10 things I learned while writing OUR book

We turned in the latest draft of our book this week. I was really enjoying the first draft, but I am loving this draft. The editing process can be tough, but it has also made this a better product.

And that's why I say OUR book. Because, yes, this is my story — but it's not my product. Not alone, at least. It has take a team to get to this point, and it will take an even bigger team to get from here to the moment in which this story will land on bookshelves.

So, that's the first thing I learned while writing this book, and the first thing I tell people who tell me they've got a book inside of them.

1) Nobody writes a book by themselves. Even if you are the sole author, it takes a village to make great book. So, if your ego is caught up in your book being YOUR BOOK, it's not going to be a very good book.

Let's see. What else?

2) Write down everything. You never know what quirky little thought will be key to telling a story. Keep a journal. Dictate notes to yourself on your smart phone. Evernote helps a ton. Clip webpages. Clip quotes. Jot ideas. Send emails to yourself (subject: BOOK).

3) Don't let your beta readers drink the Kool-Aid. If the people you trust with the early drafts of your story have nothing to say but "oh wow, I just loved it sooooooo much. You're such a great writer" then you need to find other people to trust with your story.

4) Don't be average. If you're going to engage in this process — and bring a team along with you for the ride — shoot for nothing short of the moon. Don't tell people what they already know, or could easily find out. Have big ideas. Be bold. Change the paradigm.

5) Write from the middle of the hurricane. A lot of people wait until the end of their career to write a book. And that's too bad. Because by the end of their careers, a lot of people (thought certainly not all people) are really quite bored with the very things they're now ready to write about. Write about things that amaze you when they amaze you. Scientists and engineers tend to avoid this sort of thing because they worry about what their peers will say — and because tradition says you should to publish your ideas in specialty journals first. But why?

6) Be you. I adore Yuval Noah Harari. But there's already one of him. Same goes for Mary Roach, Carl Zimmer, and Rebecca Skloot. Don't try to write like other people. Instead, be inspired by the way they've developed their own voices — and then develop your own.

7) Don't try to make money. I'd be a lying liar from Liarsville if I told you I don't care how many people buy our book. Nobody should write a book they don't want people to read. Publishers invest in writers. If we want publishing to survive, we need books to sell. If I want to write another book (and I do!) this one needs to sell. But there are endless factors that determine if a book will be a best-seller, and some of them you can control but most of them you can't. So I'm not expecting a windfall, here. I'm hopeful for a book that a lot of people want to buy, but I'm proud of this book no matter what.

8) Work with people you like. In one of the companies I founded, there's an unwritten and yet very important rule that governs everyone we hire: No jerks. That's a good starting point for book-writing, too — especially if you're working with a co-writer. But since book writing is a very long slog, it's not enough to have a co-writer who isn't a jerk. Find someone you can have fun with. That's what happened when Matthew D. LaPlante and I met. The same goes for our illustrator, the exceptionally talented Catherine Delphia.

9) Have family support. Because book writing is such a long slog, it's not something anyone should do unless the people around them are bought in. I've been fortunate in this way. In times in which I wondered whether I'd ever complete this project, my wife Sandra was there to remind me why I wanted to do this in the first place. (She will be happy when it’s done, though!)

10) Write, then read, then cut. Repeat. Good writing should be pleasing to the ear. Every few sentences, stop clicking away at the keys for long enough that you can whisper the words you've just brought to life. And then do it again. Every page. Every chapter. If it doesn't sound good, go back and do it again. And again. And again. There’s a powerful scene in the movie A River Runs Through It, where the reverend teacher, played by Tom Kerritt, tells a seven-year-old Joseph-Gordon Levitt to make his essay “half as long.” And again. And again. That’s extreme but the sentiment is the right one. Be efficient with words. Then be surprising. Stimulate your readers' minds. That’s the trick.

There's more, of course. It turns out you learn a lot when you write a book. And I'm sure there's plenty more to learn between now and the moment booksellers start putting this book on their shelves.

I'll let you know.

In the meantime, go start telling your story.

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Want to know what's happening in my lab at Harvard? Or in the companies I've founded? Or in the fast-moving and even-faster-growing world of aging research? Follow me on Twitter — I'm @davidasinclair — along with the coauthor of this article and OUR book. @mdlaplante. Also, check out this amazing illustration for our book by Catherine Delphia! Do you recognize that landscape?