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Writing (for) Life
For some people, writing is something they have to do as part of their job. For others, it's a pleasurable past time, and for those few others, it's a necessity. Alumna Zoe Greenberg ’09 is one of our many CHA, Springside, and SCH alumni pursuing a path enabling them to combine their passion for language and writing with their livelihood. It's a pairing that happens rarely, but when it does, it's a blessing.
Zoe Greenberg ’09
Alumna Zoe Greenberg "09 plies her writing talents at the Boston Globe.
WRITING OCCUPATION
Journalist
WHAT OTHER WRITERS HAVE YOU BEEN MOST INSPIRED BY AND WHY?
One of the writers who I most admire is Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, the author of Random Family. She spent 11 years in the Bronx chronicling the lives of four young people growing up in poverty and raising families of their own. The book is dramatic and funny and full of detail and devastating. It took her a long time to write it, so every time I am working on a long project, I just think to myself, how must she have felt five years into the 11-year slog?
WHAT IS THE HARDEST PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS FOR YOU?
Sometimes I knock my head against the wall trying to think of new story ideas. When I’m desperately brainstorming, they don’t show up. When I’m not looking, they pop up everywhere.
WHEN AND WHERE DO YOU PREFER TO WRITE? WHAT IS THE VIEW FROM WHERE YOU WRITE?
But I work in an open-office newsroom, so I am often writing surrounded by people talking and police scanners muttering and keyboards clacking. In college there was a medical library, and the signs on the wall discouraged people from wearing flip-flops and chewing gum because of the noise. That’s my ideal vibe.
WHAT ADVICE/WORDS OF WISDOM WOULD YOU OFFER A YOUNGER WRITER INTERESTED IN PURSUING A SIMILAR WRITING CAREER PATH?
Journalism is a very tricky field because newspapers are dying, obviously, and digital outlets aren’t necessarily sustainable. I have often wondered if I would ever be able to find a reporting job, and right now I’m doing a job that I absolutely love. So I would say don’t lose hope! I’m always reminding myself of this Cheryl Strayed quote: “Don’t lament so much about how your career is going to turn out. You don’t have a career. You have a life.”
Read the comments of 14 other alumni writers in our Fall 2019 issue of SCHool Magazine.
