Today I am pleased to welcome author Teniele Arnold. She is one very busy lady and I appreciate that she took the time to talk out to us.
Tell us a bit about your background
I started my entrepreneur journey quite young from 7 years old my brother and I potted up my parent’s succulents and made a roadside stall to sell them, from there followed on through the years coming up with ideas to make money. At 10 years old my best friend and I would create felt cards for birthdays, get wells etc and sell them to the neighbours.
Around 12 years old we would create our own comic books and magazines, the magazines were the most fun, writing articles, having fun photoshoots with our film cameras back then and then placing it all together. Just shy of 13 I had my first job in a video store, I loved being able to pick and choose any movie I wanted to watch, I just loved the amazing stories and we always got advance copies of the new movies coming out which was always fantastic at that age. Around 14 I began writing all the time, short stories, instead of doing maths, I was secretly writing my erotic fictions, but once I was out of high school and in the real world I stopped writing for quite a while and it wasn’t until three years ago that I began writing again and the first story I wrote was my first published children’s book, quite a ways from erotic fiction! and all my little entrepreneur jobs along the way have given me the skills to develop my own businesses including my book brand and business.
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I would say my first thoughts of how wonderful it would be to be a writer was when I was 8 years old reading Enid Blyton – The faraway tree.
I thought I could be a writer around high school years, whilst scribbling in my erotic fiction notebook.
But I did not seriously think I could be a writer until Finding Your Happy Voice idea came to me, as I was not good at English and my grammar was terrible, but I thought that’s what an editor is for!
Tell us about your book or books.
Finding your happy voice is a children’s story that follows a little boys journey to finding his happy voice, the story speaks of emotions and how to utilise the breath to listen to our inner voice, here is where we can find our happy voice.
Is there a typical writing day?
Not now coming into school holidays, just when I am feeling the creative urge, prior to that I was allocating a Tuesday to write, but only if it felt right on the day.
The dreaded question- where do you get your ideas?
The Idea for finding your happy voice came from real-life experience and meditation, and inner knowing that this was a book and I had to share it.
What is the best thing about being a writer? And the worst?
The best is I find it exciting; I love talking with parents and listening to their pain points, offering the odd hug for those not coping that day. The worst is your pretty much a business owner and you need to know a lot of things to sell your book, luckily, I have learnt many areas over the years but the one that I have not and learning now is marketing!
What are you working on now?
My next children’s book is written and edited and currently, in illustration, I can not wait for this one to come out in 2020
Do you work on more than one thing at once?
Not writing, I have been doing one at a time, but I do have several projects on the go at once.
What is the best writing advice you received and the worst?
Start from the heart and the worst you can’t be an author if you’re not good at grammar.
Any advice for other writers?
If you are called to write something and that calling won’t go away, then just write it. If you are called to share that work, then just take one step at a time and go for it!
What do you wish you’d known when you were beginning?
I should have taken a marketing degree ha-ha, no I have done well myself with this, but it’s definitely an advantage to learn as much as possible about marketing.
Do you have any unusual hobbies?
Unusual hobby hmmm not really, I enjoy going to sound healings, I guess that’s unusual for some, but the rest are pretty normal yoga, reading, sewing and photography.
What do you like to read?
My favourite Genre is Psychological thrillers, along with anything based on a true story and I guess action some of my favourite authors are Patricia Cornwell, Jane Harper, Vince Flynn, Simon Becket, Tess Gerritsen, Lee Child to name a few. My other favourite genre is spirituality & self-development so many great books here authors like Eckhart Tolle, Louise Hay, Paulo Coelho, Caroline Myss PH. D, Michael Singer, Deepak Chopra and Brandon Bays
I do have a variety of genres on my shelf including romance and comedy and a very long reading list for this holidays 😊
What is the oddest thing you have researched OR What would people be surprised to know about you?
Hmm, people may be surprised to know that I run a couple of business and work part-time.
I have a photography business that has been running for over 5 years now
Partnership with my husband in a plumbing company
I work two days a week in the family Company for painting/graffiti removal looking after the accounts and anything else administration wise.
And now my books to add into the mix, oh and I used to drive haul packs aka dump trucks for some time in 2008 with my husband in Newman.
Thank you for taking the time to talk to us at this very busy time of year and best wishes for the future success of all your enterprises but especially your books!
Here are all the links for Teniele and her books
AUTHOR PUBLISHER SELF PUBLISHED
Teniele Arnold
Phone Number: 0404 143 023
Email: peacockpressaustralia@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/findingyourhappyvoice
Instagram: www.instagram.com/findingyourhappyvoice.com
Website: www.findingyourhappyvoice.com
Publisher:
Peacock Press Australia
Email: Peacockpressaustralia@gmail.com
Finding Your Happy Voice is available to purchase from
Hardbacks: www.findingyourhappyvoice.com
Softcover: Worldwide most popular online stores like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookmate, Booktopia, Kobo, Redshelf, etc
E-Book: www.amazon.com
Sonia Bellhouse- Author. 