Meet Gary Greenberg | Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gary Greenberg and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gary, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“Life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans.” This quote is most often attributed to John Lennon, but apparently a lot of other people said something very much like it before he did (which brings to mind another great quote, presumably from Mark Twain: “Adam was the only man who, when he said a good thing, knew that nobody had said it before him.”). In any case, I have never been a good planner and tend to go with the flow of life rather than try to direct it. Sometimes we think we can determine our future and limit ourselves because we get so fixated on it. Maybe that kind of determination helps some people to succeed, but it is just not in my character. It took a long time for me to realize this about myself. Probably the best lesson came when I was in my late 20’s and “backpacked” around Europe and the Middle East for a couple of years. I consistently found that the things I most wanted to see and do tended to be disappointing. The best things I just happen to stumble upon. And I’ve been stumbling along ever since.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The other day, someone asked me when I decided to become a writer. I told her it wasn’t something I decided, I just was a writer, just like I am short, a fast runner and Jewish. It seems to be part of my DNA. And I seem to have innate abilities to put words to paper, or computer screen, in ways that make them easy reading, informative and entertaining, especially to those with an appreciation of offbeat and/or corny humor. Today, I am in my late 60s and wanting to semi-retire but am getting more work and making more money than ever. Tempered by many less lucrative years, I still find it nearly impossible to turn down good-paying work. There is something supremely satisfying at so directly turning brainpower into cash. That said, a good portion of what I write for money, I only do for the money. Truth is, I’d rather be writing something else — fiction, kids’ stories, memoir and the like — but have found a much tougher time getting people to pay me for these things, even though they tend to be much more worthwhile than the stuff I do get paid for. I am always working on something else (currently a memoir called “Work”), but it often languishes on a back burner as I churn out paying work. Still, I enjoy writing. It is like a big puzzle where the pieces are all words and you have to string together the best ones to express your thoughts. I enjoy that challenge and seem to have a lot of patience in trying to achieve it. Another good thing about writing is that it constantly involves learning new things. For magazine articles it may mean something like how an mRNA vaccine works or virtual reality is used to reduce pain. For fiction, it’s more a case of me learning something new about myself than anything else. Either way, you expand your horizons and, hopefully, take some readers along for the ride.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
South Florida is a place where you can experience such a wide variety of things that don’t involve hills and cold weather. Right now, I would take them to the Renaissance Fair which is going on at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach. You can time trip back to the days of brave knights and distressed damsels and still have the many conveniences of 21st Century life, such as cold beer and ATM machines. Of course, the ocean is the prime attraction around here. I like nothing better than snorkeling by the Commercial Boulevard Pier in Lauderdale by the Sea, where reefs and a variety of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and/or violet fish laze about, usually including a curious barracuda or two. I enjoy listening to a guy with a guitar playing Jimmy Buffet songs at a tiki bar during happy hour, taking my dog Roxanne to the local dog park where she frolics with her canine friends while I chat with humans, doing book signing at local breweries (the book is called “The Beer Diet: How to Drink Beer and NOT Gain Weight”), people watching at one of the many art festivals that spring up on weekends in downtown Lauderdale, Delray or Boca, going for a bike ride along A1A or just hanging around my house brewing beer, playing horseshoes and otherwise palling around with friends.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The biggest influences in my life were may parents, who provided me with love and support and always told me I should follow my heart. They are the foundation on which my life was built.

Website: https://the-beer-diet.com/ and https://www.cosmiccafe.com/

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