Authors on a cruise ship!!

 

   I love vacations and books. What could be better than a bookish vacation? An author cruise!

    Cruising is one of my favorite ways to vacation. Several years ago I was looking for author retreats and came upon one on a cruise ship. Then Covid happened and travel came to a stop.

    Last years I was searching again and found the Love Lit Cruise. I was so excited but couldn't go. This year I booked it before I even knew if I could get the time off of work.

    This is the second year of Love Lit Cruise and it was amazing!! Erin Burgess of Betty Brown Travel had a dream of combining authors, readers, and vacation and in 2025 her plan came together. A little over 50 people attended and in 2026 it was 198 people. 

   Love Lit was held on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady. I have sailed on Carnival and Royal Caribbean, but Virgin Voyages is far different. It is an adults-only cruise line and so full of great entertainment and food.

  We had group event and dinners with the authors and on a five day cruise, you really get to know the authors and fellow readers.

  

  There were author panels and games that were great. Bookish Feud was so much fun. It was like Family Feud but all categories involved books.

  Some attending authors were Amy Daws, Sara Cate, Brittianry Cherry, Willow Winters, M Robinson, Juliette Cross, Naimi Simone, Trilina Pucci, Sarah Bale, Nikki Sloane, Victoria K. Taylor, and several more. 

Talking with other authors and readers was great. We talked about our books and I confessed I was struggling with writers block and Krysta Dearson (an attending reader but who is also an author) held an impromptu Boot Camp to help me. Victoria K. Taylor (attending author) and Sally Schedlock (my cousin, writes non-fiction) all met and talked writing and strategy.

An afternoon was spent on a book signing and thankfully I had room in my suitcase for lots of books! When the cruise came to an end, I had many new friends and authors to follow. I hope to be able to go again next year.

Victoria K. Taylor

Willow Winters

  Happy to say that Boot Camp did indeed help with my writers block. I stayed on the ship for another sailing after Love Lit was over and went to the Loose Cannon Pub to write with an octopus we named Jethro. So every day for the next four days I made time to go there and write. Since I've been home, I've managed to get a new book almost finished!  I think I need to get an octopus statue for home.

Author Nation in Las Vegas

 In the beginning of November I took a great road trip to Las Vegas to Author Nation. I knew there was a conference in Las Vegas, but in the past it was called 20 Books Vegas. In 2023 co-founds Michael Anderle and Craig Martelle announced that there would still be a facebook group, 20 Books To 50K, but the conference was changing.

  Author Nation is led by Joe Solari and he and his team did a fantastic job organizing this event. The Horseshoe in Las Vegas held the event and it was very convenient to stay there and just walk down to the different conference rooms.

  

  There were so many great speakers at the conference. It was hard to pick which class to go to. Thankfully, if you purchased a ticket to the conference you get access to the recordings in January so you can watch what you missed.

Willow Winters was a speaker and it was enjoyable and informative to listen to her during her interviews. Her story to becoming a full time author was interesting and she gave us a little information on her battle with AI using her work without her permission.

 I have read a few of her books and they are great.

J.D. Barker was also a speaker at the conference and he is a very interesting man. I was lucky enough to see him speak in the past at the Chanticleer conference in Bellingham, Washington.

His story is interesting and amazing. From ghostwriting bestselling books, to selling everything he owned and moving to focus on creating a career as an author. He told us how he is both traditionally published and self published. 

  I have read his book Fourth Monkey and liked it. Not my usual genre but I plan on reading the rest of the series.

   

   The main event was an interview with James Patterson! 

  Sadly, he fell ill with Covid and couldn't attend the conference. Thankfully, he was feeling well enough to join us through Zoom. 

  J.D. Barker interviewed him and James Patterson is one of a kind. He was funny and honest about his career. It was very enjoyable interview and I was glad he was able to join us via Zoom.

  I confess I havn't read any of his books, but I did get his latest book at the conference and plan on reading it soon.

When Author Nation was over, the next day was Reader Nation. Many authors set up booths and sold there books and gave fans a photo opportunity. This even took place in the Paris Ballroom at the Paris Hotel. It was easily accessed through the Horseshoe Casino. So many great book but so little room in my suitcase to take them home!  I did go home with nine new books and got to visit with some author friends.

  

  I was lucky enough to catch up with and finally meet Jordyn Kross and got a signed book from her.

   Is Author Nation something I would do again?  Absolutely! 

  Though I will probably stay at the Paris. The Horseshoe was very fragrant between cigarette smoke and something that smelled like Axe Body Spray to cover it up. So people with sensitive sinuses will struggle. Paris didn't overpower me with smells as I explored the casino and restaurants. 

  I didn't budget for how expensive food and coffee would be. Lesson learned.

  I did manage to take in two Las Vegas shows while there. Tournament of Kings was great and so entertaining. Cirque du Soleil Ka was AMAZING!  Loved it.

So if you ever get a chance to go to Author Nation I recommend it.