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MEMORY LANE: Creative path includes music, writing novels

Many of us can recall a time in our lives when we were most happy, most fulfilled; a time when we were most in tune with our nature. For some of us, that moment remains a hazy vision of what might have been.
Dan Green

Many of us can recall a time in our lives when we were most happy, most fulfilled; a time when we were most in tune with our nature.

For some of us, that moment remains a hazy vision of what might have been. Dan Green found a way to restore that feeling and make it integral to his life.

Dan’s moment came when he was a boy in the sea cadet marching band at HMCS Quadra Cadet Summer Training Camp on Vancouver Island.

The story begins in Prince Albert, Sask. Dan’s boyhood in the prairie town – riding bikes and playing ball with his buddies, training with the sea cadets, even his piano lessons – was idyllic.

Then the family moved to Regina. Dan was in a new town, new home and new school.  

“I joined the sea cadets to make some friends in this new place,” says Dan, looking back to his 15-year-old self. “That summer, I got on a plane for the first time in my life and flew to HMCS Quadra, the sea cadet training base at Comox.”

It was a busy time for the cadets, with marching, drilling and training, and Dan loved every minute of it. He wasn’t too occupied to notice that the boys in the band got to stay in this seaside paradise for the entire summer, while his two weeks slipped away like smoke from a campfire.  

He joined the cadet band as soon as he got home to Regina. “The bandmaster handed me a clarinet, it could have been any instrument, but they were short a clarinet player.”

Dan could read music so that helped him learn the instrument and gave him the next two summers at Quadra playing in the marching band.

“It was a great adventure,” recalls Dan. “We had the whole summer in that beautiful place, playing together in the band, learning musicianship from professionals.”

As Dan’s path went in new directions – marriage and family, a career in dentistry and a move to B.C. – music was a constant theme in his life. He played guitar on family camping trips. He explored musical styles, including jazz and rock, and took up the saxophone, playing in a local big band. All the while, Dan was writing songs and stashing them away.

Writing was another passion, one that waited until there was space in Dan’s life that he could devote to learning the craft. When Dan retired in 2003, the time was right. He approached writing through the same route as music, studying the craft and learning the fundamentals at UBC’s Creative Writing program. The first year, he enrolled in the short story class, the following year, novel writing.

He wrote his first novel on the road with his wife Maureen. “We joined the RV brigade, and took our time travelling around North America. At the end of the trip, I had a story I felt I could show people.”   

These days, the couple enjoy an active life with family on the North Shore. Dan stays connected to his profession through the Vancouver and District Dental Society and as a volunteer, travelling to Vietnam to provide dental services with Semiahmoo Dental Outreach. Within this busy life, Dan makes time for golf, music and writing.

In 2010, five years and 14 drafts after starting his novel on that RV road trip, Dan published Blue Saltwater. In 2016, he published his second novel, Teeth, Lies and Consequences. These days, Dan is working on a screenplay version of Blue Saltwater and, yes, playing in a rock-’n’-roll band.

“Writing and playing music gives me enormous pleasure. The structure I was used to when I was working I now apply to my creative life. The discipline and the creativity are balanced. If I had any advice to give, it would be that it’s never too late, and it’s always worthwhile to try to rekindle that feeling of doing what’s right for you. Who knows where the journey will take you. It’s an adventure.”

Laura Anderson works with and for seniors on the North Shore. Contact her at 778-279-2275 or e-mail her at lander1@shaw.ca.