Looking back at the list of books I’ve read that I keep at the back of my diary, I’ve read 40 books in 2019. This broke down as follows:

• 4 m/m romances
  
• 2 autobiographies
• 3 writing books
  
• 5 women’s popular fiction – romantic fiction
• The rest were contemporary at the time they were written (some were written in the 1970s – 1990s) category romances. Some were erotic, some were American, some were sweet, but they were all books where the main focus of the story is the developing romance between a man and a woman.
  

I have lots of 4 and 4.5 star books in my list, but as with previous years I’m only going to mention those I rated as 5 stars.


My Thoughts Exactly – Lily Allen: honest, unapologetic while admitting to her own many and various mistakes, inspirational, raw. I love all of her music and this was wonderful as it helped with context and background to her life while she wrote her albums (all of which I own. Obvs). Splendid.



Next of Kin – Joanna Trollope: an unflinching portrait of a farming family and the complexities within. Far from sugar coating living in the countryside, this shows all the challenges, warts and all. The funeral scene at the start, and a later scene were particularly emotional. But overall, uplifting.



Joshua and the Cowgirl – Sherryl Woods: Financial wizard city slicker man, fish out of water, opposites attract, cowboys, a ranch, a mischievous independent single mother cowgirl. These sort of tropes, I now realise having read may category romances, are completely my jam. And I am so much here for it.



Lace 2 – Shirley Conran: In some ways this was better than the first one. Strong female friendships. People who have it all, lose it all and then get it all back again. Intertwined storylines. Sumptious locations. I loved all. Of. This.



Romancing the Beat – Gwen Hayes: for anyone who’s interested in story structure and the genre expectations of romance – this is a must. Having read Reading The Romance by Janice Radway, which goes into the ‘science’ of why women (it was women who she spoke to in her extensive 80s research) enjoy reading romance – this was a good way to break it down into story beats / scenes. Think of it more like a recipe list, you can expand, contract, mix up a bit, rather than a pre flight checklist and it’s great to ensure your romance stories have all the right ingredients.



A Summer to Remember – Sue Moorcroft: the inhabitants of Nelson’s Bar on the north Norfolk coast were delightful. It made me want to move there – I know Nelson’s Bar is fictitious – but the sense of community, quirky characters, wonderful contrast to the city, were all very alluring. It was lovely to see how my garbled emails with suggestions for the gay couple were useful, in their own story arc.



Girls Behind the Scandalous Reputation – Michelle Condor: wilful rising star actress, buttoned up lawyer. I was SO HERE FOR THIS that it almost hurt!



An Image of You – Liz Fielding: opposites attract of a chauvinistic photographer for ‘those sort of calendars’ and a heroine forced to work with him. Add in camping in the outback and you’ve got it all there for a splendid category romance. Up to Liz’s usual standard.

Hope you had a wonderful year reading whatever books bring you joy,
Love and light,

Liam Livings xx

It’s been a busy year. I’ve returned to self publishing after one novella and one re-release. It felt right for my two Christmas stories because I wanted the flexibility of being able to write them in September October and have them released for November.
I’ve written many words, not in any small part helped by learning to dictate fiction using Dragon.
And lots of meeting supportive, uplifting, kind author friends too!

Thanks to everyone who’s read, reviewed, interacted with me on the socials, published my books, helped me self publish them, helped me with a writing conundrum, or simply lifted me up when I felt down. You’re all splendid people.


Publishing
Released 6 books – 4 from publishers and 2 I self published and one novella
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48501349-the-regiment-of-majestic-gays
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43837924-kicking-up-my-heels-in-heels
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46378297-love-on-the-dancefloor
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43548468-unlocking-the-doctor-s-heart
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48911104-mistletoe-kisses
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48799643-bear-best-friend
The Christmas novella is here http://www.liamlivings.com/blog/my-rainbow-advent-calendar-story-plus-one-elf


Writing and self editing ready for submitting / publishing except otherwise listed
Wrote 7 stories including:

• The Surgeon and the Farmhand 63,000
  
• Millionaire Himderella - Freddie and Piero 50,000
• Pastiche Becomes Him 102,000
• Frangipani Kisses 64,000 (1st self edit completed)
• Mistletoe Kisses 33,000
• Bear Best Friend 36,000
• Four Funerals and a Wedding 58,000 (part way through first self edit)
• Plus One Elf 12,000

