ABOUT ME

Dee Gordon, B.A.Hons (Lt)

Member of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists

I have always wanted to write. When I left school (in East London) with a fistful of ‘O’ levels including good English grades, I wrote to every London publisher. The only response was from the London Weekly Advertiser, who offered me a job in their Accounts Department. Oh, well. It was a job. And, as I used to have to record the money coming in for the Personal Ads, it was a bit of an introduction to life’s quirkier side…

After a spell as a secretary at I.P.C. in Fleet Street (which also didn’t lead anywhere), I was offered a job in the recruitment agency that had given up trying to find me a publishing opportunity. As a secretary, I had always had plenty of free time and had written endless romances: typed on the office typewriter. These were published in picture-story magazines such as Romeo, Marilyn, and Mirabelle, with one story paying more than a week’s salary. But it never occurred to me to “give up the day job” and “go for it”. If I had … but that’s another story. I did well in the world of recruitment and ended up with my own business which I sold to my partner in 2000.

This gave me time for three things:

To spend more time with my son, Ben, who was born with a rare syndrome (VATER syndrome) affecting his swallowing, skeleton, eating and growth. As he was later diagnosed with a hearing loss and, later still, autism, his needs were growing as he grew older rather than diminishing.
To complete an O.U. degree in English literature, which gave me a lot of confidence. The graduation ceremony when I collected the certificate confirming that I had a B.A.Hons in Literature was confirmation that I could achieve what I set out to do. An achievement which I had envisaged for my son, but…
Writing!

THE STORY OF MY WRITING, SO FAR...

MY FIRST BOOK

It took me just three months to write Meat Market, a novel that recounts two days in the lives and loves of a London recruitment agency. An obvious choice of subject, easy to write, with an Essex “heroine” and a multiple viewpoint approach – but it took two years to find a publisher (with very limited marketing).

AND THEN

Obviously, I did not want to spend so much time “placing” a book, especially when marketing budgets for novels are spent on established authors who don’t need it, rather than beginners… an interesting dichotomy.

SO WHAT NEXT?

My son, of all people, provided an answer. He likes “list” books and couldn’t find a list of “famous” people from the area we live in – Southend-on-Sea. So I approached some non-fiction publishers and managed to get some interest for this project… the result, the first of my local history books: People who mattered in Southend and Beyond – now out of print, so contact me if you are having trouble getting hold of a copy.

… AND AFTER THAT …

One thing certainly leads to another. As I gained experience in writing, in researching, in approaching editors, more local history books followed in reasonably rapid succession. In 2008 I did self-publish an anthology of poetry about infamous women written over a number of years (Bad Girls) because poetry is even harder to place than novels! This book, too, is available by contacting me direct.