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Check Out Gary Greenberg’s Story

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Gary Greenberg.

Hi Gary, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in the Philadelphia area and majored in journalism at Penn State, where I also started playing rugby and drinking beer. Since then, I’ve been writing professionally for more than 40 years, much of it as an award-winning journalist and freelance writer. I’ve covered pretty much the entire spectrum of news: sports, the arts, government, community, religion, celebrity, crime, business and travel. Since 2015, I’ve specialized in health, primarily natural, integrative and alternative medicine. I’ve written more than 300 published articles in this field as well as two books. Both were published in 2020. The Chelation Revolution (Humanix Books) is about the controversial heavy metal detox and The Beer Diet: How to Drink Beer and NOT Gain Weight (Cosmic Cafe Press) combines my passions for health, beer and humor. I currently serve as the owner, president, accountant, marketing director, information technician, graphic designer and janitor for my Boca Raton, Florida-based freelance writing service, SuperWriter, Inc.

Along with journalism, I’ve also written TV and movie scripts, novels, short literary fiction, children’s stories and verse, advertising copy, blogs and other things, including the sci-fi political satire ezine, Cosmic Chronicle. I’ve also had gainful employment in other fields, including jobs as a roofer, door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, delivery boy, ballpark beer vendor, resort motel maid, factory worker, deli sandwich-maker, weight training instructor, show horse groom, apartment house manager, construction laborer, adjunct college professor, tree trimmer, drawbridge operator, movie extra, performance artist, and import/export business manager. Lately, I’ve been focusing a lot of effort on The Beer Diet book, which is even more a labor of love than much of my other work. I’ve rustled up a fair bit of publicity, including making a Forbes.com list (of “boozy new books”) and articles in Miami New Times, Delray magazine, Yes! Weekly, National Examiner, Medium.com, several beer blogs and more. I also started The Beer Diet Guy YouTube channel, where I muse about beer, health and life in general with my beer can-chomping pup Roxanne, scene-stealing wife Nora and other assorted humans and critters. I live in a small house on a large lot in an old part of Boca Raton with party-hearty Nora, a Panama native who spent her formative years in New Orleans. We have a grown son, Glen, as well as an assortment of animals, currently Roxanne. Turtles Stella and Dottie, sun conure with an attitude Baba, and parakeet Olaf. I enjoy playing sports, including Old Boys rugby, as well as traveling off the beaten path and brewing (and drinking) my own beer.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
If life is a smooth road, you’re doing something wrong. Challenges are what make us grow, and we tend to learn a lot more from failure than success. I quite literally could paper the walls of my office with rejection letters from literary agents, book publishers and magazine editors, and those are only the ones who bothered to answer my queries. Each time it is like a punch to the gut, but I persevere, knowing that the journey is a reward in itself. Despite all of my other careers, I’ve mostly managed to earn a living from writing, which is an accomplishment in itself. I have been extremely lucky in life, being born to smart, loving, fun parents, finding a great partner for my wife, having a bright, big-hearted son, and being blessed with excellent health.

Of course, I’ve also had my share of challenges. I was a runt as a kid and bullied, but rather than leaving lasting damage, it just toughened me up. At age 14, I was hit by a car. It was a gruesome accident that was not my fault, and I spent about six months in traction and an assortment of casts before I could even start to rehabilitate. But I worked hard to recover, swimming a mile a day and pumping iron to build up my severely atrophied leg. Within a year, I was performing on the varsity gymnastics team at my high school. Years later, I hit some hard times while living in California and working as a sports reporter. The first love of my life dumped me, my beloved dog died, one of my roommates started dealing cocaine our of our house, and a new editor at work thought my column The Sporting Life – which was my favorite part of the job – was too irreverent for the community paper and cut it. Desperate for change, I quit my job, sold pretty much of everything that wouldn’t fit into a backpack and tapped my meager savings to travel around Europe.

