Welcome to Tea with Mrs B, an author interview series. Here to share a pot of tea and to chat about her latest book, The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter, is Sarah Williams.
Sarah Williams spent her childhood chasing sheep, riding horses and picking Kiwi fruit on the family orchard in rural New Zealand. After a decade travelling, Sarah moved to Queensland to raise a family and follow her passion for writing. She currently resides in Maleny on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, Australia.
When she’s not absorbed in her fictional writing world, Sarah is running after her family of four kids, one husband, two dogs, a spirited horse and a cat. She hosts the weekly writer podcast/vlog Write with Love, runs writers workshops, mentors and supports her peers achieve their publishing dreams.
Hello Sarah. It is my pleasure to welcome to my blog, Mrs B’s Book Reviews and thank you for joining me for Tea with Mrs B, an author interview series. To set the mood for our tea infused interview, what is your preferred beverage, tea, coffee or other? And side accompaniment, scone, cake or other?
I’m a flat white drinker (I adore coffee) and I’m a sucker for a scone with jam and cream!!
Can you tell us what genres you write for and how many books you have had published?
I write Australian based romance, or Rural Romance as we like to call it and The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter was my fourth book since early 2017.
The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter was published late last year. Can you describe the book in just a sentence?
City-boy Justin inherits his estranged father’s dairy farm in Maleny, QLD and with the help of Freya aka The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter, must decide whether to keep it or sell it to a property developer for a ridiculous amount of money.
What came first in the creation of the novel – the title, plot, characters or setting when you first set out to write The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter?
The setting! I moved my family (husband and 4 young kids) to Maleny from Townsville in 2018 and almost as soon as we arrived, I knew I needed to use it as the setting for a book. Now characters keep talking to me so it will be a long running series of separate couples.
How long did it take you to write The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter?
About 6 months. I’m a full-time, career author so that’s pretty average for me.
Did you need to undertake any research to bring The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter to life?
I had to visit some dairy farms, Mary Cairncross Park and lots of cafes!
What character did you most identify with in The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter?
Freya. She is optimistic and positive and I like to think I am too.
What ingredients do you feel are necessary to compose a successful romance based narrative?
Inspiration, perseverance and a lot of hard work! I spend a lot of time learning about the craft of writing and also the business. But I love it!
What was the most challenging and rewarding aspects of writing The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter?
It has been so warmly received. Unlike my outback Brigadier Station series, this one is light and short. I hope you feel good after reading it!
What do you hope readers will take away from reading The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter?
I really want them to go and read the rest of my books! Or come meet me for a coffee here in Maleny!
Can you tell us about your journey to publication?
I started seriously writing in 2015 when my twins started day-care. I was awarded the Queensland Writers Centre/Hachette mentorship in 2016 and was offered a contract on The Brothers of Brigadier Station the same year. However, I’m a businesswoman and I didn’t like the terms of the contract, so I decided to self-publish. Knowing I would do this for (hopefully) the rest of my life, I created Serenade Publishing and now I publish novels by other talented authors.
Write with Love is your weekly writer podcast. Can you tell us more about your work on this show?
Audio is a growing market and even though I’m an introvert I wanted to build my brand. Now, I am almost 60 episodes in and have met and talked to Marie Force, Nalini Singh, Bella Andre, Maisey Yates and so many more!
Aside from writing, do you have any interesting hobbies?
I have a horse and I love riding and taking care of her. We go to a lot of rodeos and bull riding and I adore watching liberty training but have never tried it.
What is next on the horizon for Sarah Williams? Do you have any writing projects you would like to share with us?
I am in 3 multi-author boxsets this year. Outback Hearts is out until the end of February; Outback Heroes is on pre-order now and another one comes out in August. I have put these together under Serenade Publishing and they are only 99 cents for a limited time!
I’m also completing my Brigadier Station series this year. The Legacies of Brigadier Station will be out in May and the final one, Christmas at Brigadier Station will be out in November.
Finally, wrapping up our tea themed interview, who would you most like to share a pot of tea with?
Diana Gabaldon. I watch the TV show (I love Jamie Fraser to bits) and even though I can’t get through any of her gigantic sized novels, I would love to talk to her about her process and inspiration. I keep pestering her to come on the show, but no success yet!
Thank you for taking the time to visit Mrs B’s Book Reviews for Tea with Mrs B Sarah. Congratulations on the publication of The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter!
Thank you for having me!!!!
Justin Wheeler is not a country boy. He could have been, if his mother had stayed 
married to his father and not moved back to the city when he was only a toddler. But now that his estranged father is dead and he has inherited the dairy farm, Justin finds himself considering if the life he is living is actually the life he wants.
Family means everything to Freya Montgomery. She loves living on the land and helping to grow the family business. She knows how important agriculture is to their small hinterland community, so when Justin arrives in town and is offered a generous price from a housing developer to buy his property, Freya must convince him not to accept the deal and instead lease the land to her family.
The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter is the first in an exciting new small-town series called “Heart of the Hinterland” by Bestselling author, Sarah Williams.
The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter by Sarah Williams was published on 28th November 2018 by Serenade Publishing. Details on how to purchase the book can be found here.
Connect with Sarah here:
Mrs B's Book Reviews 
An interesting interview. I love Maleny, it’s a gorgeous place. One day when we visit Maleny again I might be lucky enough to bump into Sarah, that would be very cool!
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I’d love to visit Maleny and have a cuppa with Sarah. It’s nice that you are closer than me! I hope you manage to get there.
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