A Crettyard, Co. Laois dairy farmer has found a farm diversification project that is ‘write’ up her street, or more correctly, lane.
Lorna Sixsmith from Garrendenny Lane has just published her debut novel ‘Country Girl at Heart’, a romantic comedy, written in a diary format.
The main character in the book, Kelly, leaves her family and her ex behind in London, taking off with a broken heart and what will fit in her small car – stray cat included – for the rural retreat of her aunt and uncle’s farm near Kilkenny.
Kelly makes her grand entrance to the farm by nose-diving into a snowdrift. She has secured two terms of teaching, covering a maternity leave, and is determined to head for sunnier climes once her contract ends.
Due to her uncle’s sudden illness, she has to be more hand-on with farm jobs than she had anticipated but luckily, neighbours step in to help her.
The suave and sophisticated Hugh – an accountant and farmer – and sensible childhood friend and farming neighbour, Steve, enter the fray.
Her plan to stay single crumbles, as she thinks a bit of fun wouldn’t hurt and that she could make friends, get fit and have a casual fling with ambitious Hugh.
Kelly’s dream of a sedate rural escape becomes a comedy of agricultural errors. She hadn’t reckoned wrangling with a goat with attitude, helping to deliver calves or learning to drive a loader. Thankfully, Steve is there to help.
‘Country Girl at Heart’ is a romantic comedy about finding love in unexpected places, rediscovering yourself in the most ridiculous situations and embracing the life you never expected.
“Various ordinary farming women inspired my idea for this novel and I intend to make it a series. I’ve witnessed so many women, often from town backgrounds, who married farmers and took to the lifestyle like a duck to water, milking cows, driving tractors, feeding calves, doing the paperwork and standing in a gap, and it’s only recently that their work has received any publicity or recognition,” said Sixsmith.
“Women are now featured on the front pages of farming newspapers. They’re sitting on boards and they’re taking part in the more public side of farming life.
“Much more work still has to be done of course and schemes like women-only tractor driving courses are a great idea. But women being interviewed about what they do on the farm as if it’s an unusual occurrence is rapidly becoming outdated.
“As is the expression ‘Women are the backbone of Irish farming’. They are becoming front and central at long last,” she said.
Sixsmith added that within the novels she wants to “show what farming life is like for both women and men in an entertaining way.
“Hopefully, as with my other books, farming families will recognise themselves within the pages and yes, laugh at themselves. I hope urban dwellers will enjoy them too.”
Farming and writing are both solitary lifestyles, Sixsmith acknowledged: “I love my solitary lifestyle. I’m most content when in one of my ‘woman caves,’ be it the calf shed in the spring or my writing room.
“During the pandemic, I discovered that I’m definitely an introvert and am happiest being in the company of dogs and books.
“I’m probably regarded as a strange hermit in my house on the hill but I much prefer a winter’s evening with a book in front of the fire than going out to a busy social environment,” she said.
She reads a variety of genres: gritty historical fiction, crime novels, a range of bestselling contemporary fiction, the classics and the occasional romantic comedy.
“My favourite novels are mostly by Irish authors: John McGahern’s ‘Amongst Women’, ‘The House Where It Happened’ by Martina Devlin, ‘The Undertaking’ by McGee, ‘The Spinning Heart’ by Donal Ryan and ‘Prophet Song’ by Paul Lynch as well as – not Irish- ‘Burial Rites’ by Hannah Kent.
“My favourite historians are Mervyn Watson and Jonathan Bell. Their books on Irish farming history are wonderful,” said Sixsmith.
When it comes to scheduling time for writing, it can be difficult to carve out a stretch, according to Sixsmith:
“This spring was a disaster for my writing as it was so wet and winter farming jobs lasted well into May. It was like a never-ending groundhog day with cows and cattle having to be foddered, and cubicles scraped and limed.
“They’re tedious tasks at the best of times but the only positive of doing them for months on end was being able to listen to lots of audio books.”
Laois dairy farmer
Sixsmith started writing in 2013 when she realised there was an immense interest in farming judging by the reaction to some of her blog posts.
“I self-published three non-fiction humorous titles ‘Would You Marry a Farmer?’, ‘How to be a Perfect Farm Wife’ and ‘An Ideal Farm Husband’; and traditionally published a farming memoir ‘Till the Cows Come Home’. I hadn’t intended on it taking me six years to publish the next book but sometimes life takes turns we don’t expect,” she said.
“With my earliest books, I mostly wrote in the evenings when the children were in bed, and I was well able to write and edit until midnight.
“I can’t burn the candle at both ends anymore and indeed, once I’m inside after the evening farming jobs, I’m focused on relaxation, rather than writing.
“Therefore, I tend to write after ‘second breakfast’ for a few hours, depending on what needs doing on the farm. I’d love if writing was a daily occurrence but I’m not there yet,” the author added.
With her novel, it was much more difficult to deem it finished as the plot could have gone in so many different directions, Sixsmith said:
“Although I had outlined the plot and planned the characters, I ended up changing my mind on quite a few things so considerable editing was required.
“It was also difficult to dedicate sufficient time to it. I discovered that fiction requires much more concentration and an hour here and there just isn’t enough ‘to get into it’.”
Sixsmith is self-publishing her novel: “I prefer the freedom of being able to dictate my own timetable. For example, I’d planned to publish three months ago but the wet spring put paid to that and as farming jobs have to come first, this reduces stress levels.
“There are other advantages such as having complete control over all the decisions and the satisfaction of being able to see sales figures on a daily basis,” she said.
For her sequel to ‘County Girl at Heart’, Sixsmith has written the first draft of what she describes as a ‘dark contemporary’ novel set on a farm and she has plans for a few historical novels.
She also plans to do a MA in local/ regional history: “It’s almost 30 years since I did a MA in Irish history and I miss academia and education.
“However, who would feed my calves in February and March if I was doing a course? And there’s the fact that I am rather possessive about my calves.
“We now have a good relief milker, so I’ll be trusting my husband with the calves two evenings a week. The MA in local/regional history starts in September and I’m really looking forward to it.”
For anyone wanting to write, her advice is to read as much as possible and practise writing by either starting a blog, a private journal, or joining a creative writing class.
“Different things suit different people. For me, it was writing blog posts that helped the most.
‘It’s important to have a couple of trusted beta readers – people who review an author’s manuscript before publication – who are familiar with your genre; an excellent editor; and a professional cover designer.
If you’re self publishing, your book has to look as professional as any traditionally published novel. My previous books were distributed by the main Irish wholesalers and sold well within Irish bookshops as well as from my website,” she advised.
‘Country Girl at Heart’ is available on Sixsmith’s website, on Amazon and order in bookshops.