When many people consider retiring, thoughts drift toward traveling the world or taking up golf, but for Dr. Glenn Cosh, his retirement became a second career.
The Lakewood resident has spent the better part of the last 15 years reinventing himself from a family physician into an author who has written novels and books with medical advice for healthy living and about the benefits of cycling. Cosh’s latest novel, “Summer Camp Blues,” was just published Oct. 2.
The biggest thing for Cosh, 81, was having the time to sit down and write, something he didn’t seem to have while he was working as a doctor full-time.
“I just didn’t have time for it before,” Cosh said. “I was putting in 100-hour work weeks, but I always enjoyed the thought of writing.”
Cosh wrote his first book, “Cycling in the Slow Lane,” while recovering from a serious leg injury when he was still working as a doctor. Being confined to a bed for a long time, Cosh found the writing to be a good outlet and the book was released in 1993.
He said that writing and doing research have been a good way to fill his days when he’s not out cycling or spending time with his family in the 15 years since working at family medicine practice.
Cosh also does some physician work pro bono for several organizations.
He has now published five books and is working on a sixth, but no matter a novel or a medical book for the masses, Cosh enjoys educating people or giving insight into the past.
“I enjoy passing along wisdom,” Cosh said. “There are things I found in my life that have helped people and putting it in print has an advantage.”
When writing, Cosh mainly looks at topics he’s interested in and that haven’t really been explored. “Summer Camp Blues,” even though itap fiction, draws on his experiences as a camp counselor when he worked with others who came from better means and were preparing to attend Ivy League schools. The book’s protagonist was likely to attend a city or state college, like Cosh, who joined the Air Force out of high school.
Friend and fellow author Tim Forbes says that “Summer Camp Blues” does a good job of placing the reader back in that period of time.
“You get a feel for how life was back then,” Forbes said. “It just takes you back.”
In Cosh’s first book, he took a the common subject of cycling and added a twist that he said no one else had done by breaking down the health benefits.
In on how riding improves heart health and reduces risk of stroke and heart attack while emphasizing his belief that itap a fun activity and a good way to spend time.
“No one had ever written a book motivating people to get into cycling and what it does for your health and mind,” Cosh said.
As for the drastic switch in focus late in life, Forbes said itap extremely rare to see someone make a transition to writing at this point in their lives, and he certainly hasn’t seen anyone as prolific as Cosh at his age.
“Itap not something you see,” Forbes said. “Itap remarkable. In some ways, he’s benefited from the abnormal path. He knows what he wants to say and says it.”
Former patients, colleagues and friends have taken to reading the books and many have come away awed.
“It wasn’t something I would have expected he would do, but I’m very impressed,” former patient Vonnie Perkins said.