SOME MOTHERS DO HAVE ‘EM
A video, podcast and blog post by Viga Boland
 sharing why she writes books she doesn’t want to write!
Yep! As the title says, “some mothers do have ’em”… and my mother was one of them. She had me, a weirdo who writes books she doesn’t want to write and somehow manages to get away with it. I think. You, my readers, watchers and listeners can decide if I do. This blog post comes complete with a podcast version (click player above) of what’s written below, and a video (below) for those who’d prefer to watch me speaking on my weirdness. Are you ready for the author who writes books she doesn’t want to write? Here’s goes!
For those who haven’t met me yet…lucky you…I’m Viga Boland, and I’ve written 6 books, 4 of which are memoirs, and all of which I didn’t really want to write. The first book, was my tell-all memoir of childhood sexual abuse, “No Tears for my Father”. I didn’t really want to write that story at all, but my family encouraged me to do it to help other victims of sexual abuse. So I wrote the first book I didn’t want to write.
That was followed a year later by “Learning to Love Myself”, a sequel to that first book. This time, it was my fans who wanted me to write the story of my life after leaving my abusive home. I really didn’t think my life up to that time was worth writing about but I couldn’t disappoint my fans. So, I wrote a second book I didn’t want to write.
The third book in that series was yet another memoir, “Voice from an Urn”. It was prompted by readers wanting to know more about my mother and her role in the childhood sexual abuse. Honestly, that wasn’t a book I wanted to write but again, I obliged.
By the time I got to a book I had thought of writing, “The Ladies of Loretto”, it was hard to believe that what I ended up writing wasn’t exactly what I had planned to write, but at least it was closer to writing a book I wanted to write.
By book number 5, “Love has no Gender”, I was in rebellion. I’d had enough of writing memoirs and thought I’d try my hand at fiction. I was captivated by Bruce Jenner’s transitioning from male to female. I did some research and then took 10 months to write a mere 70-page book. I got stuck so many times not knowing where to go with it. In the end, it turned out okay but I realized I’d again written something I didn’t want to write: fiction.
 
So I quit. I figured I’m done. No more writing books I don’t want to write. Well after 6 months, I was bored and had to write something. Over lunch one day, a couple of my best writer friends suggested I write a book on how to write memoir. I really wasn’t interested in writing a how-to book, especially when there are so many books already available on memoir writing. What could I offer that was different? My friends suggested I write it just the way I teach memoir writing in my workshops: “Write a how-to book on memoir writing that motivates writers to get going, just the way you got us going in your classes!” 
“Yes, but” I protested. “It’s vastly different talking to a live group of people, getting feedback, being stimulating and being stimulated by their responses. How on earth do I do that on paper?”
I thought it over for a week and since I always rise to a challenge I decided, why not? Let’s try this. Well that was back in June 2016 and now, that book is ready for those who want to write memoir and can’t get started. It’s titled “Don’t Write your memoir without ME” and I do believe it offers something the other books on memoir writing don’...