If you wrote an autobiography, what would its title be and why?
Write! Write! Write! But you’d have to sing it to chorus of Shame Shame Shame by Shirley & Co. So many people ask me how I fit in writing among my busy life, and my answer is I just write write write because it’s such fabulous fun*, and why wouldn’t you make time in your life for something you enjoyed?
What has your writing/ blogging journey been like from the start until now?
I wrote Best Friends Perfect as a challenge to myself to actually write a novel. Then, through the BF’s auntie being Clare London’s hairdresser (work that one out if you can) after an initial meeting many years ago at BF’s auntie’s wedding, I was re-introduced to Clare London and the world of GLBTQ stories. I attended UK Meet 2012 in Brighton as a delegate, trying out my new Liam Livings persona for the first time, and have made loads of helpful author, reader and blogger friends, and talked about my stories. Every time a reader says she’s read one of my stories I’m always amazed, embarrassed and a little bit scared, all at the same time. I attend RNA London chapter meetings, their annual conference, read for their New Writers Scheme, and help run a local Essex writers group with Jean Fullerton and Victoria Robertson. I’m published with 4 publishers and my laptop and touch typing fingers are trying to keep up with the ideas as they jostle to be written each day. Writing has taught me so much about telling stories, character arcs, 3 act structures, comma splices, general grammar, and has enriched my life in so many ways through the wonderful people I’ve met all over the world.
What do you hope to get from UK Meet that’s different from other conferences?
It’s wonderful to meet other gay romance authors. It’s great to meet readers and bloggers, other conferences I’ve attended were only for authors and it adds a great richness by having readers and bloggers there too. Butlers in the buff – they were, sadly absent at other conferences I’ve attended. It’s an opportunity to catch up face to face, maybe even with a hug, all the friends I’ve made in this genre.
Liam xxx
*there are of course knock backs, upsets, dramas, tears, torn tiaras, and times when some things seem too much to cope with, but having a supportive group of author friends at the end of an email /phone means these moments soon pass and it’s back to being fab-u-lous!
And, simply because I love it, it's kitsch, and it's as fab-u-lous as the Shirley and Co song, here's a link to another classic by Carol Douglas - inspired by the Sex and The City episode where the girls take a trip to Staten Island and Charlotte gets very drunk and Samantha disappears with a fireman. Good times!
Enjoy!
Liam Livings xx