Author Q&A: Savannah Grace

When you were 25, how many foreign countries had you visited?

If you’re Savannah Grace, that answer is “more than 100.”

When she was 14, Grace — with her mother, brother, and sister — packed up her life in Vancouver, Canada, and embarked on an open-ended globe-trotting journey.

Grace was less than enthused about her mother’s idea, but as always, Mom turned out to be right.

Not only did Grace fall in love with travel over those four years, but she also used it to launch a writing career. She’s published two books and is working on a third in a series titled Sihpromatum — which means “a blessing that initially appears to be a curse.”

Grace, now living in the Netherlands, found time in between traveling, blogging, and writing to answer a few questions about the process that yielded I Grew My Boobs in China and Backpacks and Bra Straps.

SADYE: Whose idea was it for the family to launch a memoir series?

SAVANNAH: I think it started off as an obvious and mutual decision.

We all kept journals, and at a certain point, almost every other traveler we bumped into started telling us, “You HAVE to write a book.” I am the writer in the family so it naturally fell into my lap to tell the stories.

It really worked out perfectly because we agreed that my perspective is the most unique. Most travel memoirs are told from the eyes of someone who is fed up with the nine-to-five and wants to finally escape to follow their dream of traveling the world.

I start off resenting every little thing about it, which leaves tons of room for growth and discovery. The reader learns to love traveling with me.

SADYE: How else did your family members contribute to the process?

SAVANNAH: My family is extremely supportive in my writing and sharing the story. We often get on Skype, reminisce and share our memories, in order to get the most details in the stories.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to write a memoir without the help of journals and based on your memory alone. Without the encouragement, and shared memories with my family members, the series never would have happened.

I can’t thank them enough.

SADYE: What’s been the hardest part about writing and/or publishing?

SAVANNAH: The hardest part is the actual publishing (editing included) and then the MARKETING! My goodness, there really is no easy way of preparing for what is ahead.

Being an author means taking up about five different careers. There are so many pieces that need to be managed in the puzzle, I often wish the universe would allow authors to freeze time.

Writing is only the beginning and you learn everything else as you go.

SADYE: How do you manage to balance your current travels with writing about your past travels?

SAVANNAH: It’s difficult. I took six weeks off from writing my third book to travel around South America. We had the most spectacular trip which took us to Machu Picchu and all around Peru, Easter Island and Galapagos Islands. Wow.

After traveling to 103 countries, I sometimes fear I won’t find the WOW factor anymore, but Galapagos Islands really blew me away.

Keeping up with current travels and writing about them for my blog followers while trying to write the past family stories for my memoir readers is a serious juggling act. Again, someone please tell me how to freeze time.

SADYE: How is book #3 coming along?

SAVANNAH: At this moment, I am squeezed between trying to catch up on my South America blog posts and writing volume 3.

If all goes as planned, I hope to have Rusty Tracks and Booby Traps completely written and sent to the editor by April, released October 2016! Fingers crossed and wish me luck.

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Learn more about Savannah Grace on her website, where her books can also be purchased; like her page on Facebook; and follow her on Twitter and Instagram. 

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