WGI Writer Aaron Grant has his book, “Taking Baghdad: Victory in Iraq With the US Marines” published and available to read! Check out our interview with him and the link for the book below!
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/taking-baghdad-aaron-michael-grant/1130417596?ean=9781633937918
You can also support his cause to aid veterans with PTSD here:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068841982049
1.) What is your earliest memory of writing?
My earliest memory of writing? I would say sometime in my early teenage years. I have a journal from the 90’s that is either about the woods or girlfriends and very little in-between. I was a different person before the war, and there’s not a day that passes where I don’t wish to have a single day of those carefree years again. I think we all can say that. One day back to the woods, one day back to that first kiss that felt like lightening through the soul. All of it. Oh, what some of us wouldn’t give!
2.) What do you think makes a good story?
Honesty. No one wants to read a lie. No one wants to read anything lukewarm. No one wants to waste their time. These days, the audience will give you a chapter at most, and a good author must deliver. An author must be honest and punchy, real and unapologetic. Authenticity is fast becoming rare where an author does not fear opening up. To writers I say: ‘Open up, lay it on the line. Everyone wants the real you, so give it to them.’
3.) How did participating in a WGI (Writers Guild Initiative) workshop help your writing, (if so)
WGI was instrumental in Taking Baghdad. I attended a “writers retreat” with WGI partnering with the Wounded Warrior Project in San Antonio, Texas many years back. I was in the middle of my book then, and when I arrived at the venue, I was greeted by columnists and authors there to help veterans the entire weekend. And they did. Many of us were non-fiction writers made strong from war: all of us had a story to tell. Our legacy as veterans permeated the discussion. Writing prompts quickly became real and there was no small growth both for veterans and for civilian writers that were shocked at some of the things we had been through. Just being in that room years ago had a healing-effect. All of the sudden none of us were alone. It was a truly soul-bearing experience.
4.) Tell us about your book, Taking Baghdad: Victory in Iraq with the US Marines
Taking Baghdad is my first book, and I almost didn’t publish it. It was conceived in the lull between fighting in 2003. Iraq afforded little sleep, but I managed to find time to write in my journals completely exhausted. To this day I open them up occasionally, and they still have sand in-between the pages. After the war I put them away. I had no desire to ever think of it again, and indeed, the next few years I had forced out of my mind the entire war as if it never existed. Then, something happened that made me open them up. Something big. Something terrible. Something I wasn’t sure I could beat. The war re-visited me, and I hated every minute of it.
Out of the chaos I made Taking Baghdad: Victory in Iraq with the US Marines. Of all the things I have been told about it, a common phrase is “soul-bearing.” It means that all is shown: the good, the bad, the ugly. Honesty. It is 100% true, and I would have it no other way.
It is not just about my battalion of tanks, it is about the world in 2003. It is about 9/11, the politics, the protests. It is a military history so much more than a single marine and his tank. It was twenty years ago…and yesterday.
5.) You started writing this in a WGI Workshop. Did you come to the workshop knowing what you wanted to write about?
Taking Baghdad was definitely concluded in the WGI workshop. I had arrived with it nearly completed, but I had writers-block. My mind was hiding something from the war just like it always had. Just out of reach, I was grasping after a memory when I arrived. I was very-much troubled, reclusive even, because I had a dark feeling what I was trying to remember was bad. Really bad. My mind somehow blocked it out, and there was a whole battle that I was in the thick of that I couldn’t remember. It was driving me crazy. Then it came out. It came out in part. And in the next few days the WGI professionals directed the energy of a scarred veteran so he might find peace in it. Did I find peace? In part, yes. There is still a black hole where memory should be, but what I discovered is all in the book. Soul-bearing.
6.) What are you working on next?
I am nearly finished with my next book: “The Man Without a Mask.” I am also working on a history of the 21st century (I doubt I’ll live long enough to finish it!) I dabble in short stories and poetry as well. They are available free at one of the links below.
7.) Any advice, tips, resources or guidance you’d like to share for someone who wants to write?
Advice? When you get an idea, write it down even if its a few words. Pen and paper. The mind is fickle, you WILL forget unless you purpose to remember. Keep a tiny notebook and use it. Remember, you have a story. You have a legacy. Own it. Be honest and be bold; nothing you create will be wasted time.
