Swindon PR guru Fiona Scott has turned back the clock for her second book, to explore her life in newspaper journalism.
Launched at the View Gallery (part of RWB Auctions) on November 11, Tales of a Backwater Journalist looks at Fiona’s early days as a reporter in Swindon and Somerset, and how she almost didn’t go into the profession at all!
While watching a news crew in her Somerset home town, the teenaged Fiona had a sudden epiphany: she didn’t want the safe life planned for her; she wanted to be a journalist.
Despite her mother’s warnings that she was “far too sensitive” and careers advice pointing her towards being a secretary or a nurse, she couldn’t shake off the idea.
Although to begin with, Fiona followed the ‘safe’ route and trained to be a teacher, she eventually threw caution to the wind – she quit teaching, ended her engagement to her then partner, cancelled her wedding and started life as a reporter.
Tales of a Backwater Journalist is the second book from Fiona, who is now best known as a journalist and public relations expert, at the helm of Scott Media. Her first book, The Hard Yards, explored her journey as an entrepreneur, and the first ten years of running her own business and was published two years ago.
“I’ve been in journalism now for more than 38 years, so a lot has happened, a lot has changed, and I’ve enjoyed getting some of my stories into print and on the TV – and print, is where I started off in newspapers!”
In Tales of a Backwater Journalist, Fiona shares some of the failures and the successes in her professional and private life, and some of the incredible stories and people she found and wrote about along the way. Examples of Swindon stories Fiona worked on include the murder of Joan Main (the body in the suitcase); the Swindon College rape; crashing in a hot air balloon at Lydiard Park; and the woman who reunited with her long lost son after 50 years.
The book costs £18 and is available via Amazon, in paperback and on Kindle.
Scott Media specialises in PR and marketing services for small business and entrepreneurs. For information visit https://scottmedia.uk/.
Article by Jo Smyth, Word Worker
