The Shitty First Draft

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"It was kind of interesting watching Peter kind of like become a writer in certain ways," he says. "You're talking about like working on nights and weekends and you're just kind of tortured by this thing that's like hanging over your head ... It has to be good, it has to be perfect." The first draft is what writers call the 'shitshit' stage -- when they realize their work isn't great but are still able to go through with it. He writes: "I think deep down, I knew that it would because there had been so much work that went into it"

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After more than six years of research, planning, and writing, Peter’s book, Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, is officially available as of March 28th. In this episode, Peter sits down with co-author Bill Gifford to provide a behind-the-scenes look into the writing process, including the motivation for making it happen, how the book evolved over the course of the writing process, and why certain topics were chosen (and omitted). Additionally, they discuss how the book is structured and touch on a few of the book’s main themes to give potential readers an idea of what they can expect.

We discuss:

The meaning of the book’s title and subtitle [3:00];
Finding the right art for the book cover [9:00];
Who is Bill Gifford, and how did he get involved in the book? [16:15];
How Peter’s writing evolved over the six years it took to write this book [25:00];
The structure of the book and what people can expect to learn [29:00];
How the writing of the book and the podcast interviews have shaped Peter’s thinking and approach to translating science [32:45];
Making the book stand the test of time despite the constant evolution of science and medicine [36:00];
Objective, strategy, and tactics [39:30];
Exciting possible progressions in science and medicine over the next decade [42:15];
What is holding back “medicine 3.0” from being the norm? [46:00];
How the book compares to the podcast in terms of technicality and readability for the layman [49:00];
Motivation to write the book and insights into challenges around the writing process [57:15];
Peter’s decision to be the reader for the audiobook [1:10:30];
The many painstaking last-minute changes and edits that brought the book together and made it better [1:19:00];
Peter and Bill’s favorite parts of the book [1:27:30];
The incredible team of people supporting the book [1:31:30]; and
More.