Writer’s workshop a chance to share, learn

Writing is a large part of my life now. It is a constant challenge with quite a learning curve, which I find equally fascinating and fulfilling. When I heard about a workshop for writers and veterans taking place this following weekend in Anchorage, I fairly jumped to sign up. I have never been to something like this before. Heck, I never really took any writing classes except one and that was over 30 years ago while stationed in West Germany. The workshop in question is called “Danger Close: Alaska” and it is happening February 6 and 7 at the Boardroom in downtown Anchorage.

Danger close is a term we used in the military, especially in the field artillery, a branch of the Army I once served in many, many years ago as a forward observer. It is a warning sent by a F.O. such as myself to the gun batteries during a call for fire mission. The warning is that rounds from the howitzers will be impacting very close to friendly forces. So everybody is on their toes — one screw up means friendlies get blown up. It is a term that gets the attention of veterans like myself.

Four authors — including three who are veterans — will conduct this weekend workshop, which is being sponsored by local writing group 49 Writers. They are Elliot Ackerman (“Green on Blue”), Benjamin Busch (“Dust to Dust”), Lea Carpenter (“Eleven Days”) and Sherry Simpson (“The Dominion of Bears”). The general idea is to get 24 civilian and veteran writers together in a series of classes and workshops to learn, hone and improve their skills. It has some exciting possibilities and makes me eager to brave the trip down to Anchorage from my cozy home in the Valley. I want to take my writing up to the next level as a columnist and eventually as an author of books, and this workshop would be a great step in that direction.

The prospect of getting together with fellow veterans as well as civilians engaged in the same mission opens up a lot. I use my writing skills to combat PTSD. Others have done the same. Have these vets encountered those others or did they themselves take up writing for the same reasons? It’s just one of a million or so questions I mean to ask them. Learning never stops at just high school or college. That is my firm belief, a belief I have taken with me through over 21 years of service with the U.S. Army from Basic Training to deployment training for Iraq.

Now I’m taking this mind set with me to this workshop. To me this will be a case of “good training,” and I love good training as any old soldier should. The world of the written word is one of some fascination to me. A chance to learn from others of that world is too much to pass by. Only a fool would do that — and I’m no fool.

There is another reason to attend the workshop: Benjamin Busch. He will also be attending a book signing along with a reading at Fireside books in Palmer on Monday, Feb. 8 at 5 p.m. This was the kick-off event that got me interested in “Danger Close: Alaska” in the first place. I plan on interviewing Mr. Busch for KVRF Radio Free Palmer just prior to the book signing. That is the plan, a plan I hope goes through with flying colors. In fact, it was Fireside Books and KVRF that helped me get the funds needed to attend the workshop. Without their help I wouldn’t be attending at all.

So meeting him during the workshop will help cement the interview and will make for a better story because I plan on writing about that too. This is becoming quite the project for little old me and I’m loving it. I believe it will prove to be fun and challenging in many ways. Meeting such challenges gives veterans like myself purpose and this helps a great deal battling PTSD. Of course I call it the “mission” instead of “purpose” because of who I am, a veteran soldier of the U.S. Army — a retired one, to be sure, but still a soldier nonetheless. “Danger Close: Alaska” should prove to be one heck of a education in my quest to be a better writer.

Daniel D. Grota is a retired U.S. Army veteran with over 21 years in service. He is also a Tuesday morning co-host on KVRF 89.5 FM, Radio Free Palmer. Write to him at news@frontiersman.com.