Skip to content

My Next Book

2023-10-17 · letter vlog · John · 4:11 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay

John explains why he has not published a novel in six years: after labyrinthitis in 2017 he 'retired' from chasing money and fame, which had made him anxious, and now writes for passion and impact, mostly about tuberculosis; he may never publish another novel but will have a next book.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — No new novel in six years; labyrinthitis in November 2017 and John's decision to retire from chasing money and fame

  • ★★★ John has written several novels but has not published a new novel in six years and counting; he is still writing. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ In November 2017, just after publishing Turtles All the Way Down and a grueling tour, John's balance failed at home; he was hospitalized and diagnosed with labyrinthitis. — 00:00:00 · Turtles All the Way Down
  • ★★★ John says that, technically, he has been retired since November 2017: lying ill in bed for weeks, unable to read or look at a screen, he decided to retire. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John says he had been absurdly fortunate, having sold over 30 million books with plenty of money and views, yet kept chasing more, like Smaug, 'demented with the mania of owning things' as Walt Whitman put it. — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ John feels he worked himself into the misery of labyrinthitis for money and fame he didn't need and that wouldn't make his life better, so he decided to retire. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — What retirement meant: work for passion and impact (PIH, TB), The Anthropocene Reviewed, and why fame and novel publishing made him anxious

  • ★★★ For John, retirement means not obsessing over becoming richer, more famous or more viewed, and defining work by passion and impact. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ Over the last five years the community has raised over $40 million to build the Maternal Center of Excellence in Sierra Leone, which John says is coming along great. — 00:01:27 · Nerdfighteria, Maternal Center of Excellence, Sierra Leone · also in: The world will change.
  • ★★★ In the last year Nerdfighteria has helped make hundreds of millions of dollars of impact in the cost of TB tests and treatment. — 00:01:27 · Nerdfighteria, tuberculosis
  • ★★ John doesn't think he could have worked so much on these projects if he hadn't been retired; in many ways retirement has worked out. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Retirement didn't stop John writing, only writing what people expect: he wrote the weird, personal nonfiction book The Anthropocene Reviewed, which found a broad audience, though not as broad as his novels. — 00:01:56 · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)
  • ★★ Post-labyrinthitis, John can't handle the attention and pressure that came with publishing novels; he admits these are first-world problems, and SNL sketches and movie adaptations were lovely in many ways. — 00:01:56 · First World problem
  • ★★★ When John was close to the center of US pop culture he was not happy: he craved fame and attention, but it made him really anxious, and he doesn't want that again. — 00:02:26 · celebrity

00:02:47 — Writing fiction privately and obsessively about tuberculosis; he may never publish another novel but will have a next book

  • ★★ John is still writing fiction and sometimes reads stories he is working on in semi-secret livestreams. — 00:02:47
  • ★★★ Over the last couple of years John has mostly been writing, somewhat obsessively, about tuberculosis, which is exactly what he wants to write about. — 00:02:47 · tuberculosis
  • ★★★ For John, writing about tuberculosis is a way to understand historical and contemporary inequities: the toll of a disease the rich world ignores resulted from historical forces and TB's own quirks. — 00:02:47 · tuberculosis, health equity
  • ★★ 1.6 million people die every year of tuberculosis, a disease most people in the rich world never worry or think about. — 00:02:47 · tuberculosis
  • ★★ John knows there is no massive audience waiting for a new book about tuberculosis but doesn't care much: he writes about what he wants and is passionate about. — 00:03:16
  • ★★ This takes John back to 2001 and 2002, when at 23 he wrote exactly what he wanted, which became Looking for Alaska. — 00:03:16 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★★ John doesn't know if he will ever publish another novel. (unsure) — 00:03:46 · first in: 2016-09-20, Failing to Follow Up The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★ Ironically, although novels are made up, they feel much more vulnerable and terrifying to John. — 00:03:46
  • ★★★ John says he is writing, loves writing, and will have a next book, hopefully someday soon. — 00:03:46

In the description and comments

  • ★ In a comment John says capitalism promotes much inequity, but TB history shows centrally planned and mercantilist economies also promoted inequity that led to disease among the poor. — creator comment · capitalism, tuberculosis
  • ★ Asked in the comments whether the video is an official announcement, John answers: not quite. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: celebrity · labyrinthitis · tuberculosis

Also: People: Walt Whitman

Works: Looking for Alaska (novel) · Saturday Night Live · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book) · The Hobbit · Turtles All the Way Down

Organizations: Maternal Center of Excellence

Concepts: health equity

Places: Sierra Leone

Characters: Smaug

Memes: First World problem

Only in the description or credits: capitalism

Also centred on labyrinthitis: The Anthropocene Reviewed, Animated · My Physicalmental Illness · On Balance

← Previous: Cancer Made me Do It. · Next → My 'Injury'