Daydreams & Edits

I'm in the shed editing.

I'm sure my days are a little like Groundhog Day for my poor family. I'm either in the shed writing/editing, or sitting in the conservatory/outside reading books to review for Novelicious. So, if I'm not at work, you can pretty much know where to find me.

Physically, that is. I'm always somewhere else in my head. Then again, my school reports often said, '...Deborah spends far too much time daydreaming/staring out of windows/in a world of her own.'

Finally I've found something that makes the most of my tendancy to drift away into my own world. One of these days *crosses fingers and thinks positively* I'll see the result of all these daydreams/edits in book/e-book form.

Well, you've got to dream, haven't you?

Voting, HNS Conference & Award

The voting has started for the Novelicious Undiscovered 2012. If you haven't cast your vote yet, please pop over, read the entries and vote, for your favourite. More details on the fantastic prizes. Voting ends on June 20th.

I've just booked to attend the Historical Novel Society Conference in September and I can't wait. Do let me know if you'll be going too, I'd love to meet up with online friends.



Thanks to Rebecca Leith for nominating me for the Sunshine Award. Mama J kindly nominated me for this too a couple of weeks ago, so I'll link to that post here. I always enjoy Rebecca's interesting and fun blog posts. If you haven't already discovered them, you're in for a treat.

My Dream of You Online Launch Party

I'm so excited to be taking part in my lovely writer friend Denyse Kirkby's online launch party for her novel, My Dream of You. I haven't had the chance to read My Dream of You yet, but I do have my copy and loved her debut novel Without Alice and memoir From Zaftig to Aspie, so I know I'll enjoy this book too.

Crime of passion or cruel twist of fate?

One summer’s day Betty let love carry her a step too far. That exquisite sun dappled afternoon became one of her best memories but also the catalyst for the worst experience of her life. Now elderly, Betty has been running from her past since she was a teenager, and it’s about to catch up with her. Will the experience be as awful as she fears or wonderful beyond imagining?

Praise for My Dream of You:

“D.J. Kirkby writes with compassion and energy, creating characters you can really care about.” Sarah Salway (Canterbury Poet Laureate)

"Evocatively written, My Dream of You is an absorbing read filled with interesting characters, plot twists, and emotion." Talli Roland, bestselling author of Build a Man

“A tale of motherhood, of hope and of love. Truly touching” Caroline Smailes, author of 99 Reasons Why

My Dream of You is published today (5 June) by Punked Books as an e-book and is available on Amazon UK for £1.53 and Amazon US for $2.40.

Everyone who leaves a ‘pick me’ comment on the My Dream of You online launch party blog post, and/or shares the post from Denyse's Facebook Author Page, and/or Tweets using the #MDOY hashtag making sure to copy @djkirkby in gets their name entered into a draw for some wonderful prizes.

Names can only be entered until midnight on June 5th and the winner will be announced on Denyse's blog on Sunday June 11th.

Quarterly newsletter sign up page: http://djkirkby.co.uk/newsletter/

Meeting The Queen... (not me, my grandparents)

My grandparents, George and Mary, were lucky enough to meet the Queen a couple of times.

Here are a few pictures from my grandmother's album filled with photos, invitations and menus, etc from those occasions. This is when they met the Queen at, I believe, Government House in 1957.

They were lucky enough to be invited to a Dinner in 1957 and this is their invitation. Many others were also invited of course, but my grandmother was always so proud to have attended.

Here they are dressed in all their finery before leaving home to go onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia when The Queen visited in 1957.


Below is a photo of the menu from the Luncheon where The Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh were Guests of Honour in 1949.

The long white glove was the one she wore to shake hands with The Queen in 1957. Naturally, I've tried it on...

I saw the Queen once, when she visited Jersey about twenty years ago. I was with my grandmother then and other family members, but on this occasion we sat on a low granite wall by the road and waited for her car to drive past. The Queen waved and we were all delighted.