollywood Times will accompany her as she tends to the stories that have waited patiently to bloom.
This is a wonderful story about fate and destiny. I met Rachel Tampa through a series of seemingly synchronous events involving a house hunting trip to Whidbey Island and a hopeful phone call that reminded us of the winding roads that life often takes us on. There was something serendipitous in the air—perhaps the island breeze or the gravitational pull of a full moon—but we quickly found ourselves engrossed in dialogue and connection.
As it turned out, Rachel was a writer herself, and when I mentioned I wrote for The Hollywood Times and that we were looking for new voices, the idea of an interview naturally came up. A few days later, we arranged to meet again—this time for a proper sit-down conversation. Rachel graciously invited me to her home, offering lunch along with a glimpse into her creative world.
I expected a simple meal, but instead, Rachel prepared a rich Pasta Bolognese from scratch—an unexpected and very welcome gesture, especially for someone like me with Italian roots. The table was beautifully set, and the French doors of her dining room were open to the island air, inviting in the breeze and setting the tone for what would become a meaningful, inspired afternoon and a set perfect for her very first interview.
Rachel has a delightful way of blending wit and warmth in conversation. At one point, she smiled and said, “I just wanted to show you the stove works!” It was a playful remark that summed up her personality—clever, grounded, and full of character. The conversation meandered from literature to life, with the occasional interruption of roaring Navy jets overhead, adding a surreal cinematic quality to our talk. Top Gun? Absolutely.
Professionally, Rachel has dedicated much of her life to the medical field, working in environments that demand both compassion and resilience. The stories she encounters in that world—those brief, powerful connections with strangers—have given her an empathetic lens that permeates her writing. As someone who has spent time in hospitals myself, I deeply relate to the trust and vulnerability found in those settings. It’s a space where people like Rachel bring comfort, strength, and a sense of safety.
She has that same presence in her home and in her words: calming, inviting, and profoundly sincere. What began as a chance encounter has turned into a creative kinship, and I’m grateful for the alignment of our timelines.
Rachel Tampa is a writer to watch. Her voice is authentic, her passion undeniable, and her journey is just beginning. I believe one day soon we’ll be watching her ascend the steps of a red carpet at the Writer’s Guild Awards, notebook in hand, smile wide, ready to share her next chapter with the world.
Here now is the transcript of our interview. I encourage you to get to know Rachel as I have—and to follow her as she continues to grow, inspire, and tell the stories that move us.
The Interview with Rachel Tampa
Pat Donovan: Hello, I’m Patrick Donovan—author, screenwriter, novelist, and journalist for the Hollywood Times, Aspiring Magazine, and BIPOC Lifestyle, here in the Pacific Northwest. I have a guest who is an up-and-coming screenwriter and thank you for joining me today. I’ll let you introduce yourself. It’s a pleasure. How are you doing?
Rachel Tampa: Thank you so much, Pat. I’m very grateful to have you here. Welcome to the homestead. My name is Rachel, and I am embarking on a 180-degree path—changing my career from nursing to screenwriting.
Pat Donovan: [playfully] You’re diverting from my questions, Rachel. Now it’s going to give me difficulties. You see, it’s going to make my life miserable. No seriously, talk to me about what were some of the highs and low points of your early beginnings—like, what did you go to school, College? Did you have any mentors, you know, like you see on NBC all the time? “Get yourself a mentor.”
Rachel Tampa: I do have a mentor. Her name is Patty and she is known as my fairy godmother. We’ve worked together for about five years, but she pulled me out of some dark times, so she’s certainly my mentor and helped me get back on my path. Growing up—I’m from the Midwest, suburbs of Chicago—and I was very creative. Imagine it: as a child I was always getting in trouble for talking and telling stories, so I had a permanent seat next to most of my teachers’ desks. I think they thought that would get me to stop talking; they didn’t realize I would just talk to them instead.
Eventually, I would get put back in my normal spot, but I had a lot of freedom in childhood to explore ideas. That also makes you stand out a bit – being unique. So, like most creatives, I was a little bullied. I found myself on the school bus looking out the window, but I’m grateful for those times, because they gave me the space to let my imagination go wild.
