Suffolk native and former tennis standout Virginia Watford Cuff has published her first book — “The Pity Party Has Stopped” — despite what she says is the extremely personal nature of its content.

Cuff, a 1982 graduate of Suffolk High School and a former member of East End Baptist Church who now lives in Ohio, started writing down her thoughts after the death of her mother, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2002.

“I was so angry that I lost my mom,” Cuff said. “I was just really going through an awful season.”

She had always been given to writing down her feelings, so she started doing so to deal with the loss.

Initially, she didn’t share the writings with anyone.

“One day, my baby sister was really having a difficult day. She was really missing our mom. I said, ‘Let me read something to you.’”

After hearing the snippet of Cuff’s writing, her sister told her, “You should write a book.”

“I said, ‘Oh, no, this is too personal,’” Cuff said recently.

But eventually, Cuff shared parts of her writings with another sister, her husband and friends at church who were going through a rough time. Every time, she got the same reaction — “You should write a book.”

“My husband is my ultimate cheerleader,” Cuff said. “Once my husband said that, I said, ‘I think I should look into really writing a book.’”

Cuff started gathering her thoughts into book form but was interrupted by quadruple-bypass surgery, which was a surprise to her.

“I’m kind of a health nut, so to speak,” she said.

But once she got better, she continued and finished the book in August 2012.

“When I started putting everything together, it started gelling,” she said. “It was so difficult for me to expose myself like that.”

But Cuff said she hopes the book will help others who are going through difficult times.

“It’s for the sole purpose of encouraging primarily women who are going through struggles,” she said. “It tells them, ‘You can get through this. You don’t have to roll over and die.’ I’m hopeful that’s the message it sends.”

To get a copy of the book, send a check or money order to P.O. Box 132, Mason, OH 45040. A shipping charge of $3 will be added to the $10 book cost.

For more information, email vecuff@aol.com.