Cruising with L C Hayden

Today I welcome L C Hayden to Terry's Place. Ever wanted to take a cruise? Ever wanted to do it for free? L C tells us how she does it. Welcome, L C.

On May 28 my husband and I will embark the Ruby Princess in Barcelona, Spain, and set sail on a twelve-day Grand Mediterranean cruise. The ports we will visit includes Monaco, Greece, Turkey (Turkey?) and Italy.


Naturally, my husband and I won’t be the only cruise passengers. We’ll be in a ship that holds thousands of people. What than makes this cruise so unique? The simple fact that the cruise for me is a working cruise and that makes it free.

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This is the part where people’s ears normally perk up. How did I manage to get a free cruise? I am lucky enough to have been selected for the Author-in-Residence Program or whatever name the cruise line adopts. One day I received a call from the cruise people offering me a free cruise provided I did presentations during the days at sea. The interview took over two hours. When it was over, plans were made for me to go on a short trial cruise to the Caribbean.

While at the cruise, the captain, cruise director, and several other officers evaluated my ability to do the presentations and watched me as I mingled with the passengers. At the end of the cruise, the passengers were also asked for their opinions.


I passed the test and my reward was a longer Caribbean cruise. Since then, Princess Cruise Lines and the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines have sent me to the Mexican Riviera (twice,) Hawaii (twice) and now the Grand Mediterranean Cruise. Even though I have already established my reputation, I still go through the rigorous evaluations each time.

As an Author in Residence, I’m not considered a “real” employee of the cruise line, but I’m also not a “normal” passenger. I fall somewhere between the two. That means I have a lot of free time to enjoy myself, but at the same time, I’m expected to follow employees rules. Fortunately, they’re nothing more than simple guidelines such as no drinking in the bar, no short-shorts, and similar items.

During the time at sea, I’m expected to give a power point presentation about writing or my books. It lasts about thirty minutes followed by a fifteen-minute question and answer period. When that’s over, I sign books which the ship’s store carries. Prior to sailing, the cruise’s central office approves the titles and assigns each title its own individual number. That enters the book into their system and the ship’s stores are able to handle the books’ sales.

I am not allowed to sell books or any other item on my own. The passengers can, however, purchase books directly from me provided I use the purchase order form the cruise ship provides. All I have to do is have the passenger sign his name and write down his cabin number. I jot down the name and price of the book and turn it in to the ship’s main store.

The number of times I’m required make a presentation depends on the sailing schedule. I’ve done it as little as three times (when I sailed to the Mexican Riviera and when I did a seven day cruise to the Caribbean.) The most I’ve done it is eight times and that was on a sixteen day cruise to Hawaii.

Once during a Royal Caribbean cruise and once in a Princess Cruise, I was asked to hold a formal book signing where I sat down, people formed a line, and purchased the books which I signed. Other than that, the rest of the time is mine to do as I please. I take advantage of the ship’s facilities, enjoy the excursions that allows me to visit the points-of-interest at the various ports-of-call, and mingle with the passengers.

Many of them have become my readers and friends. They’ve signed up to receive my newsletter, purchased my latest mystery release Why Casey Had to Die as well as some of my back list titles. They’ve told me that they plan to purchase my future releases. Some have even pre-ordered my non-mystery young adult novelette Bell Shaped Flowers and that won’t be released until sometime later this month (February.)


When the cruise lines call, I always try to be available. However, life happens and I had to turn them down for back-to-back cruises to Alaska. My son was getting married at the end of the first cruise and at the beginning of the next. When I told them I was not available, I thought that would mark the end of my super job, but fortunately, they called me back later and offered me a cruise to Hawaii.

I’m lucky to have landed this “job”—but hey, somebody’s got to do it!