I definitely took a different course when I went to college. I was struggling between being a nurse, an archaeologist, and a writer, so I wrote to the University of Illinois and I told them, “I want to be Indiana Jones,” and I did get into their history program. But I ultimately changed courses to pre-nursing and tried to smash everything into a shorter amount of time so I could graduate with my friends. Being classically someone who wants to take on all the different projects, I actually did not do well, and I had to take a step back and reevaluate.
I still wanted to be a nurse, so I re-did my plan and went to a private nursing school. That was much smaller but one of the best experiences; I got to work in the ER, and that’s where I really started to learn about people. When you’re working in a city ER, you see so much, and your perspective changes quite a bit. You realize very quickly that the rest of society isn’t like your little hometown, so it was very eye-opening, which made me fall in love with humanity for so many reasons.
I came out here [Whidbey Island] with my previous relationship, and I focused on my nursing career—and then I always loved storytelling, so after ending that relationship, I found myself intercepted by someone who finally asked me, “If you could do anything, what would it be?” And I said, “Write.” It took me about six months from that point to get on to this next phase of my life, but I made it.
Pat Donovan: That’s great. You feel like you’re in a real-life Chicago PD and then the ER. I visited an ER set—it was pretty amazing to see that. They got all the old equipment; while the studio bought all new equipment for the hospital, they got it from real hospitals, which was fantastic! What got you or drove you to become a writer? Where were those beginnings?
Rachel Tampa: I have so many notebooks from when I was little—I don’t think I was really conscious of it. I would just be always writing down scenes I saw in my head like a movie, so I’d write them down. But in September of 2016 or 2017 I went to a writers’ conference in Seattle, and I met Christopher Vogler. I listened to his session and he was so kind; he gave me about thirty minutes after the session to sit and talk about the story I was working on. I feel like he planted a seed—he gave me a copy of his Writer’s Journey book and wrote on it, “Follow your path.” I happened to pick it up not that long ago and saw that message, and it reminded me it was time to get the ideas on paper.
Pat Donovan: That’s great. You spent most of your time here on Whidbey Island—how many years ago was that? Fourteen?
Rachel Tampa: Twelve?
Pat Donovan: Twelve, okay. You have a passion for writing about nature, photography, dogs—and I believe you have a cat.
Rachel Tampa: Two cats.
Pat Donovan: You’re a cat mommy—we can’t leave cats out of the picture, can we?
Rachel Tampa: No we cannot!
Pat Donovan: I’ve heard of the Universal Cat Distribution System.
Rachel Tampa: Yes, I have. I’ve been the victim of it twice.
Pat Donovan: What is it about the island, the water, the nature that makes you who you are?
Rachel Tampa: I love this question, because I’m a very sociable person but found myself in a situation much more isolated than I thought I’d end up in—not in a dark way, just more isolated than city life. I became essentially a woman from my twenties to my early thirties out here, and in a way my teachers were the tides, the forests, my garden. I learned so much about natural cycles and ecosystems, which certainly inform my writing. It’ll always be home; I don’t think I could ever truly leave the Pacific Northwest.
Pat Donovan: You’re going to film school up in BC, are you?
Rachel Tampa: Yes, I am.
Pat Donovan: Congratulations! Please share with us our listeners, readers, etc. What you shared with me about your pretend interview and how it actually went. Tell us about your ups and downs and how your heroes’ journey led you up there. So I want to hear this story about how you sat in a director’s chair.
Rachel Tampa: So I, it’s a little trick I have done before, right? I basically rehearsed. I think it’s from years of ballet. I will rehearse something that I think would be fun to experience. At this point, I knew that I wanted to go to film school. So I, on a whim, decided to order a director’s chair. I sat in front of a mirror. I got into an outfit that I felt really confident and yet creative. I was pretending to be interviewed. Kind of like this, actually. So it’s a bit of a full circle moment. I was asking about how I got to where I was going.
I was working on a particular project at the time. So I was asking myself some questions about that. I didn’t think much of it. It was a very playful thing for me. You know, I went about my days. I ended up going to an open house for this school. I drove up there. I listened to the first session then I went to the writer’s room. They were doing a presentation or preparing to. There weren’t any other students there or potential students.
I walked right up to someone who looked like they belonged there. I stuck out my hand. I said, “Hi, I’m Rachel Tampa. I’m here for this program.” Her name was Laura. We just chatted for quite a while. Then it was time to do the presentation. But there weren’t any students yet. So they said, “All right, let’s put you in the hot seat.” They pull out a director’s chair. I sit in it. We get to this point where we’re going to create a story.
