📒 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐑 ➜ The Purpose of Getting Lost: A Story of Finding Myself is a candid collection of interconnected stories about midlife, independence, and the search for belonging
WOW! WOMEN ON WRITING TOUR
OF
The Purpose of Getting Lost
by Tracy Smith
Book Summary
The Purpose of Getting Lost is a reflective memoir about identity, belonging, and the courage to question the life you’ve carefully built. As Tracy Smith enters midlife—navigating the end of a long marriage, children growing up, and a growing sense of disconnection—she realizes she has spent years performing for expectations rather than listening to herself.
Through solo travel across more than thirty countries, Tracy doesn’t search for reinvention or escape, but for clarity. In unfamiliar places and quiet moments in between, she begins to notice her patterns, longings, and the stories she’s lived by—some worth keeping, others ready to be released.
Told with honesty, warmth, and insight, The Purpose of Getting Lost explores what it means to stop waiting to belong and start building a sense of home from the inside out. It’s a book for anyone who has ever felt out of place, questioned who they are becoming, or sensed that getting lost might be an essential part of finding their way.
Publisher: Compass Story Press
ISBN-13: 979-8993320717
ASIN: B0GFY8KR3J
Print length: 264 pages
Purchase a copy of The Purpose of Getting Lost on Amazon or Bookshop.org. Be sure to also add it to your GoodReads reading list.
Excerpt
I was looking for something before I even had the words to know what it was I was looking for. Most of us start searching before we recognize the question driving us—the question that drives every journey. Mine was this: Where do I belong? It wasn’t a question I could answer from my couch in Chicago. So I went looking for answers—and found them in movement. I danced in mosh pits in Doha and sank in quicksand in the Amazon. I drank rice wine with the Hmong and laughed with strangers. I swam naked in the Caribbean and got lost in the streets of Reykjavík. The geography shifted, relationships rose and fell, and my body broke and healed. Through it all, belonging never announced itself—it only whispered. Not after the divorce that left me untethered, the kids who were growing up and away, or the friendships that faded when I stopped playing the part. For most of my life, I’d looked for belonging in other people—in marriage, in motherhood, in the opinions of friends and family who always seemed just out of reach. I bent myself into shapes I thought would make me acceptable. I smiled when I wanted to scream. I stayed when I wanted to run. What I’ve learned is that belonging isn’t something we wait for. It’s something we build—from the inside out.
About the Author
Tracy Smith, Ph.D. is a writer exploring the intersection of travel, identity, and belonging. Her work focuses on the small, often uncelebrated moments when women begin choosing themselves—sometimes quietly, sometimes far from home.
Through personal narrative and place-based storytelling, Tracy examines what happens when certainty loosens, expectations fall away, and life is allowed to remain unresolved. Her writing is less about escape and more about attention: noticing how freedom, acceptance, risk, and community take shape in everyday lives across cultures and landscapes.
She is the author of The Purpose of Getting Lost and the creator of The Geography of Connection, an ongoing project that follows these themes through travel, essays, and lived experience. Tracy’s work speaks to readers navigating reinvention, midlife change, and the courage it takes to live without a neat ending.
You can follow the author at:
Her Substack: https://substack.com/@tracysmithauthor
Her Website: https://tracysmithauthor.com/
#Biographies #MemoirsofWomen #Adventure #Traveler #BlogTour #GuestPost #TracySmith
Blog Tour Calendar
April 6 @ The Muffin
Join us at the Muffin as we celebrate the launch of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith. We interview the author and give you a chance to win a copy of the book.
https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com
April 9 @ Rachael's Thoughts
Join Rachael for her review of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith.
April 10 @ What Is That Book About
Join Michelle for her spotlight of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith.
https://www.whatisthatbookabout.com/
April 18 @ Boots, Shoes and Fashion
Visit Linda's blog for her in-depth interview with author Tracy Smith.
https://bootsshoesandfashion.com
April 22 @ Writer Advice
Join B. Lynn Goodwin for a guest post by Tracy Smith on finding purpose in uncertainty and “in-between” seasons.
April 23 @ Words by Webb
Jodi shares her review of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith.
https://www.jodiwebbwriter.com/blog
April 23 @ Knotty Needle
Visit Judy's blog for her review of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith.
https://knottyneedle.blogspot.com
April 25 @ A Wonderful World of Words
Visit Joy's blog for a guest post by Tracy Smith on midlife reinvention: identity, courage, and starting again.
https://awonderfulworldofwordsa.blogspot.com/
April 27 @ World of My Imagination
Join Nicole for her review of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith.
https://worldofmyimagination.com/my-blog/
April 30 @ Words by Webb
Jodi responds to our tour prompt of something she learned about herself later in life that surprised her.
https://www.jodiwebbwriter.com/blog
May 1 @ A Storybook World
Join Deirdra for her spotlight of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith.
https://www.astorybookworld.com/
May 3 @ Bookwoman Joan
Stop by Joan's blog for her review of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith.
https://bookwomanjoan.blogspot.com
May 5 @ Sarandipity's
Stop by Sara's blog for her spotlight of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith.
https://sarandipitys.com/blog/
May 6 @ Bring on Lemons
Visit Crystal's blog for her review of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith.
https://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/
May 7 @ Balance and Joy
Visit Sheri's blog for her review of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith.
https://www.balanceandjoy.com/
May 8 @ Boys' Mom Reads
Join Karen's blog for her review of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith.
https://karensiddall.wordpress.com/
May 9 @ Just Katherine
Katherine joins us for a review of The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith. She also shares Tracy's guest post writing memoir from lived experience without polishing the truth. Katherine also responds to the tour prompt about what does “belonging” mean now and how that has changed over time.
https://justkatherineblog.wordpress.com
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