Marion Amberg poured months of research into a new Catholic travel guide published by Our Sunday Visitor titled “Monuments, Marvels, and Miracles: A Traveler’s Guide to Catholic America.” Released in April, it is already heading into a third printing — and Amberg is working on a sequel. The 60-something Minnesota native, now based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, shared her journey.

Q) Tell me about your writing process.

A) I get up at 3 a.m. My internal editor is dead at that hour. I wake up, make a cup of French roast coffee — the darker, the better — and I pray: “Come, Holy Spirit, inhabit my mind, inhabit my words.” And then I start writing, in my pajamas.

Q) Have you always wanted to be a writer?

A) No. When I was in college, I had to take English Comp 101. The provost who reviewed our tests asked if I had ever thought about journalism. I was walking in the hallway, and he stopped me and said, “You’re kind of a rebel. But I think that if you want to be great, you can be great.”

Q) It was a turning point. I guess you could say it was divinely ordained.

A) Not that I was a model student. I would skip class. But he saw something. He saw something, and he took the time to tell me.

Q) More than 500 Catholic sites from all 50 states are included in the book. Was it difficult to decide which made the cut?

A) I wanted to include little-known places along with cathedrals, and I tried to cover different regions of each state. Each site had to have an intriguing story to tell.

Q) The variety is wonderful.

A) This book highlights that the Catholic Church in America is a melting pot. We are one, but we’re not one in the same. We can keep our cultural practices. We’re not cookie-cutter Christians. The Germans bring their Marian traditions, the Italians have theirs, and oh my goodness, the Filipinos have some wonderful Christmas traditions! Lithuania, Vietnam — they have such vibrant cultures!

Q) You probed countless tourism websites and diocesan newspapers for stories.

A) Part of reporting is connecting the dots. You see patterns. For example, many churches across the country, the church that is now standing is the third building, and I find that number to be somewhat significant.

They would build on the prairie a sod church, and then maybe when they got more money, they would build a frame church, and many of those wooden churches were struck by lightning and burned, which led to building a third one.

There’s an incredible story about Trinity Heights in Sioux City (Iowa). The priest and several parishioners started praying the rosary and never did any active fundraising (to build the site), but Mary brought in the money. The one thing I’ve learned from doing “Monuments” is: pray. Pray, pray, pray — and pray some more. So many of these places were started off as a promise to Mary or a promise to God. “I need help, and I will do this.”

Q) Your writing is zippy. This guidebook has personality!

A) I want readers to have fun. God is not boring! The saints were not boring! Faith should not be boring. We should always be looking for the unexpected.

I didn’t want to be preaching at people. It’s like, “Come and see for yourself!” The book is not written solely for Catholics. If you love mosaics, no matter your religion, you’re going to want to go to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, where mosaics cover 83,000 square feet.

Q) Maps play a central role in the book.

A) I was reminded that people travel today using a GPS. Not me! I want a map! I guess I’m old-school. There was one site in Daniel, Wyoming, when I was talking to a historian about it, he said: “Please tell the reader not to use the GPS. They will be going over private land, ranch land, and they’ll have to stop and open the gate.” So I wrote: “Inquire in Daniel for directions. GPS not recommended.”

Q) Is it true you’re planning to move back to the Midwest?

A) Yes. The things I miss are seemingly small to people in Minnesota. I miss the water. I miss the cardinals. I miss the occasional blizzard. There is something comforting about the wind blowing outside and you’re just sitting inside reading.

Q) Ten sites in Minnesota are included. I loved the story of Venerable Frederic Baraga and his voyage from Madeline Island to the North Shore. Have there been any storms in your life where you, in essence, laid down in your little boat and prayed, just as he did?

A) Many times! If you’re hitting a roadblock, that’s a sign you need to lay down in the boat and just turn it all over to God. It’s a sign that maybe God wants you to go in a different direction or wait or just let go of that stress.

Q) What have you learned from your moments in the bottom of the boat?

A) I have enough years on me that I can look back on life and say, “God takes care of his people.”

Another gift of aging is acceptance. The older you get, the less you care what other people are thinking, so you become even truer to yourself and even truer to the gifts that God has given you.

Q) What has helped you embrace the aging process?

A) Walk, walk, walk! And don’t watch the news! If you do, you become very fearful. We can know what’s going on, but we don’t need to know every detail. Your dreams may change as you get older, but they don’t end when you retire. That’s when you can start to do things you really want to do! I hate the word “retire.” I prefer to call it “re-fire,” because you’re firing up for a different time in life.

Q) Do you feel young at heart?

A) I feel like the 60s are just the beginning of my life. God’s graces don’t end when we start collecting Social Security.