Marcia Summers loves learning and growing as a person, always accumulating new knowledge or learning a new skill. At present she’s taking a philosophy course one evening a week in a London college and learning new techniques through an online course related to her personal coaching practice as well. “I always like to be working towards something that I can use to develop myself or others. I revel in doing adventurous activities both in the UK where I live and further afield. Travelling to and volunteering in Sri Lanka has been one of my passions for the past eleven years since 2013 and that is always an adventure whether I’m in Sri Lanka or at home thinking and writing about it,” she said. Today, she is the proud author of her debut book, Trekking Sri Lanka: More than a travel guide published by The Jam Fruit Tree Publications, which is an account of her 1,000km trek from the island’s southern shores to its northernmost tip.
Marcia Summers
“I really enjoy writing and the sense of achievement I gain from producing a piece of work which others find interesting, informative and especially inspirational,” said Marcia. Her favourite form of writing is travel writing. Writing about personal travel experiences that she had and bringing them to life in an exciting manner but also in a way that highlights social issues which inspires others to get involved, is something Marcia is really passionate about. She does this either through her adventures themselves or in supporting the social issues.
First attempt at book writing
The author has recently published some articles published by Exodus Travels on cycling trips she has taken with them to Albania and Jordan but Trekking Sri Lanka: More than a Travel Guide is her first attempt at writing a book. “I’ve been coming to Sri Lanka since 2013 following a family holiday I had that year. It was during that visit that I was introduced to Pearl Stephen who ran the Women’s Development Centre (WDC) in Kandy. I was inspired by her work and dedication to supporting women and girls affected by gender-based violence as well as other disadvantaged groups living in Sri Lanka,” Marcia explained.
She asked if she could help in any way and they agreed that she could help by volunteering her time and skills at the centre which is what she did every year until Covid-19 struck and then as soon after the travel restrictions were lifted from 2022. During the Covid-19 lockdowns Marcia decided to do a fundraising trek across Sri Lanka to raise funds for WDC and for Their Future Today – a UK charity which does its work in Sri Lanka. It was the successful completion of her trek that inspired her to want to share her stories of trekking across our beautiful country with the hope of inspiring people to want to visit Sri Lanka and explore some off-the-beaten-tracks. However, more importantly, she wanted to shine a spotlight on some of the issues that need resolving in Sri Lanka in the hope that people who read her account may want to help in some way. “Along the way, I raised £30,000, and it was so rewarding to reflect on the journey with everyone who attended,” mentioned the author.
“As I’d had so much history of coming to Sri Lanka, of volunteering and fundraising, and had met so many amazing people there, my ideas, thoughts and feelings were very much part of me,” Marcia recalled. “When I returned from completing the 1000km trek across the country from Galle to Jaffna it felt like the most natural thing to write about it.” Marcia treated her writing as a full time job – she got up early each day, did her meditation, went for a walk and then got to work for 4-5 hours each day until she completed it in August.
She mentioned how her publisher Jeremy, supported her throughout the process as did some friends in the UK and Sri Lanka who read parts as she was writing it and gave me feedback to make sure she had her facts correct. This all made the process quite smooth and totally enjoyable. “As I was writing I felt like I was reliving all the adventures all over again!” Marcia recalled fondly.
Main challenges
The author’s main challenges were around her thought process and lack of experience in writing books. She questioned if she could do it and to reassure herself and to improve her skills, she enrolled onto a one week’s writing retreat in the UK. It proved to be really helpful for her as the teachers and other students were extremely helpful in their support of what she had written and helped her work through her ideas around structuring the book and other literary techniques. It was a great sharing experience for her as she gained ideas from other students on the course too. Once she had this under her belt, she felt much more confident and equipped about writing her book.
“I can honestly say I loved every moment,” said Marcia. “I didn’t suffer from the dreaded writers’ block that I had heard about and as I said I felt as if I were reliving all my incredible adventures in Sri Lanka – all 10-11 years of them. Jeremy made the publishing process smooth and without drama. It was a wonderful moment when he told me the books had arrived from the printers and sent me a photograph of them, and even greater when 200 copies arrived in the post less than a week later for me to begin to get them out into UK bookshops.”
Marcia primarily hopes that people will read about the adventures she had in Sri Lanka and would want to travel there to experience the country themselves, especially some of the off-the-beaten tracks that are not promoted in the travel guide books. This was really the inspiration for the book title. But equally she would like people to become aware of some of the issues Sri Lanka faces such as gender-based violence, poverty and the disadvantages that some minority groups face, such as those living with disabilities and children living in orphanages. Marcia will be donating all the profits from sales of Trekking Sri Lanka: More than a Travel Guide that are sold in Sri Lanka directly to support grassroots projects as well as a percentage of sales sold elsewhere. Marcia came back to Sri Lanka in February 2025 and had her first book launch at The Jam Fruit Tree Publications and another book launch in Kandy.
“I had an incredible time at the book launch in Colombo on February 7 at Jam Fruit Tree Publishing, where I shared the unforgettable experience of trekking across Sri Lanka,” she said. The launch in Kandy at Sthree, the women’s development shop, was especially meaningful to her as well. It was a chance for her to reconnect with so many people who have been part of her journey as a volunteer, fundraiser, and friend, as well as those who have directly benefited from the funds she has raised.
Marica Summer extends her heartfelt thanks to Jeremy and the team at JFT, as well as Sashi and Chandrathilika at WDC, for making these book launches such memorable experiences. Marcia then proceeded to trek the Pekoe Trail – all 22 stages and 300km of it, all the while blogging about her adventures and sharing them on her social media platforms.
