About Viga Boland - BookBuzzr

Viga Boland

Viga Boland is a 69-year-old grandmother who resides in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. At 65 years of age, Viga finally found the courage to tell her two daughters and loving husband of over 40 years the ugly truth about the physical, mental and sexual abuse to which she was subjected by her father during her teens. With their encouragement, she penned her tell-all memoir of those years titled, "No Tears For My Father", to help other victims realize they are not alone and to increase awareness of child sexual abuse, specifically, incest. This book was awarded a GOLD MEDAL in the 2014 Readers Favorite Book Awards, and listed as one of the 100 Most Notable Books by Shelf Media Group.

"Learning to Love Myself" is Part 2 of that memoir, written at the request of readers and fans of her first book. They wanted to know how she healed and moved on to become the well-adjusted, happy person you would see if you met her today. Like her first book, it is available directly from her personal website.

Over her career, Viga has worn many hats: high school teacher; real estate salesperson; regional manager of a toy company; motivational speaker and sales management consultant; and together with her husband, the co-owner of a highly successful wedding photography studio. This second memoir shares her experiences in those various fields, while revealing how her father's actions often hampered her dreams of success and continued to affect the daily lives of her small, loving family.

Between busy career moves and being a mother, Viga always found a few moments to write several award-winning poems. Her poems, articles, short stories and book reviews were published in small literary journals during the seventies, during which time she also interviewed the revered Canadian author, Margaret Laurence for the Canadian Author's Association. You can read Viga's 1977 interview with Margaret on her personal website.

Currently, Viga is a paid book reviewer, who also enjoys blogging and promoting aspiring writers. She facilitates memoir writing workshops for the Hamilton Public Library, and most recently, has embarked on editing and publishing an online magazine for Memoir writers titled "Memoirabilia". Visit MEMOIRABILIA today.

"No Tears for my Father" is available as a printed, signed book or ebook for all e-readers, including Kindle and ePub, directly from her personal website below. Electronic versions are also available from the popular online sites (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Google Play and Smashwords). Ontario libraries carrying "No Tears For My Father" include Toronto, Hamilton, Cambridge, Mississauga, Thunder Bay, Pickering, Grand Valley and Norfolk County.

Book(s) By Viga Boland

Interview

1. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m 69, retired and busier than I’ve been my entire life. But I have no complaints as I’m busy fulfilling my lifelong goal of being a writer. I have 2 memoirs behind me now, and am working on a third. As well, I facilitate memoir writing workshops for my local library, am a co-ordinator for my city’s branch of the Canadian Author’s Association and most recently, have begun editing and publishing a magazine for memoir writers called “Memoirabilia”.

2. Describe your book No Tears for my Father: Part 2: LEARNING to LOVE MYSELF: A memoir of healing through love after child sexual abuse in 30 words or less.

This book completes the memoir shared in my first book. It details my recovery after incest and subsequent discovery of myself as someone worthy of the love of others and myself.

3. What was the hardest part of writing your book?

Trying to make this book as riveting and interesting as the first part of my story was quite a challenge. Because “No Tears for my Father” tells the ugly truth about the incest to which I was subjected as a teen, it easily attracts curious readers and other victims of incest looking for validation that they aren’t alone. It’s a lot harder to attract the same interest in a memoir which, though written to show how an abused woman grows in strength and confidence and refuses to let her past dictate her future, is still, primarily, a simple love story.

4. What books have had the greatest influence on you?

I’m unable to pick any one single book as I read so many books and in several genres. I loved “Great Expectations” as a teen, admired the writings of Canadians, Margaret Laurence and Margaret Atwood, but more recently, thoroughly enjoyed Stephen King’s Memoir on Writing. I’m not a fan of Stephen King’s genre or any of his books, but this one book which is geared at writers, is brilliant.

5. Briefly share with us what you do to market your book?

Long before I published my first book, “No Tears for my Father”, I set up a blog based on incest and child sexual abuse. By the time I published the book, over 50,000 people had visited the site. With both books, I arranged interviews on my local TV stations followed by book signings and book talks in shops and libraries. Of course, I used Facebook for the first book and am using it for this second book as well, but Facebook has so changed that I don’t feel it’s being anywhere as effective any longer. I have also made book trailer videos for each book. The first book has had over 13,000 views on YouTube. I use Twitter, Pinterest, Google and have made the books available on many online distributions sites as well as on my personal website, on which I blog about writing. I also find that running memoir writing workshops has been an effective way to up my profile and get sales.

6. How do you spend your time when you are not writing?

I swim, walk, read, and research on the net

7. What are you working on next?

I’m currently close to completing my 3rd memoir, but for a change it’s short, lightweight and has lots of humor. It covers my 4 years as a student in a Catholic Girls High School, Loretto College. Occasionally irreverent, sometimes insightful, ever nostalgic and whimsical, I hope it will appeal to others who attended my alma mater or similar schools.

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Viga Boland

Book(s) By Viga Boland

No Tears for my Father: Part 2: LEARNING to LOVE MYSELF: A memoir of healin...

No Tears For My Father

Interview

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