They are using me as the main character. They’re asking me these questions. All of a sudden I realized they were some of the same questions I asked myself when I was pretending in the director’s chair in front of my mirror at home. Then I looked down. I realized I’m wearing the exact same outfit as well. So I’m having this moment. I’m kind of laughing, but also trying to, you know, be serious and pay attention. That ultimately led to some conversations and me getting into that program after submitting my work. So just a very serendipitous event for me.
Pat Donovan: Sort of like you were channeling your other self in another universe. And here you are.
Rachel Tampa: Exactly.
Pat Donovan: Amazing.
Rachel Tampa: The Arrival.
Pat Donovan: It’s a good movie too. I didn’t understand it. But yeah. We’ll talk about it later off camera. Let’s delve into some of the stories you’ve written. What does your love of writing mean to you and how has it changed your life? Yeah, we got about 30, 40 minutes for that…
Rachel Tampa: Perfect! [chuckles]
Pat Donovan: Just that question. [laughter]
Rachel Tampa: So, for me, writing is all about self-discovery. I think there’s so many different ways that we as humans can, you know, have that human experience and discover ourselves and discover what our different purposes are. And my writing when I was younger started out as, you know, fairy tales, stories, things, adventures that…
Pat Donovan: Once Upon a Time on ABC? Yeah?
Rachel Tampa: Yeah. For instance, I had my mother’s dining room table which became my rocket ship. Then her bed was like a raft that if I was on it I was crashing through, like a survival kind of state. Then the couch was a fun boat and in the backyard, my deck was a castle.
So, a lot of my earlier stuff came from there whereas now, I think it’s more about discovering who we are on more of a spiritual level, but you get to do that in so many fun different ways. I will always bring nature in but I also like playing with time and seeing how time can bend and what you can do with that. I think I’m also at the very beginning stage because this is the first time in my life that I’m truly nurturing this path. So there’s a lot of excitement of what’s going to come out of it, opposed to coming out there and saying, “oh, I’ve written all this and I know all this about writing.” It’s more of, I’m at that, that beginning stage where I get to nurture something that has been waiting for me for a really long time.
Pat Donovan: That’s a great answer. What else about you will be part of your future writing and filmmaking? Can you tell us about the ferry house in an original story of a bigger project you’re working on or is that hush-hush? Tease us!
Rachel Tampa: Sure! It’s a bit hush-hush, but I can tease. There’s a centuries-old ferry house that was used when people would need to go to Port Townsend. You really can’t go in. And I’m not saying I haven’t been in it, but…
Pat Donovan: [chuckles]
Rachel Tampa: But I went out there and I was just walking around and the story came to life. It didn’t feel like I was ever creating it. It felt like it was coming either, almost like a download or like through me. And it was just a very, very, very strong state of nostalgia and remembering. And so it turned into this story of… I mean, there’s time travel, there’s this self-discovery, across several different centuries, many different cultures, and there’s some quantum physics that goes into it and it’s just starting to kind of go into the future. So it’s a very big project. It’s my favorite project. And I think the thing for me is I have no rush to complete it because I’m watching it come alive as I create it.
Pat Donovan: So you can say your comp is Quantum Leap, right?
Rachel Tampa: Sure. You can say that.
Pat Donovan: Great. Didn’t you…right, the… [inaudible].
Rachel Tampa: Yes. But there’s a gentleness to it. Okay with a little bit of fire.
Pat Donovan: Okay, Beauty in the Beast then. We’ll throw that in then. Tell us something nobody knows—not even your hairdresser.
Rachel Tampa: Oh, he knows a lot! [chuckles]
Pat Donovan: Okay! What are your favorite types of music? Let me unpack that slowly. What do you do in your off time? And I see you had a bee land on your hand in your videos. Can we call you the queen of bees?
Rachel Tampa: Absolutely.
Pat Donovan: Okay, great! Go ahead. First question… The kitty! [Rachel’s cat makes its appearance].
Rachel Tampa: Yes, she’s, she’s, the real queen. [Rachel picks her up. She meows loudly!]
Pat Donovan: Oh, here we go. Go ahead.
Rachel Tampa: All right. Something that nobody knows about me.
Pat Donovan: Yep.