For more about L C Hayden, visit her website at http://lchayden.com. Or you can reach her via email at lchauthor(at)yahoo.com

Home from RWA Nationals

What I'm reading: Partner in Crime by J. A. Jance

Home from RWA. While it's great to be home, finding the 'routine groove' seems to take forever. So far, the only major screw-up was that hubby left the air conditioner running for the two weeks we were gone. So much for saving electricity—not to mention a whole big chunk of change. Apparently when I said, "Did you turn off the a/c?" as we were getting ready to leave, he interpreted it to mean, "Did you turn off the water heater?" Selective hearing. I swear, he listens to the first two words and fills in the blanks with whatever pops into his head. He admits that a/c was on his list but wasn't checked off. I didn't think I needed to follow him around checking to make sure he did what he said he'd done.

TSA in Salem pawed through all our luggage. I don't mind, but it would be nice if they'd repack it the way they found it. Our ten bottles of Oregon wine came through intact, and are now safely put away in the wine rack.

Since I woke up at 6:30, I figured it was a sign that I was meant to get back to the Y. Four hours of sleep should be enough, right? All the recumbent bikes were full (has NEVER happened at that hour) and I almost turned around to go back to bed, but I managed to convince myself to stick around and use the elliptical. The new ones have a better ledge for books, and my eBook wise fit, so at least I could read while holding on to the stationary grips for dear life. This model had the other handlebars that move back and forth, but I ignored them (except for when I had to dodge them to get at my water bottle). Managed to survive, but it's not my favorite workout.

For the rest of the day:

Does it count as 'unpacked' if you get everything out of the suitcase, or do you have to actually put it all away? (I did get all the wine taken care of, though.) I tell myself it's good exercise to deal with one or two items at a time. More walking.

Then there's the laundry, and the empty fridge, and waiting for the mail to be delivered, which will mean another overwhelming stack of things to do.

Down/upload pictures from my camera. Wait for DH to share his much better ones. But because he shoots RAW, that means his pictures are about 8 MB each, and I have to wait for him to reformat into reasonably sized jpgs before I can share them with you.

Send ARC to the reviewer who requested it.

Deal with tracking expenses for taxes. (I know that one's going to hit the 'maybe another day' list).

Move files from laptop to PC.

When my brain clears a bit, I'll try to get back to posts about some of the RWA workshops and some more pictures of our trip.

Gearing up for RWA

What I'm reading: Pointe and Shoot by Natalie M. Roberts

What I'm writing: Chapter 12

I leave in a few days for the annual national conference of Romance Writers of America in San Francisco. I'm looking forward to being surrounded by hundreds of people who also hear voices but aren't forced to live in padded rooms. I'm looking forward to cooler weather. I'm looking forward to meeting my agent face to face. I'm looking forward to seeing all those 'names on spines', and listening to their words of wisdom.

I'm looking forward to the behind the scenes tour of Customs & Immigration. I'm looking forward to the Death by Chocolate party where they'll announce the winners of the Daphne du Maurier contest. It's been an honor to have been nominated. Seriously. My book is with a small press, and a primarily e-publisher to boot. So hanging with names like Brenda Novak is just plain amazing. I even did the unimaginable – bought new shoes. I'm looking forward to seeing my brother, even if it's only for an afternoon. He's already made the restaurant reservations. And, after the conference, I'm looking forward to a week of decompression in Oregon with DH's sister and her husband. Since my current WIP is set in Oregon, it's a research trip, too.

What I'm not looking forward to: Packing. It's like packing for two trips. RWA tends to be wardrobe intensive, with meetings, award ceremonies, as well as all day in workshops. Then, staying with relatives in Salem requires an entirely different set of clothes. Laid back, casual. With the airline restrictions on luggage these days, it'll be a challenge to get everything I need into the requisite suitcases. And there are all the 'promotional extras' to cram in there somewhere. Although my contributions won't be making the return trip, normally the giveaways I collect equal or exceed what I leave behind. Thank goodness for my eBookwise. I can fill it with enough reading material so I don't need to haul books.

Then there are all the 'leaving home' details to remember. Cancel mail, paper. Have neighbor alerted to watch the house for things left in the driveway or on the porch. Change all my email groups to no mail or special notices. Make sure I've got all the necessities, which puts me right back to packing, because if I don't have it, there's not much time to run out and get it. I should make a list, of course. But I never got around to making a list for a month in Africa; two weeks on the west coast shouldn't be that hard.