TinaB
I wear a number of hats collected over my 46 years of existence – wordsmith, author (published and self published), radio and TV broadcaster, speaker, modern philosopher and all round polymath.
Wordsmith and Author: Although an avid reader and scribbler since childhood, I didn’t consider myself to be an author. It wasn’t even part of my game plan. My career began in magazine publishing, but after a detour into sports psychology and Neuro Linguistic Programming in the early 2000′s, that all changed at Your Horse Live in 2004. After inspiring a 100 strong audience of horse riders to address their riding fears, I was approached by Judith Longman, then commissioning editor at Hodder and Stoughton, and thus I took a whole new pathway.
My first book for Hodder, 100 Ways for a Horse to Train its Human , was a runaway success selling almost 40,000 copies within three months of publication. If horses were considered pets by The Bookseller magazine, then this first book would have ranked number 3 in its Christmas 2005 pet book bestsellers list. I am quite proud of my first born!
100 Ways to Live with a Horse Addict and 100 Ways a Horse is Better than a Man followed in quick succession. Horse Addict has a particular satisfaction for me. As a young teenager, I was banned from writing about horses for an entire term by my English teacher, Terry Millward, because I was becoming addicted. It does give me a certain satisfaction to now have my addiction published! And I believe Mr Millward is quite proud of me – especially being published by a ‘proper’ publisher.
100 Ways a Horse is Better than a Man seemed the obvious next book to write as the horse-riding public is predominantly female and most would trade the husband in first if push came to shove.
I self published my fourth little book as a limited edition to raise money for horsy charities. ‘Bomb-proof your Human, An Equine’s Guide to Teaching Confident Riding’ developed from years of observing riders struggling with confidence problems and horses trying to cope with it.
Along the way I have also written The Fizz Kit – a self-coaching book for horse-riders (self published), and Social Networking for Rookies (published by Marshall Cavendish). I have also ghost-written books for other people, and have written copy for websites, email campaigns, newsletters, promotional and marketing materials and radio adverts.
Radio: Becoming an author also led me into radio. A chance meeting (at a Diwali dinner party in 2006) with Tony Wadsworth, then presenter of The Morning Show on BBC Radio Leicester, was followed by an interview on his show and I was hooked. I had found my spiritual home. I guested for Tony for about 12 months until I moved house and out of Leicestershire.
I became involved with Boundary Sound, Newark’s community radio station, in 2008 just as the station was about to go on air full time. I joined June Rowlands to present the Saturday morning show ‘Girls on Top’. In 2010 we were joined by Sue Jackson and the Girls on Top became three; three occasionally grumpy and frequently loose-tongued women. We broadcast for nearly three years until the station sadly stopped broadcasting in June 2011.
I also presented ‘In The Limelight’ for Boundary Sound, which was an arts and culture programme. I had great fun creating my own music playlist with a varied and eclectic diet of classical, jazz, folk, film scores, world music and well known pieces performed with a twist. I also interviewed local and not-so-local artists, musicians, poets, writers and creators on the show to put their creativity on the local radar and to share their journeys and inspiration. Some of my favourite interviews are on my blog in Tina Talks To…
TV: On the box, I present The Book Channel, where I interview authors about their books and the inspiration and stories behind them. You can view the programmes here: www.thebookchannel.tv
Speaker: I consider myself very fortune that I have always been encouraged to perform from an early age. From the moment I went to school at 4 years old I was encouraged to read aloud to the teacher and class (we all were). I performed in school plays, concerts, gang shows with the girl guides. I learned to ad lib, talk off the cuff and speak in front of audiences from 10 to 100′s. And actually I really love having an audience. So if you need a speaker, I’m your girl. For more info on the topics I talk on see my Speaker page.
However, as cosy as this sounds, I have also been through a period of my life where I felt I’d lost my voice. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say to the world or if I had anything to say at all. Giving airtime to the voices and stories of others through the radio and TV shows prevented me from going silent altogether. It was quite a scary time. You can read more about my thoughts and feelings about it in My Voice.
Thankfully I feel I have now found my voice again and I feel a need to express my own voice in my writing, rather than write in the voice of my clients. When the poet Maya Angelou was asked what it took to be a writer, she said there were three things: something to say, the ability to express it and finally the courage to express it at all. Those three things have now come together for me. Now I feel I can truly step into being a writer.
Having found my voice and the courage to express it, I am also passionate about helping other women find theirs, whether that be in public speaking, through media interviews, in their writing, blog or social media presence or even in workplace meetings or at home. If you think you have nothing to say, or that no-one will listen, or if you know what you want to say, but aren’t quite sure how or where to say it, then I would be honoured to be invited to help. Read more about this in Your Voice.