Rachel Tampa: I just, I will leave it … there’s a lot to be curious about.
Pat Donovan: Okay.
Rachel Tampa: So I will invite others to be curious as well. Favorite music. I really love all types of genres. I use music very intentionally to kind of help shift my energy or my mood to maybe manifest some things.
Pat Donovan: Any new projects or published works you have that you’d like to share or is this really early in your career for that?
Rachel Tampa: It’s early—I’ve written local healthcare things that I’ve done just locally. But as far as projects, there are two: There’s one that I’m saving for a film school and then there’s two that I’m kind of working on now. One is fiction. Very new. It’s a little love romance. Maybe a tragedy. We’ll see how it goes. But that is for those who maybe need to remember that the cost of freedom is sometimes a broken heart. And so, and it’s freedom from yourself, essentially. So that’s, that’s a new one. That’s called 101 Bird Kisses.
Pat Donovan: That’s the thing I saw in your picture, what you had in the coffee shop?
Rachel Tampa: Mm-hmm. And yeah. It’s a fresh heartbreak.
Pat Donovan: Yeah. Oh, no.
Rachel Tampa: And then the other one I’m very excited about. I’ve been working on it for a while. It’s a non-fiction piece called Just Book the Middle Seat. And I had the opportunity to…, I was on a date and with the gentleman who could tell, I was, I was nervous. This was really the first date I had been on, since being out of a very long relationship. And I said, oh, I’m just nervous. I don’t know what to say.
And he was so humble and described a time in his life where he had to face some uncomfortable situations. And one of the ways that he did that was to book the Middle Seat on the airplane to put himself out there. There’s certainly more to it, but it had such an impact on me, because it was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment. And it led to this project where I’d love to do a documentary or a series or maybe even a podcast of interviewing individuals who have taken that moment where they had to, it was like no choice. They just have to book the Middle Seat, or they would be stuck in their whole life, kind of forever. So I want to look at the neuroscience of bravery, specifically at that one moment where it’s like that moment where you have to jump when you’re so afraid, but you have to jump, which is also where I’m at now.
Pat Donovan: Yes, it is. Less Brown says Just Jump and so does the guy that, what does he? He does the Family Feud, the black gentleman [Steve Harvey], I can’t remember what this name. Anyway, he does a whole thing before he does the Family Feud. He talks about that and he says just jump when you’re at a cliff. Jump!
You’ve got to believe you’re going to fly, you know, and Tony Robbin’s talks about that life is a series of forks in the road. You can either go left or right, and depending how you go, it will affect the rest of your life. Every single moment of your life is a choice, fork in the road. And it’s time that you’ve made that choice in Las Vegas, it sounds like. You know, when you hit that fork? So we’re going to step Inside the Actor Studio. This is a homage to the late James Lipton and he used to do it on the “E!” Channel. We lost him in the second of March of 2020, and I’m going to ask you a series of questions, no peeking. I might make up a few…
Rachel Tampa: Fair.
Pat Donovan: …because you’re cheating. So give me your immediate answer without thinking about it. Are you ready?
Rachel Tampa: No, I’m going to do my best.
Pat Donovan: Turn your phone upside down.
Rachel Tampa: [She turns her phone over, reluctantly]
Pat Donovan: Thank you. What is your favorite word?
Rachel Tampa: Hiraeth.
Pat Donovan: Hirewha?
Rachel Tampa: Hiraeth. It’s a Welsh word, and it means home sickness or a longing for a place you can no longer return to.
Pat Donovan: Can you spell it for our readers?
Rachel Tampa: I can. H.I.R.A.E.T.H.
Pat Donovan: What is…
Rachel Tampa: You remember that word!
Pat Donovan: Yes, Ma’am. You like the instant “ma’am?”
Rachel Tampa: Mm-hmm. (snickers)
Pat Donovan: Snappy [Pat snaps his fingers]. What is your least favorite word?
Rachel Tampa: Probably any corporate buzzword, like online or like, let’s take it offline, circle back, any of those words.
Pat Donovan: Okay. Let me, let me dive in here. I hate the word curated. Okay? I’m going to curate a selection of cars for you that has been curated selectively and actually for the curation, a very selected bunch of curated cars. It’s like you’ve selected a bunch of cars when you see, right? Oh, yeah, honey, please. Oh, my god. My least favorite word went from the effort to that one. Okay. What turns you on?