TOTAL: 418,000 words written in 2019


Events

• Attended Society of Authors event in Leeds on a panel on diversity in romantic fiction
  
• Delivered a workshop on maintaining sexual tension in romantic fiction, at the RNA Conference, with Virginia Heath
  
• Attended or organised 2 budget writing retreats with friends, one less budget writing retreat in Crete with friends and one solo budget writing retreat in Suffolk
• Attended a RNA Rainbow Chapter meeting in London and organised and attended one at the RNA Conference
  

Other
Taught myself to dictate fiction using Denise my Dragon and a microphone. Which meant I could write a novel in a week – Four Funerals and A Wedding the experience of that is here, plus links to my other blogs about dictating fiction http://www.liamlivings.com/blog/how-to-write-a-novel-in-a-week-using-dragon-dictation-and-how-i-won-nanowrimo-in-6-days
Started as one of the RNA’s diversity and inclusion officers to work with the rest of the organisation to promote the variety of its members and the romantic fiction they write
RNA New Writers Scheme – read and appraised 4 manuscripts
Did 10 submissions, resulting in rejections, requests for full manuscript, or acceptance
Self edited 2 other stories that had been languishing on my laptop, now ready for submission or publishing – Revenge! Marrying The Boss are their working titles at the moment, but subject to change

Love and light,

Liam Livings xxx

23 November
I arrived at my holiday cottage in Suffolk at 2pm and once settled, I took a walk along the beach. Then, getting to work, I outlined my Christmas short story (published as Plus One Elf as part of the Rainbow Advent calendar) and dictated it in 300 mins. This was 6 x 25minute rounds of dictation, ending up with 6602 words.
This felt slow at first because I was getting used to dictation again – having not done it for about 6 weeks. I always feel quite self conscious when dictating, simply because I have to say the words, rather than writing in silence. I left a placeholder for the sensual scene because I definitely couldn’t dictate it. (As it turned out, I never wrote that sensual scene because it didn't feel like the story needed it, I simply started the scene the morning after with all the feels and flirty breakfast together!)

The holiday cottage was made of bricks and the adjoining one was empty, so I soon got over the awkwardness and was dictating well.
If I can aim for 12-14k words per day this week that’s a good target and I’ll be finished by the middle of next week!
Word total today = 6602.


24 November
Outline Four Funerals and a Wedding (FFAAW) from 9.00 – 10.00 then do 3 x 50 minute rounds of dictation in the morning. Swapped to 50min rounds because the 25min ones felt too disruptive. When I was just getting into the flow, the alarm would go off. Time for tea, walking around the beach house and brief bursts of internet between rounds of writing.
Break for lunch at 1.30pm, walk along the beach.
Resume writing at 4.00pm and do 3 x 50min rounds. In theory I’ll have won Nanowrimo by Wednesday!
Flag in the last round so have a power nap on the sofa for 20mins.
Word total today = 12,507.


25 November
3 x 50min rounds of dictation before lunch, plus some outlining from 9.00am.
Day trip to Lowestoft and manage to track down somewhere selling A5 page per day diaries including weekends! Cup runneth over! Plus treat myself to some coloured ballpoint pens, very easy to write with.
From 4.00 – 7.30pm do 2 more 50min rounds of dictating. It’s getting harder because this is day 3, and I’m tired. Plus, the Sikh funeral scene is hard to write and I’m doubting the whole concept of the story itself. Like who really wants to read a romance with 4 funerals in it? What was I thinking?
Running total on FFAAW = 22,079
Total today = 9,572


26 November
Feeling tired when I wake. Obviously doing this much writing is exhausting! What a surprise.
9.00 – 10.45 outline. 2 rounds of 50mins dictation before lunch – reasonably easy and flowing well.
Day trip to Great Yarmouth – deserted, desolate, but nice to get out and exercise.
Back at 5.00pm, a decent 4hour lunch break! Do 2 x 50min rounds of dictation plus 10mins.
Running total on FFAAW = 30,062
Total today = 7,983


