CWV Book Corner, March: Army Veteran Alicia Dill

Each month, VA’s Center for Women Veterans profiles a different woman Veteran author as part of its Women Veteran Authors Book Corner. This month’s author is Alicia Dill, a public speaker and award-winning author.

Dill joined the Army National Guard at 17 and served six years, including a deployment to Kosovo. She met many other women who shared her goal for service, and it was those shared experiences that inspired her to write “Squared Away,” her debut novel, as well as its follow-up, “Beyond Sacrifice,” which published in 2021.

What are you doing now?

I continue to write and speak as female Veteran advocate, and I finished my first screenplay about female Veterans.

Where and when did you serve?

I served in the Iowa Army National Guard as a Public Affairs Specialist for six years from 2001-2007. I spent a year deployed in Kosovo and a brief Guard mission in El Salvador.

What was your proudest service memory?

This is a hard one. I am my biggest critic. Having my whole self say, “I can’t do this,” and somehow pushing through it to complete my mission by knowing it is not about me. Service above self.

What was your inspiration for becoming an author?

I’ve been a storyteller since I was three years old. It is how my family knows me. The author part was following through and executing on what my mouth was already doing. Put up or shut up and finish the book!

How has your military experience shaped your creativity or how you express yourself?

The details ring true. I bring a realness and an edge to my thriller novels because of my service.

What advice would you give other women Veterans who may be considering becoming an author?

We do hard things. I say this in my speeches to female Veterans because finishing is always hard. If you served, I expect a book completed. Period.

How can women Veteran authors shape society’s understanding of women Veterans’ military experience and their contributions?

Your story is interesting and, if a person says I put my life on the line for this country, I already want to read the story. We are not invisible and we should be in every medium. Nothing for us without us. That means we have to put in the work ourselves.

What were some of your obstacles and challenges in writing this book?

I wrote my first novel, “Squared Away,” on a legal pad during my lunch breaks in 2009. There is never enough time. So, I created it in 10-minute increments. The first words I wrote were “What am I doing here?” and those were the first lines of my book.

What are your recommendations for illustrating, book cover selection, and the publishing process?

Pay professional editors even if your family and friends think your writing is great. I used several sites, writing groups, workshops and editors to get my manuscript ready. Publishers and agents are not interested in our demographic unless we make them care. No agents cared about female Veteran stories until they did. It took 10 years until I was published. The entire time I was rewriting, pitching and struggling to be heard. I never gave up and persistence meant the difference.

What is one significant thing we should know about you?

I am energetic, passionate and driven. I stay focused on living a full life and accomplishing what I set out to do.

How has writing this book helped you?

I did what I said I was going to do. Whatever comes out of it. I get to have amazing conversations in real life with sisters-in-uniform about the characters I write because I endured hours of struggle and rejection. These characters I write are cathartic to me and I always cry when I write the ending because it is a full circle closing. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

What is your favorite quote?

“A good book is not written, it is rewritten.” -Unknown

If you could choose one woman from any point in time to share a meal with, who would she be?

Harriet Tubman. I write thriller books and she lived the life of a real-life-stakes-never-been-higher spy. And for the best cause of all, freedom.

Are you a woman Veteran author, or do you know of one?

If so, please visit our website to find out more information. If you have further questions, contact the CWV Outreach Program Manager Michelle Terry at Michelle.Terry2@VA.gov.