Rachel Tampa: Oh, intellect, bravery, humility, and creativity.
Pat Donovan: Wow. What turns you off?
Rachel Tampa: Lack of self-control.
Pat Donovan: You don’t possess any?
Rachel Tampa: Oh, I do. [laughter]
Pat Donovan: What sound or noise do you love?
Rachel Tampa: It’s very specific. There’s one beach by deception pass, where when the water comes over the rocks and it falls back, just because of the angle that it’s on, it makes a very particular trickling sound. It’s perfect.
[US Navy growler flies overhead F/A-18F Super Hornet].
Pat Donovan: We’re being interrupted by an F-35 [Actually an F/A-18 Super Hornet] from Whidbey Island, ladies and gentlemen. Stand by.
Rachel Tampa: It was those growlers.
Pat Donovan: Yes, they are. They’re beautiful, aren’t they? What sound or noise do you love… I’ve already asked you that, right. What sound or noise do you hate?
Rachel Tampa: Ooh, the sound of an IV pump beeping. I worked the night shift as a nurse and that… I cannot stand that sound. Every five seconds.
Pat Donovan: “Beep!”
Rachel Tampa: Yes. I still have nightmares. I know.
Pat Donovan: Really?
Rachel Tampa: Oh, yeah!
Pat Donovan: Boy oh boy. What profession other than your own, in this case, being in health care, would you like to attempt not including being a writer?
Rachel Tampa: Ooh… I think something’s still with healing, but definitely something more holistic. I think I’d like to try acupuncture or something like that.
Pat Donovan: Okay. What profession would you not like to do ever?
Rachel Tampa: Anything that’s too …. ? [Growler flies overhead again…] Too monotonous.
Pat Donovan: Okay. That growler again, ladies, gentlemen, we’re advertising for Whidbey Island, Naval Air Station. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly gates?
Rachel Tampa: I don’t know if it’s what I want him to say but I’m going to say he’ll probably say that the only reason you had to be so brave was because you were too stubborn to go and follow your intuition.’
Pat Donovan: Way to go. All right. Now I’m going to turn it over to you. I want you to talk to our readers and listeners about anything you’d like with the remaining time we have, which is about another 40 or 50 minutes.
Rachel Tampa: (chuckles) Perfect.
Pat Donovan: Go ahead.
Rachel Tampa: Don’t know if it’s enough time. We might need to extend this. (laughs)
Pat Donovan: Go for it.
Rachel Tampa: Well, I think maybe just sharing my excitement to be able to explore the human experience through writing. I’ve always done it through being a nurse and so this is going to be an opportunity for me to just carve out a new path and I’m really excited to meet other creative minds. I think working in mental health can be very serious work and I’ve been doing that for quite a long time so I’m so looking forward to the opportunity to meet people like you. Meeting other writers and people who are really devoting their life to the arts. So that’s it. [another growler flies overhead] That is really loud.
Pat Donovan: Yeah that is that F-35 [Actually and F/A-18 Super Hornet]. It’s a growler, ladies as a gentleman. Welcome to Whidbey Island. Go ahead. You were saying before you’re rudely interrupted.
Rachel Tampa: I mean, I think I’m just… I’m at that point where you’re just embarking and you don’t quite know everything and you get to be naive a little bit. So just really looking forward to where that’s going and if Christopher Nolan ever comes upon this, I would love to work with you. Throw in some Hans Zimmer, that would be fantastic. Dreams can come true. We can bend time a little bit to make that happen.
Pat Donovan: Yeah, I’ll make sure we get an invitation to send them off to his agent. Okay, well listen, thank you so much for spending time with you today. [long pause as yet another growler flies overhead] [Pat has to speak loudly] And for the F35 growlers [Actually F/A-18 Super Hornets] that are continually interrupting this beautiful, wonderful interview. [Long pause] Anyway, with your permission, we’d like to continue watching you as you travel up the ladder of success in writing and hopefully see you at the Writer’s Guild Awards one day, either on the red carpet or interviewing in prep for the red carpet.
Rachel Tampa: Absolutely. I’d welcome it and I thank you so very much.
Pat Donovan: Thank you for your time. I really appreciate this and all the best to you.
Rachel Tampa: Thank you. Thank you.