Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Victoria Dougherty. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Victoria thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

As a writer of fiction and personal essays, I try to create stories that reveal our souls to us in entertaining and unexpected ways. Not just the beauty that lies hidden within us, although that beauty is considerable, but also the darkest corners or our hearts. I figure if we can understand our own failings, we can develop empathy for others. If we can imagine ourselves as heroes, we’re more likely to behave courageously, and with honor, when the opportunity arises. If I can do that for even a handful of readers, that’s a fine legacy, I think.

Victoria, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

In my wayward youth, I tried doing everything BUT being a writer. I dabbled in comedy, produced news magazine segments, and even worked as a chocolatier. All to avoid telling my stories. Because I come from what my husband calls “the ultimate Cold War family.” We’re talking a two-hanky drama complete with heroes, villains, ghosts, and political prisoners. Bombshell women and dashing men. Achingly beautiful love stories and wretched marriages. Deeply unsettling bits of business were thrown around at our dinner table as casually as the F-bomb is dropped in rap songs.
“Did you hear about Uncle Jaroslav?” Heavy sigh, deep pull on my grandmother’s Carlton 120 cigarette. “He hung himself in his shed.”
“Why would he do that, Baba?” I’d ask.
My grandmother would just wave her hand, smoke curling around my toy poodle’s head. “Why not?”
Despite such a treasure-trove of literary material, the stories that I absorbed when I was growing up seemed too big and complicated and painful and gorgeous and sublime all at once. Repurposing the feelings my family stories evoked in me into some form of fiction felt like a massive undertaking. Like dissecting your own body with no help and no anesthesia.
At least until I had my first child. Somehow, looking into my infant son’s soil-brown eyes, my grandmother’s eyes, gave me the words and helped me recognize the gift of a damaged, eccentric family blown across the world by fierce historical winds. How my ability to tell rich, thorny tales of love, history, and war could hopefully make some sense of it all and leave a legacy for my children.
So, to make a long story a little less long, I started a blog called Cold, about writers and writing, wrote my first novel, “The Bone Church,” got an agent, and went from there. Now I’ve got two Cold War historical thrillers under my belt, with a third one on the way, a book of noir short stories (also Cold War themed), and a new epic Historical Fantasy series called “Breath” that is about as far from the Cold War as the Kremlin is from ancient Egypt. Oh, and I’ve also started a podcast called Cold, that’s all about the writing life. One of my listeners called it “the storyteller’s church” and I love that.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Connecting with readers. Through the comments section on my blog, and in email responses to my newsletter, people have shared with me so many of their own deeply personal, sometimes horribly painful, but always wonderful stories. It is such a privilege to be let into people’s lives in this way.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

In my experience, non-creatives have a difficult time grasping the level of vulnerability necessary for almost any worthwhile creative endeavor. Creativity by its very nature is about a certain level of exposure – that when done right – helps us draw broader themes from deeply personal experiences, and hopefully paint them with some artistry. Strictly from a product standpoint, that can feel a lot scarier than being a baker, a mechanic, or other small business owner.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.victoriadoughertybooks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victoria_dougherty/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victoriadougherty.author
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-dougherty-93a3015/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/vicdougherty
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@VictoriaDougherty
• Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/victoria-dougherty
• Join Victoria’s newsletter: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/326254?v=7