Michael Woodcock is a New Zealander living in Rural Wairarapa (Carterton) with his wife Gaye, on their small farm nestled close to the Tararua Mountains. Michael commutes daily to Wellington where he works as a trade union organiser.
His writing to date has been in the form of a Green political column followed by one on trout fishing in a local Wairarapa newspaper. He has written other non-fiction articles for several magazines and a chapter for a local historical book being prepared for publication.
Over the past year he has used the free time of the nearly hour and a half train journey to write much of and to edit his first novel. A keen fly fisherman and environmentalist, his book uses these two themes to explore male friendship through the experiences of the two main characters.
While in residency Michael plans to use the opportunity of having shifted place and space to see his work afresh, using the recently completed manuscript assessment to further develop the latest and hopefully final draft of his first fiction novel.