Chris Schacherer (shocker)

Healthcare Analytics Consultant. Fascinated with measurement of healthcare performance...payers, providers, ACOs...oh my!

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

Medicaid is crucial for 1 in 5 Americans, supporting health and economic stability. It’s good policy! What are your thoughts? #Healthcare #Medicaid #HealthPolicy #PublicHealth https://t.co/lqOFKFm8Zn

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@KristaFagan Dogs, right? This just does not look comfortable. 😂

[Invisible People ➤ Imagine Everyone With a Home @invisiblepeople]

Homeless people age quicker and die sooner than their housed counterparts, partially because they lack sleep, which can lead to chronic health issues. Of course, if they attempt to get decent sleep, they risk being attacked. Learn more: https://t.co/7Njij97QLU

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@midwestern_ope Okoboji!

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

Cannot adequately express our thanks to Odyssey Veterinary Care, Madison Veterinary Specialists, and Pagenkopf Funeral Home for the wonderful care provided to our very good boy. https://t.co/IdqPwHJiER

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@KristaFagan The “CozyCabin” line by Stella…very fashionable. 😊

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

One of the best things I’ve read on “the tweeter”

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

In 1936, John Steinbeck was commissioned to report on the mass migration of farmers to California.

After visiting the migrants, Steinbeck was appalled.

So he decided to write a “big book” on the migrants.

After burning a few drafts, Steinbeck wrote the “Great American Novel.”

In August of 1936, John Steinbeck went to the San Joaquin Valley where migrant farmers lived in government camps.

The poverty and filth so infuriated him that instead of the article he was initially commissioned to write, Steinbeck decided to write a “big book” on the migrants' plight.

In late 1937, Steinbeck began writing “The Oklahomans”—about the irrepressible character of the migrants.

In early 1938, Steinbeck finished it. In a letter to his publisher, Steinbeck wrote,

“this book is finished and it is a bad book and I must get rid of it. It can’t be printed.”

He burned “The Oklahomans” and then began writing “L’Affaire Lettuceberg”—about a wealthy family that owned a lettuce farm and exploited migrant farmers.

Three months later, Steinbeck showed a 60,000-word draft of “L’Affaire Lettuceberg” to his wife Carol.

Carol thought it was terrible.

So Steinbeck burned the manuscript of “L’Affaire Lettuceberg” and started over once again.

Six months later, Steinbeck finished a 200,000-word novel, “The Grapes of Wrath”—about the Joads, a family of farmers forced to migrate from Oklahoma’s dying Dust Bowl to California’s corrupt Promised Land.

“I think it is my book,” Steinbeck wrote in his journal.

Indeed…“The Grapes of Wrath” was released in 1939, and soon after, it won the National Book Award and then the Pulitzer Prize.

To date, it has sold more than 14 million copies. It’s often referred to as the “Great American Novel.”

Takeaway 1:

It took three years and hundreds of thousands of words worth of terrible writing, Steinbeck said, to “clear the air so completely for this book.”

“The Creativity Faucet” is one of my favorite ways to visualize creativity.

The Creativity Faucet comes from Julian Shapiro, who writes,

Creativity is like “a backed-up pipe of water. The first mile is packed with wastewater. This wastewater must be emptied before the clear water arrives.”

Takeaway 2:

Steinbeck knew immediately that he wanted to write about the migrant problem. But he worked for years to find the best way to package that topic.

Entrepreneurs and marketers talk about Product Market Fit. I often think about something called (working title), Idea(s) Package Fit.

For instance:

Ryan Holiday was once working on a book with the working title, “Keep Your Identity Small”

He wanted to write about humility. “But as I talked to people,” he said, “there was no interest.”

Still, he really wanted to write about humility. So he repackaged the ideas into the more compelling bestselling book,

“Ego is the Enemy”

- - -

“You can never create something worth reading unless you are committed to the total destruction of everything that isn’t.” — Jason Zweig

Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@TracesofTexas Amen…I can smell the fresh tortillas cooking up at my favorite haunt, Spanish Flowers, in the Houston Heights. Mmmm

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@FishinwithTuck First sign of spring!

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@mgolteez Used to love this place…

https://t.co/zLLk26zwEG

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@stan_sdcollins still can’t get your posts to flow into my TL, but they’re worth the search. Happy 2023!

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@JesseLaGreca I began blocking anyone saying anything about politics…left and right. Twitter is now entertaining again…dogs, photography, fishing, and hiking. But yes, it all started with a weird algorithm shift.

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@JesseLaGreca And Texas singer-songwriters

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@JesseLaGreca I began blocking anyone saying anything about politics…left and right. Twitter is now entertaining again…dogs, photography, fishing, and hiking. But yes, it all started with a weird algorithm shift.

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@Mama_Ezekiel These are my next @Mama_Ezekiel inspired baked goods. Thanks for the inspiration.👍

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@betsygrace @OberlanderUNC This is interesting on many levels. Depending on underlying health conditions, SDOH can impact in ways that have drastic effects on health, but not on long term cost (e.g., higher mortality, or otherwise falling off health plan roles) and others that drive cost significantly.

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@aspiringpeasant Every time he showed someone less fortunate a small (or large) kindness in a way that kept their dignity fully intact or even made them feel like they were doing him a favor. Loved that about him!

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@NitzyPearly @BubblesVampire @juliemason @SXMPOTUS Jumping into the pool…the press pool… every Friday on my long drive home, she was a critical part of my weekly decompression.

[RODEOHOUSTON @RODEOHOUSTON]

Tag your @RODEOHOUSTON buddy. We may surprise you with 2 tickets to a show of your choice 🤠

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@Mama_Ezekiel Threes look amazing!

[Chris Schacherer (shocker) @schacherer]

@carolynsehn