Dee Gordon Writer - About Dee Gordon

Meet me

Launch of:

Haunted Southend

For your free invitation, please contactme.html
The launch will be at The Kursaal, Southend, on Saturday 25th February 2012, from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm.
Free refreshments available. But remember, invitation only.

I am at the U3A Thorpe Bay monthly meetings every fourth Friday afternoon because I am the "leader" of their Creative Writing Group.

Meetings take place:
2.00 - 4.00 pm
at Shoebury Baptist Church, Caulfield Road.

BEFORE THE BOOKS

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!

Books by Essex Writer, Dee Gordon

Awards and Commendations

First prize, Writers' Forum Poetry Competition, February 2007. £100. More than £1 a word.
Shortlisted (in top ten) for UK Authors' (novel) competition with My Little Brother, My Little Life.
First prize in Age Concern Essex 2008 Poetry competition for A Moving Occasion.
In top four of Wannabeawriter novel competition 2008 for My Little Brother, My Little Life.
Runner Up 'First Chapters' competition May 2009, My Little Brother, My Little Life.
Voted Book of the Month by The Poetry Kit (February 2009) for Bad Girls.
Runner up in The Bookseller’s 'Most Unusual Book Title' competition, April 2008 (!): People who mattered in Southend and Beyond: From King Canute to Dr Feelgood.