27 November
Over halfway through the week and I have definitely got myself into a bit of a routine.
Get up at 9.00, tired, so think I deserve a bit of a lie in!
Do 2 x 50min rounds of dictating this morning. Although 12,500 word days are, theoretically possible, with dictation, and there’s no arm and wrist ache, in reality my brain can’t sustain creating that much wordage for more than 1 or 2 days.
4 rounds of dictation = 8,000 words, which feels much more sustainable longer-term.
Day trip to Southwold – free parking on the common is a pleasant surprise. Lovely walk along the promenade by the sea, the beach huts are photogenic. The large Edwardian houses overlooking the sea give me inspiration for Robin’s house in FFAAW. I can imagine him holding a very life-affirming celebration of his late husband's life in one of those houses.
Back at 4ish, 2 more 50min rounds of dictation plus another 15mins. Considering how much else I did today, that’s an impressive total I feel.
Running total on FFAAW = 38,206
Total today = 8,144


28 November
Outline 4 extra romance scenes for act 2 – the ‘discovering love’ according to Romancing The Beat. So it’s then not a sudden drop off to the oh sh*t moment. This takes from 9.00 – 10.30am.
2 x 50 min rounds of dictation with a bit of typing for the sensual scene. Tried dictating the sensual scene and it was ok, but faster to type it. This surprised me. Thought it was impossible when I'd tried it before.
Walk along the beach. Bit blustery and light rain, but nicely invigorating. It is November in the UK, so it’s precisely as I’d expected.
Back for 3.00pm ish. 2 x 50min rounds of dictating this afternoon. Easier than previous afternoons for some reason. V pleased with the word total today. Hoping for a 4,000 word ‘discovering love’ phase and a 4,000 word wedding and ending section.
If writing full time, I reckon I could maintain this 8,000 per day pace. Even allowing for promotion and publishing and editing time, that's still a lot of words in a year. 4 days per week and 12 week off for holiday and sickness = 1.3 million words, or about 20 x 65k novels per year!
Even doing this part time it’s still a lot of words.
Dictation is definitely the way to go when I’m writing alone.
Running total on FFAAW = 46,475
Total today = 8,269


29 November
Feeling tired this morning. Unsurprisingly, since I’ve been writing hard.
Outline the last 2 scenes from 9.00 – 10.00. Then do 2 x 50min rounds before lunch. It’s flowing well now. These are the in filling romance scenes.
Long walk along the nearby beach – a good hour. Sun and rain means there’s a rainbow, which feel appropriate, since I’m writing a gay romance.
2 more 50min rounds by 4.30pm, then a bit of a rest, doze and internet mimsy on the sofa. Fifth round today is the final scenes, plus another 20mins. Then that’s the wedding. Feel myself getting really emotional writing it.
Really pleased I have genuinely managed to write a novel in a week.
Can move onto self edit of Christmas short tomorrow.
Running total on FFAAW = 57,532 (and won Nanowrimo one day early, having written the book in 6 days)
Total today = 11,057


30 November
Last full day of one man writing retreat and it’s very cold in the morning. Perhaps February won’t be a nice month for a UK writing retreat.
1hr 40 self edit of Christmas short, it’s not too bad – hard to get conflict and resolution and happy ending in only 8,000 words, but there you go.
Spend the day with cousin and her family.
Another 1.5hrs self edit of Christmas short before bed.


Learning points
Although it’s possible to dictate 12-14,000 words in a day, this is hard to sustain for more than 2 days.
Dictating makes 8,000 word days feel effortless, no arm or hand strain and only writing for 200 minutes out of the whole day.
Taking breaks between rounds is important, as is a long lunch away from the writing.
I used the ‘headlights’ outlining method. Rather than outlining the whole story and then writing it, I outlined a beat, wrote that beat, then outlined the next beat, wrote that next part, and repeat. I find this gives variety of writing activities, plus avoids outlining something the characters wouldn’t do when I know them better having written more of them. This is now my preferred method of outlining.
It’s important to outline with a bit more detail than when typing because I need to see the scene clearly before I can dictate it.
The words per hour is lower than the first story I dictated, but I did correct missing words and mistakes as I went along, rather than leaving it until the end. This helped prevent checking weeks later and having no idea what I meant to write when Dragon dictated it incorrectly.
Writing in concentrated rounds helps with focus and provides scheduled guilt free internet, dozing, tea break time, making the rounds stay as focussed writing time.


The numbers
I wrote FFAAW in 6 days and a total of 29 x 50 min rounds of dictating = 1450 mins which is an average of 2380 words per hour. I’ve seen some Dragon authors saying they’ve reached 5,000 words per hour, and when I first used dictation to write, I had a higher word per hour, however it required lots of editing. So this time, I decided to aim for a more sustainable rate, plus dictate slightly less rough first draft words, hoping it’ll make the first self edit less tedious!
If I add in the Christmas short, (Plus on Elf) that takes my total for the week = 64,134
So in answer to my original challenge, can I write a novel in a week? Yes, it is possible.

