Page 6 - KOG Glory & Grace Issue 6 June 2022

PAGE 6
PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE.
An interview with Author Dennis Gaub
Believing that "it's never too late to find fulfillment in life," KOG member Dennis Gaub is a local author whose first book was published after his retirement in 2017. Since then he's gone on to have two more books published and has a fourth one in the works. Dennis believes humans are drawn to storytelling and that each story adds texture to our lives. Ultimately, Dennis writes because he believes it makes the world better. We asked Dennis to tell us more about what life as a writer has been like for him.
When did you begin writing?
I grew up on my grandfather’s farm as the oldest of six children. Later I went to school in Miles City and West High. In 5th grade, I got to see how newspapers were printed and I was intrigued. I saw these huge webs of paper going through the cylinder and I was fascinated. By 7th grade I wanted to be a writer. I knew it was my calling.
Where did this calling take you next?
In high school, I was a part time sports writer helping out the sports editor of the Billings Gazette, Norm Clark. I was lucky enough to be at the State Basketball Tournament at the Fieldhouse in Bozeman when Laurel won the tournament before the largest crowd to ever watch a basketball game in Montana (11,000 fans). I was at the press table, courtside! After graduating from West High, I received the McCormick Newspaper Scholarship to attend Northwestern University to study Journalism.
It sounds like that basketball game was a big deal...
It was! 45 years later (in 2014), I wondered where those players ended up. So I tracked down all the members of that championship Laurel team - all 12 guys - from Australia to Dubai. That became my first book: Win 'Em All: Little Laurel Wins Montana's Biggest Basketball Trophy, which was published in 2016.
What are you working on now?
My second book, Midway Bravery, was published in 2019 and tells the story of Army Air Force pilot Jim Muri who flew a B-26 bomber in WWII. Then I wrote Sky Dreamer, a fictional story about a young boy growing up in Billings in the early 20th century. I hope to publish my fourth book, Lindbergh in Montana, by the end of 2022, the same year that celebrates the 100th anniversary of his time in Billings as a wing walker.
What does it take to be a writer?
It definitely takes some degree of discipline. I write best in the morning at a standing desk. I participate in writing groups that give constructive feedback. To be a good writer you need a supportive partner who will ask, “have you done your writing today?” I attempt to write 500-600 words a day. My wife, Cathie, will get up in the morning and find me typing, standing up at my desk.
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