Most romantic thing someone's done for you?
Tell me not to apologise for being who I am.
When I first met my boyfriend we’d met in a night club. At the end of the night of dancing together we were standing outside and both got our phones out to exchange numbers. At the time I had a phone with a cow print cover. I remember thinking how camp it was and that I knew I’d never hear from this guy again.
Numbers exchanged, we started dating. A few months later he told me when he saw my cow print phone he thought it was fun, cool and different.
A while later we were on a date at a bowling alley and I’d done well and was jumping up and down loudly and camply at the bowling alley. I remember then immediately feeling really self-conscious and then apologised for being so OTT in that setting.
My boyfriend walked up to me and gave me a kiss and a hug and told me never to apologise for being who I am. For being how I am.


I Should Be So Lucky by Liam Livings
Julian is a flamboyant backing dancer for Australian pop princess, Sallie. He loves touring with Sallie as it means he has gentlemen friends for the night in every European city. Backrooms in Berlin, cruisy bars in Barcelona, Julian’s enjoyed it all. And if he doesn’t pull while he’s on tour, he ends up in bed with best friend and fellow dancer, Bjorn.

Troy, a quiet, gruff St John Ambulance volunteer, and gardener at a stately home in Essex, has just split up from his third supposedly serious girlfriend in the last few years. He doesn’t understand why he can’t make relationships last. A failed serial monogamist, he’s obviously doing something wrong.

One night, at a Sallie concert, an enormous glitter ball falls and concusses Julian. In the recovery room, as Troy is seeing to Julian’s vital signs, the dancer feels a spark. Julian doesn't do relationships so he dismisses it as simply lust. Troy finds himself drawn to the confident chatty performer, wanting to get to know him better…

Can Troy put aside his preconceptions to discover who he really is and how he feels about Julian?

Can Julian face his biggest fear of being emotionally vulnerable with a man; with Troy?

Can Julian and Troy, who’ve never had a relationship with a man, find out if they were lucky enough to have met the only man they should be with? I should be so lucky—they both think…


Amazon (Kindle): http://mybook.to/ISBSL (universal link)
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/891447?ref=b10track
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-should-be-so-lucky-liam-livings/1129410512?ean=2940155785705

Was it difficult to write this book?
Once I had the idea and two main characters, the rest of the story flowed pretty well. I wrote it as my 2015 Nanowrimo novel, managing to complete the first draft of 53,000 words in 15 days of writing. For me, this shows how important it is to have a strong idea of the main characters and the main conflict they’re trying to overcome in the story. Once I had that clear – both men did not date men – yet they were both sexually and emotionally attracted to each other – the rest flowed pretty easily.
Yes, it needed a good self-edit and of course the publisher did a great edit with me too, but the basic story, the portrayal of the characters, settings etc, is all just as it was in the first draft. I didn’t need to cut out big chunks, move stuff around, or anything like that.
Don’t get me wrong, writing any book is hard. I mean it’s certainly harder than sitting watching TV! When I have the characters, their voices, and conflict clear it’s like I am watching a film in my head when I sit to write and I am just typing up what I see in my head – what I hear the characters saying, doing to each other. It’s pretty magical.


I Should Be So Lucky by Liam Livings
Julian is a flamboyant backing dancer for Australian pop princess, Sallie. He loves touring with Sallie as it means he has gentlemen friends for the night in every European city. Backrooms in Berlin, cruisy bars in Barcelona, Julian’s enjoyed it all. And if he doesn’t pull while he’s on tour, he ends up in bed with best friend and fellow dancer, Bjorn.

Troy, a quiet, gruff St John Ambulance volunteer, and gardener at a stately home in Essex, has just split up from his third supposedly serious girlfriend in the last few years. He doesn’t understand why he can’t make relationships last. A failed serial monogamist, he’s obviously doing something wrong.

