Daily Inspiration: Meet Connie Pearson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Connie Pearson.

Hi Connie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am actually in my 4th career. I have college degrees in piano performance and music education and used those degrees to teach private piano lessons and public school music to grades K-8. In 2002, my husband and I sold our home, his veterinary practice, our furniture, and almost all of our worldly belongings and moved to Ecuador to be missionaries in the Andes Mountains. We left behind our 3 married children and 1 grandchild.

My first book came about as a result of that period in our lives. After four years, we moved back to our heartland of North Alabama where he continued to doctor dogs and cats, and I went back to teaching music. In 2010, I retired from teaching and learned about what it involves to be a travel writer. I was immediately intrigued. After getting some specialized training, I started down this path. Now I have more than 300 published articles both online and in print, and my book “100 Things To Do In Huntsville And North Alabama Before You Die” was published by Reedy Press in the spring of 2022. I have been busy since that time with book signings, presentations, interviews, and podcasts.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Travel writing is hard work. It’s wonderful to be invited to destinations, stay in their finest inns, eat their wonderful food, and meet incredible business owners and artists.

But then you go back home and start working on writing all the articles about that visit. Taking photos while asking questions and taking accurate notes is quite a juggling act. I spend lots of time doing research and double-checking my notes. I hate it when I get something wrong.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I thoroughly enjoy visiting new places and getting a sense of what makes that place special. The geography, cuisine, dialect, artists, and businesses tell so much about what sets a destination apart. I love digging out those nuggets of information and sharing them with my readers.

Our grandchild count is now up to FIFTEEN. Naturally, that causes me to think of them when I visit new places and imagine what they would most enjoy. I love taking several of them with me and seeing destinations through their young eyes.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Yes! Tourism is a huge business. When the world shut down, many attractions suffered greatly.

Some have still not recovered. I realized that when people DID start traveling again, they would mostly venture out to places that were a short drive from home. I have loved making them aware of what is available to see/taste/do within a day’s drive from their homes.

Pricing:

• $17.00 plus 9% tax for my book.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theregoesconnie.com/