Veterans and their families are well aware of the strain that serving can put on a relationship. It can be difficult to be apart from each other for so long, and some risk never seeing each other again. For those who have experienced the latter, one veteran decided to write a book that would help them through.
Katerina's Tears
Michael Galitello, now 80 years old, worked with ghost writer Rob Carr to write "Katerina's Tears," a romance novel that detailed the fictional life of one couple's experience with war, reported The Register Citizen. A touching story, the book was started in January 2014 and submitted to the publisher in October. Galitello wanted to write the book as a tribute to fallen soldiers who were not able to reunite with the loves of their lives.
"It's a love story for the guys that never made it back to meet their 'Katerina' and also for the 'Katerinas' who might have not met their guys who didn't make it back," Galitello told the news source.
In addition to the story, the cover of the book was inspired by real-life events. It features the silhouette of a woman, which is an actual picture that Galitello found one day. In fact, it was what inspired the story in the first place.
"I got that inspiration of love, love will find you, love is there, love is waiting," he added.
Other novels
"Katerina's Tears" is one of many books written by veterans. After that one was published, Galitello started writing his second one, a Christmas story called "The Ornament." Writing can be an effective way of expressing oneself during life after service. There are many organizations that promote the art form as a healthy form of therapy. Veterans' Voices, Warrior Writers and Veterans Writing Project are all programs that developed to help veterans find a healing hobby.
While some of these organizations teach courses and hold seminars on writing, others simply provide veterans with a group of like-minded individuals who are interested in getting together and sharing their stories. Specifically, Veterans' Voices accepts online submissions for prose and poetry and consistently posts it on the site for all to read. The Veterans Writing Project lists literary, social and therapeutic as the three main goals of the program. It brings together veterans and teaches them how to effectively express themselves through writing with the expert-led courses and mentoring program.