A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life

Overview

Full of beautiful, heart-wrenching, and hilarious stories, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years details one man's opportunity to edit his life as if he were a character in a movie.

Years after writing a best-selling memoir, Donald Miller went into a funk and spent months sleeping in and avoiding his publisher. One story had ended, and Don was unsure how to start another.

But he gets rescued by two movie producers who want to make a movie based on his memoir. When they start fictionalizing Don's life for film--changing a meandering memoir into a structured narrative--the real-life Don starts a journey to edit his actual life into a better story. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years details that journey and challenges readers to reconsider what they strive for in life. It shows how to get a second chance at life the first time around.

Editorial Reviews

Miller, the accidental memoirist who struck gold with the likable ramble Blue Like Jazz, writes about the challenges inherent in getting unstuck creatively and spiritually. After Jazz sold more than a million copies but his other books didn't follow suit, he had a classic case of writer's block. Two movie producers contacted him about creating a film out of his life, but Miller's initial enthusiasm was dampened when they concluded that his real life needed doctoring lest it be too directionless for the screen. Real stories, he learned, require characters who suffer and overcome. In desultory fashion, Miller sets out to change his own life--to be the kind of guy who seeks out his father, chases the girl and undertakes a quest. Along the way, he comes to understand God as a master storyteller who doesn't quite control where his characters are going. An unexpected bonus of this book is Miller's insights into the writing process. Readers who loved Blue Like Jazz will find here a somewhat more mature Miller, still funny as hell but more concerned about making a difference in the world than in merely commenting on it. (Oct.)

Author Information

Bio of Donald Miller

Donald Miller grew up in Houston, TX. Leaving home at the age of 21, he traveled across the country until he ran out of money in Portland, OR, where he lives today. In 2002, after having audited classes at Reed College, Don wrote Blue Like Jazz, which would slowly become a NY Times bestseller. In 2004 Don released Searching For God Knows What, a book about how the Gospel of Jesus explains the human personality. In 2005 he released Through Painted Deserts, the story of his and a friend's road trip across the country. A sought-after speaker, Don has delivered lectures to a wide range of audiences, including the Women of Faith Conference, the Veritas Forum at Harvard University, and the Veritas Forum at Cal Poly. In 2008 Don was asked to deliver the closing prayer on Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO.

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews available at this time. To add your review, Register or Sign In to your account using our free eBook Library Software.

Additional Info

Imprint

Thomas Nelson

Filesize

1.29 MB

Number of Pages

288

eBook ISBN

9781418578480