I was kindly invited to review West Australian author Michael Trant’s first rural fiction novel for Allen & Unwin. Those who follow my reading tastes know I love Australian rural fiction novels, so I soon jumped at the chance to review a new book from a genre I am passionate about. An added drawcard for Ridgeview Station is that Michael is a WA based country boy and his debut novel channels his first hand experiences working on the land in my home state. I now have the privilege of welcoming Michael Trant to the blog this week. Michael’s special guest post today follows a full review on Mrs B’s Books Reviews.
Michael’s journey from an experienced farmer, to a blogger and now a published writer completely fascinated me. I just had to ask Michael all about his transition from a farmer to an author. Read on for Michael Trant’s honest, heartfelt and surprisingly humourous guest post on, ‘From a farmer to an author’.
From a farmer to an author
How does a former farmer become an author? Quite unexpectedly, I can assure you. But then I never expected most things leading up to the email offering a publishing contract.
It’s weird, because as a kid raised on the family farm, I was never really sure what I wanted to be growing up, but I knew it wasn’t going to be a farmer. Bugger that. All that dust, sweat, hard work and hay fever, not to mention those incredibly frustrating sheep I had to force up into a crutching cradle. Nope, farming wasn’t for me. I much preferred reading a book on the bed. But at the end of Year 12, faced with the prospect of either studying music in Perth or coming home to the farm, I chose the latter, as the idea of living in Perth held no appeal. Fast forward twelve years I was happily married, co-owner of a large sheep depot and farm near Geraldton, and all set to take on our next venture; a sheep station out at Yalgoo called Gabyon. So much for childhood plans.
So what happened? Indonesia happened. The fallout from the live export crisis revealed many things, one of which was a distinct lack of agricultural folk online. We had no voice, no representation and no way of getting our stories across. It took a while but that changed, and I began writing a blog called Farmer’s way of Life which ended up being listed by the National Library as a Rural Blog of Significance.
Through all my ramblings, musings and wisecracks, I kept getting told I should write a book, until one afternoon I decided to give it a crack. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, so I wrote a scene with a guy swearing up a windmill, mimicking pretty much every windmill fixing episode I’ve ever been in. The original idea was to make a funny novel based on a series of blog posts I called The Golden Rules of Farming; effectively Murphy’s Guide to what goes wrong on farms. After I’d finished the first scene, I wrote a second involving two sheep dogs and found it going from a joked filled observation on farm life to a more contemporary rural story.
Over the next two years I chipped away, sometimes not looking at it for months on end. This was never going to come to anything and we had bigger things to worry about; bushfires, lost markets, government ineptitude and the general shitty situation we found ourselves in. Eventually I managed to finish, hit save and left it at that. Then I heard about Allen & Unwin’s Friday Pitch, so out it came again for a once over and the first chapter was sent off; in the wrong font, wrong format and wrong everything else. Needless to say I never heard back, but I had the bug. What if?
In between selling off the two farms and generally trying to survive out on the station, I reworked the first few chapters and sent it off again to a couple of other publishers who took unsolicited submissions. Again, nothing. By now I was working FIFO to pay some bills, while still doing the odd blog post. Back on Gabyon we’d just begun a tourism venture, so I started thinking a book would be a good way to get people interested but I needed professional guidance, though there was no way I could justify spending money. I came up with a Kickstarter project, and after a month of campaigning hit the target thanks to eighty one generous backers. This meant I could send it off to a manuscript assessor. whose report came back with some very complimentary remarks and a few suggestions on where to go from there.
Unfortunately in the months that followed my wife and I separated, so the manuscript stayed in the draw for almost a year while stuff got sorted, until one R & R break I found the report, re-read it and got the nerve to try again. The first chapter was sent in one last time, the plan being once that was rejected I’d print it myself, send out the copies to the patient Kickstarter backers and let the rest collect dust or something. And then an email from A&U arrived asking for the rest. Oh wow. Don’t get too excited, they still have to like the rest. But what if?
After a lot of back and forth it finally happened. A contract turned up for WYDJAWANNA STATION. That’s what I’d originally called Ridgeview Station, because that’s what everyone asked when we bought ours. ‘Why’d you want a station?’ The elation of that email was seconded only by the day my advance copy arrived in the mail, twelve months later. Holy crap, that’s a real book! With my name on it!
So here we are, with Ridgeview Station on the shelves and me trying to back that up with another one. I do hope you enjoy it, and if you do, I hope you are able to go for a drive to Gabyon Station. It really is lovely spot with lovely people and you’ll recognise a few things out there.
In the meantime, I’ve finally worked out what I want to be when I grow up.
Michael
I hope this insightful guest post convinced you delve straight into the pages of Ridgeview Station! This post certainly enhanced my overall reading experience of Ridegview Station. It also encouraged my resolve to take a drive out to the inspiration for this novel, Gabyon Station. Thanks to Michael Trant for stopping past Mrs B’s Book Reviews to share his compelling journey from a farmer to a successful author.
Here is some more information on the talented author of Ridegview Station, Michael Trant.
Michael Trant is a WA country boy just beginning his new life as an author, following a wide range of careers from marine draftsman to farmer, and pastoralist to FIFO pot-washer. Michael is now based in Perth, having grown up on the family farm at Eneabba, before moving to Geraldton then out to Yalgoo. His debut novel Ridgeview Station was inspired by his time on Gabyon Station, and he highly recommends a visit for those curious about life on a sheep station.
When he’s not writing, Michael can be found plucking away at his guitar in attempts to replicate his idol Tommy Emmanuel, or swearing at his beloved Fremantle Dockers. He still travels to Three Springs to drive tractors ‘just to keep my hand in,’ but despite the advent of autosteer machines, refrains from taking the laptop to write, as that would not end well for power poles, fences or trees.’
Michael currently lives in Perth. Ridgeview Station is his first novel.
My thanks are extended to Michael Trant for this Guest Post. Connect with Michael here:
- Website: http://www.michaeltrant.com.au/
- Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelTrantAuthor/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/farmersway
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16935594.Michael_Trant