One night, at a Sallie concert, an enormous glitter ball falls and concusses Julian. In the recovery room, as Troy is seeing to Julian’s vital signs, the dancer feels a spark. Julian doesn't do relationships so he dismisses it as simply lust. Troy finds himself drawn to the confident chatty performer, wanting to get to know him better…

Can Troy put aside his preconceptions to discover who he really is and how he feels about Julian?

Can Julian face his biggest fear of being emotionally vulnerable with a man; with Troy?

Can Julian and Troy, who’ve never had a relationship with a man, find out if they were lucky enough to have met the only man they should be with? I should be so lucky—they both think…


Amazon (Kindle): http://mybook.to/ISBSL (universal link)
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/891447?ref=b10track
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-should-be-so-lucky-liam-livings/1129410512?ean=2940155785705

What are the main themes in this book?
Accepting change
Julian has lived his life in a particular way; enjoying no-strings sex with a number of men. He’s never wanted a relationship, and for him, thinking about being a person who has a relationship is a challenge for him. When he can get everything he thinks he wants from casual sex and his friendships, he struggles to see why he would want a relationship where he’s effectively having friendship and sex with the same person. This boils down to him being afraid of commitment and really caring for a man romantically.
Similarly with Troy, he’s lived his life seeing himself as a man who dates women. His view of gay men is a particular way which he doesn’t have a problem with, but he doesn't recognise in himself. Through meeting Julian these feelings he’s been repressing for his whole adult life come to the surface and so he needs to accept the change that others will see him as man who is dating another man.


Masculinity
Writing this book, I wanted to explore what it means to be a man and what we view as masculinity. There’s a lot of research about how boys are taught, from a young age to act a particular way. Clothes for boys encourage them to be a boss, to be strong, and clothes for girls have very different messages. Crying isn’t manly. Men are told to ‘man up’ to face their problems. Sadly suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK so perhaps men should be encouraged to open up, to express themselves rather than manning up.
Julian and Troy are both masculine in very different ways. Julian is a man who’s strong, loud, bright, colourful, unapologetic, and has a very strong sexual appetite for sex with men.
Troy, on the other hand, is quiet, gruff, less expressive until he’s had a few drinks inside him, strong, protective, kind and a serial monogamist with women.
I like the way Troy and Julian’s versions of how they interpret and express masculinity are different, and often opposite, yet fit together; like a big spoon and a little spoon. There’s no ‘man and woman’ in a gay relationship; just different ways of men expressing their masculinity in ways that fit together.


I Should Be So Lucky by Liam Livings
Julian is a flamboyant backing dancer for Australian pop princess, Sallie. He loves touring with Sallie as it means he has gentlemen friends for the night in every European city. Backrooms in Berlin, cruisy bars in Barcelona, Julian’s enjoyed it all. And if he doesn’t pull while he’s on tour, he ends up in bed with best friend and fellow dancer, Bjorn.

Troy, a quiet, gruff St John Ambulance volunteer, and gardener at a stately home in Essex, has just split up from his third supposedly serious girlfriend in the last few years. He doesn’t understand why he can’t make relationships last. A failed serial monogamist, he’s obviously doing something wrong.

One night, at a Sallie concert, an enormous glitter ball falls and concusses Julian. In the recovery room, as Troy is seeing to Julian’s vital signs, the dancer feels a spark. Julian doesn't do relationships so he dismisses it as simply lust. Troy finds himself drawn to the confident chatty performer, wanting to get to know him better…

Can Troy put aside his preconceptions to discover who he really is and how he feels about Julian?

Can Julian face his biggest fear of being emotionally vulnerable with a man; with Troy?

Can Julian and Troy, who’ve never had a relationship with a man, find out if they were lucky enough to have met the only man they should be with? I should be so lucky—they both think…


Amazon (Kindle): http://mybook.to/ISBSL (universal link)
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/891447?ref=b10track
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-should-be-so-lucky-liam-livings/1129410512?ean=2940155785705