My other blogs about getting used to dictating with Dragon (who I called Denise) are here:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 Part 6

I hope this has been useful.

Love and light

Liam Livings xxx

I didn’t use Dragon to edit. I only used Dragon to fix mistakes while I was teaching it, during the dictating of existing fiction phase.
Many people argue that writing using dictation doesn’t gain much because the first draft is so much rougher and therefore takes longer to knock into shape than if it had been typed.
My first drafts are very rough. I don’t tend to fix things as I go through, I prefer to focus on telling the story and worry about the repeated words, the perfect words, typose etc, all later.
I compared the length of time to write and edit to similar length stories, which is laid out below:

Typing 56k words
32 hours of writing + 8hrs of self edit first pass = 40hours
My first self edit focusses on typos, some repeated words, parts that don’t make sense, but no real content edit fixing.

Dictating 56k words
20.5 hours of dictating + 12.7hrs of self edit first past = 33.2hours
Quite a lot of the self edit for the dictation was to add in missing words. Dragon seems to miss quite a few words, particularly if I speak quickly. There were no typos because Dragon doesn’t make spelling mistakes, it’ll only write proper words. There were also lots of homophones to fix such as: their, they’re, there and to / too / two etc. In addition there were some phrases that made no sense at all. So I had to work out what I may have said, or make something up that made sense and write that new. This made the first self edit of dictated words feel much more boring and time consuming. It took almost half as long again as this stage for typing.

Overall, dictating is 17% faster than typing. Another by product is that it’s possible to write much more first draft words in less time, with absolutely no arm and hand strain, unlike when typing. And if you’re writing as a job, five days a week, that’s a big benefit. That led me to my aim to see if I could write a novel in a week, as part of my Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge, but I’ll come onto that in another post.

If you've missed the other parts of this blog series, they're here:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Love and light,

Liam xx

I really enjoy being part of this annual event. I did it last year and I’m here for it again!
It includes FREE fiction throughout December, from a wide variety of authors – and I’m so excited to be here on day #3!

Please read, enjoy, and feedback to as many authors as you’re able to throughout December. I’d like to pass on a very heart-felt thank you to Alex Jane for her splendid and unwavering organisation throughout this event.

You can follow it all on the Facebook group If you bookmark THIS LINK it will include each story as they go live throughout the month.

I’ve chosen to write a short story that includes one of the secondary characters from one of my Christmas novellas. This one includes Dylan, the nurse, who is in Mistletoe Kisses. When I wrote him, my editor and I left comments in the margin saying that I had to write his own story. With Plus One Elf, I’ve gone as far as I could in a short story but rest assured, I think Dylan will be back!

I’ve included a link for you to download my short story below if you’re happy to sign up to my newsletter.
I do hope you enjoy it. I’d love to hear people’s comments and feedback about Dylan and Will’s story!

Love and light,
Liam Livings xx



Plus One Elf
Dylan has a wedding to attend, but since he’s newly single, he no longer has a plus one. With little money and less of a clue, he’s stuck for what to buy as a wedding gift.
Will is working as an elf in Santa’s grotto in a department store, and offers to spread a little Christmas cheer and help Dylan find the perfect gift.
Will is cynical about romance since having his heart broken. Dylan only wants a friend to join him at the wedding.
How long can you remain cynical in the face of emotions to the contrary?
How many friends does one man really need?


Download your free e-book copy here https://dl.bookfunnel.com/egyudycla1

The image below shows how many other splendid authors are taking part in this great event!

The story featuring Dylan as a secondary character is Mistletoe Kisses:

Steven spends Christmas with his parents in the New Forest. His workaholic boyfriend Edmund is stuck in London. Concussed from an accident, Steven wakes in hospital. Everything feels…odd.

His mother’s taken up baking, their house is decorated like Christmas is on overdrive, the town pottery needs saving from Edmund’s company takeover. Rugged yet reserved carpenter Rich, offers to save the pottery. But only if Steven helps.

Snowed in, opposites attract, small town, mistletoe kisses, ice skating, hot chocolate, sweet Christmas romance for everyone who’s ever loved those made-for-TV Christmas movies, and wished there was a gay romance version. With a twist.

mybook.to/mistletoex