A Chat with DJ Kirkby

Have you ever had a secret? One so important that it feels as if it will tear you in two? Stephen's got one. He's also got a great job, beautiful wife and an adorable son.  Outwardly his life seems perfect but it means nothing without Alice.  Read Without Alice and meet a man who you will love to hate until you learn to love him.


Hi DJ and welcome to High Heels and Book Deals.  Tell me about your journey to publication

Well that’s a very long story actually. In 2008 Without Alice was accepted by a publisher and was due to be published in August 2009. The publishing company blogged about me saying I was cool and groovy and I blogged excitedly about them.

They sent a contract which I had checked by the Society of Authors. They suggested a few changes which the publishers agreed to and then asked me to sign two copies of my contract and post it to them.

I did so with great pleasure. All so good so far, right? Except I never received my copy of the contract back with the publisher's signature on it.

But, he was suffering from a flare up of a chronic illness. He was in regular contact via email plus I could see he was doing lots of business promotion and getting the books that were due to be published out on time.

I put my missing contract down to that.

Then a few unpleasant things happened. They published a book that caused a lot of problems for the company. They suffered a further setback when an older family member was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Unsurprisingly their business moved lower on their priority list.

I put my missing contract down to that.

There was no rush was there, I wasn't due to be published for a year and they had posted another lovely post on their blog about my book. So I felt very confident that they had every intention of publishing Without Alice. I still do actually....

I don't want anyone to get the wrong impression either. I am not writing this in an attempt to make the publishing company look bad. I think they are very nice people who had a lot of bad happen to them in a relatively short period of time. They couldn't hold it all together. So they did what anyone sensible would do and concentrated on doing the minimum they had to in order to keep their business ticking over.

I believe that not sending me a signed contract became just one of those things for them. It meant the world to me but was relatively insignificant to them when compared to the more pressing problems they were experiencing. The email contact became more sporadic but I remained convinced it wasn't just me as other authors in waiting were emailing me to ask if I had heard from them because they hadn't and they were also blogging and twittering less and less and then not at all.

There was a collective intake and holding of breath amongst us authors in waiting and authors who had come of age by having had their books published. Then a couple of books were released on time and a contract or two offered for new books by current authors. A communal sigh of relief issued from all of us which we shared via email.

Then, a generic email from the publisher to all. They had considered shutting their company down but had decided against it. They were however, going to cut the numbers of authors in waiting and would let us know who made the grade and would stay on their list within the next few weeks.

Then...nothing.... except more emails flying round between authors in waiting. I kept out of them all and only spoke to people whom I knew could offer me some sensible advice. And, I emailed the publisher to ask if he had plans to keep me on or did I need to look for another publisher. He emailed back and said I 'was on the side of the angels'. Whatever that means....I knew one thing for sure, there was no actual yes or no in the email and no signed contract in my possession.

So I waited a few more weeks for the promised official announcement which never materialised. Then I wrote an email asking for a signed contract within the next 3 weeks or I would be withdrawing my submitted novel from them. The contract never did arrive and I have had no communication with them since that email so many weeks ago so I emailed again to invoke my termination clause, then printed and sent the email by registered post.

My novel belonged to me once again.

I was sad for so many reasons about all of this. A lovely publishing business has struggled with more than their fair share of bad stuff and may be going out of business because of it. Without Alice no longer had a home, an official cover or a publication date. Writing and getting your work published is a hard business, harder it seems, than actually getting your manuscript accepted by a publisher.

I picked my confidence up off the floor, paid to have Without Alice professionally edited and then submitted it to Punked Books who I met on Facebook. I was offered a contact and I am happy to say it has all the right signatures on it.

Are you a plotter-or-a-fly-by-the-seat-of-your-panter?

I am very much a member of the pant flying club. The only time I plot is when I am preparing for NaNoWriMo and I use the Snowflake Method to help me plot. http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php

How many years have you been writing?

I have been writing since I was six when I became capable of stringing together enough words to form a sentence.

Is motherhood a challenge when you have so much to do?

Being a mother is always a pleasurable priority for me, followed by being a wife. The urge to write is always there in the background, niggling at me much like the addiction it is. I work full time because I have to but I hope someday my writing will earn enough to enable me to drop a day a week at work so I can spend the day indulging in writing.

What are you working on now?

I am working on two novels at the moment - “The Plump WAG’s Club” – A year in the life of four fat forty-something’s and “A Dappled Life” – A young man struggling to leave his past where it belongs.

What is your worst writing habit?

I’ve done eleven million things between reading this question and answering it so I have to say it’s procrastination!

Which book do you wish you would have written?

That is very hard to narrow down because I read so many books by so many different authors but I guess I’d have to say any of Margaret Attwood’s novels or The Faraway Tree collection by Enid Blyton

You’re on twitter and you post regularly on your blog. How important do you think social media is for authors?

I think it’s hugely important as it is a great way to connect with my readers. I want to set up a forum facility / reader community on my website for just that reason.

Finally, what’s your poison – high heels or flat shoes?

I love to wear high heels when I make public appearances because they make me walk more gracefully instead of galumphing around like I do when wearing flats. However, I was raised as a wild hippie child and have to confess to also very much loving spending time being barefoot.

You can buy Without Alice from here and find DJ on her blog here.  DJ's website will also be up and running soon.  Good luck DJ!


Biography: I spent my childhood knowing I was different though I didn’t get to prove myself right until I was diagnosed with a form of Autism called Asperger’s Syndrome at the age of 40. I spent my childhood in the wilds of the Canadian West Coat not realising how very lucky I was to have room to roam and longing to be a grown up so I could do something with my life.

I developed a passion for reading at four years old, progressed to writing quirky stories at an early age and then produced volumes of dire poetry full of teenage angst at just about the age you would expect such behaviour. When the opportunity arose to actually do something different with my life I came to England to pursue the dream and never left. I now have a husband, son and 2 stepsons whom I love with every beat of my heart. My home is often filled with the sound of laughter as well as two crazy cats, a grumpy tortoise, two timid hedgehogs and loyal friends who stop by from time to time to make sure I’m not writing anything about them.

I currently pay my share of the household bills by working full time doing something which doesn’t involve writing fiction (much to my disgust). I can often be found hogging the computer so that I can work on my novels during the hours in which I should be sleeping and trying to stay in touch with more distant relatives, friends and readers either through my blog, emails or on social networking sites.

I am working on two new novels, “The Plump WAG’s Club” – A year in the life of four fat forty-something friends and “A Dappled Life” – A young man struggling to leave his past where it belongs.