A CONVERSATION WITH GINA GREENLEE

1. What sparked the idea for Postcards and Pearls?

In 2000, I took a solo trip around the world and wrote about it for a newspaper's Web site in a weekly column called Journey with Gina.  During those five months, women from across the United States and from the Caribbean e-mailed me not to ask about my geographic journey but my existential one.  Specifically, they wanted to know, “How do you find the courage to travel on your own?  How do you keep from getting lonely?  Don't you feel self-conscious eating out alone?”  After the first 30 e-mails like these I thought, There’s a book here.  The moment I had that epiphany, I also knew that Postcards and Pearls was not, at its core, a travel book.  Rather, I would use solo travel – the context from which the epiphany sprang – as a metaphor for how women could cultivate, nurture and delight in being in relationship with themselves. 

2. How did you decide on the book's structure - individual stories accented with quotes and anchored with life lessons?

In the 1990s there seemed to be a publishing explosion of inspirational daybooks – pocket-sized gems that contained an uplifting story for every day of the year.  I personally owned about a dozen of them as did many of the women I knew.  Daybooks can be easily digested yet so satisfying.  Over the years, many women have recommended some of these books to me and vice versa.  I knew I was on the right track when I gave a friend a daybook for her birthday and she said, “You know what I love about these books?  You can pick them up at the end of the day, read a page or two, get a whole story, and feel very accomplished.” 

3. Were there any aspects of writing the book that posed a challenge?

I dreaded writing the pearls.  I knew they had to be strong because they anchor each story.  I also knew they had to be short and pithy.  I recalled my days of high school English class and thought, Oh my God, this is going to be like writing 118 haikus.  As it turned out, writing the pearls was far easier and more enjoyable than I had imagined.  That’s because I allowed them to come through me from a place unconcerned with logic or intellect.  I would read each postcard silently, close my eyes and ask, “What is this story really about?”  Almost immediately, a word or phrase would reveal itself – the essence of what each traveler learned and brought back home.  Then I'd wordplay that essence, shape and refine it until I hit upon the lyrical quality I was seeking.

4. You've been all over the world and probably have enough stories to fill 10 books.  How did you decide which stories to include?

Once I had clarity about the book's core theme, selecting stories was easy.  Chief among my criteria was that each story had to contain a believable, relatable lesson.  Second, that lesson had to be one that could apply off the road because the pearls are not travel lessons but life lessons.  Third, the stories had to stretch each traveler beyond her comfort zone.  Solo travel is such a robust opportunity for individual expansion.  No matter how joyful a solo journey is, it also demands self-reliance for aspects of living we can take for granted when we're in known places and with familiar people.  Also, I wanted to include as much variety as possible: in geography, the life experiences of the women who shared their stories and the type of solo journeys taken.  Finally, of course, I wanted the book to be entertaining. So, I also chose stories that were just plain fun, like the travel fashion lesson I got from a Belgian woman I met in Israel.  That was a hoot.

5. Of all the places you've visited, what is your favorite?

For me, picking a single favorite place in the world is like trying to pick a favorite food.  I love food, I love to travel and I have many favorites in both categories.  But if I had to pick one favorite place, it would be Vietnam.  There are many beautiful regions of the world but Vietnam took my breath away every day, all day.  Just when I thought, It can't get any more spectacular than this, my senses were overwhelmed by yet another of that country's gems -- whether it was the cool jade waters of Halong Bay, the white sand beaches of Cat ba Island or the mesmerizing imagery of Vietnam's renowned Water Puppet Theater.  The people are noble and generous, the culture is diverse and the food is off the chain!  

6. What’s next for you after Postcards and Pearls?

Finding a new rhythm of life in Sarasota, Florida, after living in the northeast for the past 15 years.  I want to give myself the time, space and grace to do that.  As for my work, I tend to write like I read – five or six books at once, all interesting and vying for my attention until one steals focus.  Right now, there is heated competition among old ideas demanding their due and new ones shamelessly wooing.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.      The author intended Postcards and Pearls to appeal to readers in four different ways:

·         A roadmap for cultivating a joy-filled relationship with ourselves

·         Inspiration for taking leaps and risks of all kinds

·         Affirmation of, and encouragement for solo travel

·         A travelogue

Discuss how Postcards and Pearls “speaks to” the members of your group.  How do the different themes leave an impression?  Does the book affect any members at yet another level?

2.      The author wrote Postcards and Pearls specifically with women as the target audience.  Though Greenlee addresses questions women e-mailed her in response to her Journey with Gina column, discuss why else you think she focuses the book on women.  In what ways do you think the book’s messages hold value for men? 

3.      Explore the concept of “solo” vs. “alone.”  Discuss the author’s definition of these terms in the book’s introduction.  What are your personal associations with the words "solo" and "alone"?

4.      Over the years, the author has spoken with hundreds of women whose foremost solo travel anxiety is dining out alone.  Why do you think this is so?  How might a woman employ the concept of “solo” vs. “alone” to transform a solo dining experience from one of anxiety to pleasure?

5.      Some of the postcards relate stories of solo women travelers who interacted with people they met on the road.  Discuss the ways in which a solo journey can be conducive to meeting new people.

6.      By choice, the author has never married or had children.  Over the years, Greenlee has met women who believe these choices have made it easier for her to travel solo.  In what ways might they have made it more difficult?  Discuss with your group what, if any value there is for married or partnered women to travel solo.

7.      Which pearls resonate for the various members of your group and why?

8.   After reading Postcards and Pearls, where are you drawn to travel based solely on the postcard description?  How might you vision a solo journey there?