Best-Selling Author and Travel Writer, Pam Grout Shares her Story with Us Today!

Good Morning and Welcome Back to Bathroom Blues Travel Blog.

I love Pam Grout's books and have shared many  on my spiritual blog. I've followed her for quite a while and we've exchanged correspondence. I knew from reading her work that Pam wrote several travel blogs, books and articles, so I reached out to her about being our guest and here's what she had to say...

Here's why I wrote my travel books.

First, I LOVE traveling. I've often told the story of how I fell into travel writing. I sent a query to Ladies Home Journal pitching a story on being a freelance writer. I'm not sure what impelled me to think they'd want a story like that, but in a paragraph about recent assignments, I mentioned picking coffee in Nicaragua and renting a villa in Jamaica, both of which were written for non-travel magazines. 

The editor called me to inquire, "Do you ever do travel writing?" Since you never say no to an editor, I said, "yes," even though I wasn't exactly sure what that was.

She asked where I was going next, and even though I had nothing planned, I answered, "Tampa." She assigned me a set number of words, and I promptly called my sorta-boyfriend who WAS going to Tampa with his family to ask if I could join.

Since then, I've written hundreds of travel articles and written travel columns for Huffington Post and The Daily Meal, to name just a few. 

I also happily discovered that travel writers get invited on all sorts of amazing trips and, in that capacity, I've been to 80 countries, writing about everything from cruises in Moscow to mud baths in Philippines to safaris in Brazil. 

It has been magical.

Eventually, travel book publishers called asking me to write books. The first was Kansas Curiosities  featuring wacky things in my home state--everything from the world's largest ball of string to underground cities to a concrete Model T. I went on to write Colorado Curiosities and the Girlfriend Getaway Guide, all of which were assigned to me by Globe-Pequot Press.

An editor there recommended me to National Geographic for which I wrote a three-book series on meaningful vacations. These 2 are still available!

The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life

and

The 100 Best Vacations to Enrich Your Life

Today, travel books aren't as popular as you can get more up-to-date information online. But I LOVED my couple dozen years writing travel. 

Pam Grout is the author of 17 books and a reporter for People magazine, CNN, Huffington Post, Men's Journal and many others. Find out more by visiting her website, travel blog or Facebook page. Get a more complete bio Here. Read my posts about her books Here and Here.

Thank You, Pam for visiting with us today. I just LOVE how you "fell into" travel writing. Kinda like how this blog came about LOL!

Hope you enjoyed today's post, friends and that you'll check back often for more travel books, posts and articles.

Until next time, be safe on your adventures!

PamT

PS: There are 54 travel books in the "Curiosities" collection. Find them all HERE. Also, check out Pam's other book You'll Know When You are in Kansas When... HERE.