For the better part of two years, I globetrotted around the continent and the Middle East, mostly on my own. I had some remarkable experiences, but also some very difficult times, often alone, far from home and in countries where few people spoke English. This was before the internet, cell phones, and other forms of instant global communications, so I was really far from help and encouragement. But to paraphrase Nietzsche, “What didn’t kill me made me stronger.” My greatest struggles have no doubt been to gain recognition, and compensation, for my writing. It’s been incredibly frustrating to create something that I know has value to the world and not having the opportunity to share it with the masses. Some of the best things I’ve written – such as my children’s stories – have never been published or earned me a dime. Fortunately, I get an immense reward just from creating, and that has helped to temper the disappointments.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a writer. Always have been. As a schoolkid, I preferred essay tests to multiple choice because I could bullshit my way through even when I was short of material from a lack of study. Teachers enjoyed reading my stuff (you know that’s a rarity if you’ve ever taught) and generally rewarded me for it. I have an easy-reading style and use a lot of humor because I believe my job as a writer is to both educate and entertain. Historically, I’ve most enjoyed writing fiction, including Tales of a Cosmic Navigator, an unpublished novel based on my travels overseas, and my self-published New Age, sci-fi, gothic romance, crime thriller, Dead Man’s Tale. I call myself a “transgenre” writer because my work typically transcends any one genre.

While I consider that a strength, the publishing industry seems to prefer things that fall into easily definable categories. I pride myself on my versatility and am confident that I can write about anything. My varied experiences both in and out of the workforce have given me a vast repertoire of information to draw upon. I’ve also encountered a lot of fascinating people, and they populate my work both in fiction and journalism. I believe that character is the most important element of any story, as many a riveting tale has been told in just one setting and with little plot. I take enormous pride in all of my work, whether writing a book, health article or even email to friends. Writing to me is like solving a puzzle, finding just the right words to convey an idea or emotion. It is also a learning process for me, and my viewpoint often swings betwixt the beginning and end of a piece. Writing thrills me, and I believe that feeling carries over to the reader. More than anything, I am a story-teller. And that is really the essence of being a good writer.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I’ve had good luck in health, love and family. Luck in my career has been a mixed bag. I’ve interviewed a lot of very successful people, and at one point in their rise to fame and/or fortune, most of them stumbled into the opportunity that set them on the road to success. The key was in recognizing the opportunity and also being shrewd and bold enough to take advantage of it. Looking back, I see many missed opportunities I’ve had. One that really stands out came in the mid-1980s. I’d finished a draft of my novel about my travels and went to New York City to find a literary agent, or maybe even a publisher. I got a listing from a book in the library that I copied longhand into a notebook. Then I went around town, knocking on doors and pitching my book. A few expressed some interest, and I left them sample chapters.

The most interest came from an agent named Hy Cohen, who, after reading the first 50 pages, said, “You are a magnificent writer, but I can’t sell your book.” I asked why, and he replied, “I can’t say. I only know what I can sell and what I can’t sell.” I kept trying for a few weeks without luck. Towards the end of my stay, I strolled around Central Park and stopped in a little cafe by a duck pond for a cup of coffee. It was empty except for the guy behind the counter and a man sitting at a table by the window. He was writing longhand into a large leather-bound volume, very absorbed in his work. I immediately recognized him as Kurt Vonnegut, who happened to be one of my very favorite authors. I thought I should approach him, introduce myself as a fan and author-in-the-making, and see what he said. But he was writing so intently. I didn’t want to disturb him. Or maybe I was just too scared. I finished my coffee, left, and walked around the pond, convincing myself that I needed to talk to him, to tell him I was a writer and ask if he could give me any tips on how to get published, or maybe even have a look at my manuscript. I finally worked up the courage to do it and strode purposely into the cafe, only to find his table empty. That was more than three decades ago, and I still beat myself up over missing the opportunity. Maybe nothing would have come of it. Probably not, I tell myself. On the other hand, the whims of fate had crossed our paths, and the destiny that may have been evaporated in a wisp of inaction. Knowing that the meeting may have altered the trajectory of my life continues to haunt me. Luck is getting an opportunity; success hinges on taking advantage of it.

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Rugby photo – Tom DiPace

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