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    A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
    A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
    A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
    Ebook227 pages14 hours

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

    By Donald Miller

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    After the publication of his wildly successful memoir, Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller's life began to stall. During what should have been the height of his success, he found himself avoiding responsibility and even questioning the meaning of life. But when two producers proposed turning his memoir into a movie, Miller found himself launched into a new story filled with risk, possibility, beauty, and meaning.

    A Million Miles in a Thousand Years chronicles Miller's rare opportunity to edit his life into a great story and to reinvent himself so nobody shrugs their shoulders when the credits roll. When his producers begin fictionalizing Don's life for the film--changing a meandering memoir into a structured narrative--the real-life Don starts a journey to make his actual life into a better story.

    In this book, we have a front-row seat to Miller's journey--from sleeping all day to riding his bike across America, from living in romantic daydreams to facing love head-on, from wasting his money to founding a life-changing nonprofit.

    Guided by a host of outlandish but very real characters, Miller teaches us:

    • Why God hasn't fixed us yet
    • The power of speaking something into nothing
    • The redemptive beauty that can come from tragic circumstances
    • How to get a second chance at life the first time around

    Through heart-wrenching honesty and hilarious self-inspection, Miller takes readers through the life that emerges when it turns from boring reality into a meaningful narrative.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThomas Nelson
    Release dateSep 28, 2009
    ISBN9781418585877
    Author

    Donald Miller

    Donald Miller is the CEO of StoryBrand and Business Made Simple. He is the host of the Coach Builder YouTube Channel and is the author of several books including bestsellers Building a StoryBrand, Marketing Made Simple, and How to Grow Your Small Business. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife, Elizabeth and their daughter, Emmeline.  

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    Reviews for A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

    4.5/5

    37 ratings16 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I really struggled with this book in the beginning. Like, almost didn't finish reading it, and I have only quit reading a book about half a dozen times out of hundreds of books. And, because of that, I decided to give it 4-4.5 stars instead of 5. But it's a fantastic book if you can get past the first 40 pages or so. It definitely gets better. I got a lot of little nuggets of wisdom and appreciation for living a good story. I may even need to buy this one for the reference to the simple yet compelling wisdom found in tidbit in it. I even cried at one point, and had a few laughs. I recommend this to Christian readers especially.
    • 5/5
      Very inspiring, I enjoyed a lot while reading it, and I will start to edit my own life.
    • 4/5
      Is life a series of random events or something more? Donald Miller gets an opportunity to edit his life when an earlier memoir Blue Like Jazz is being adapted as a movie. The same concepts he reveals can be applied to a movie, a book, or a life. We are acting out a story in which our actions are more important than our intentions or thoughts. A story involves a character who wants to attempt something difficult and overcomes conflict to do it.There is nothing new in those ideas. The real value of the book is how the author gets himself off the couch and actually does something about recreating the story of his life. His first efforts were small. Buying a bike and getting in shape. But as he achieved small successes, he increased his goals. Making a connection with the father who abandoned him. Riding his bike cross-country to raise money to build wells in Africa. He writes with humor and candor about the people he meets along the way and about the faith that sustains him. I like his approach in this book. It contains an important message, it's well written, and it doesn't preach. Donald Miller is a Christian who lets his life do his witnessing for him.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Like BLJ, Miller as assembled a collection of observations and ponderings around an event to make it enjoyable, meaningful and touching. Faced with editing his book for a film, Miller finds he does not have much of a story. He goes about trying to create said story by finding his dad and embarking on a bicycle journey across the continent. His observations about like are very meaningful and parts had me tearing up thinking of how my story went terribly wrong. Not an overtly religious book, but, man, Miller really speaks to me.
    • 5/5
      Donald Miller learns to live his life and write the story of that life, of the process of living, but not to live a life to write the story. Life is what we make of it. Risk is an inherent part of our stories. Donald Miller is a good story teller. A Million Miles flows easily. We experience his stories as he jump starts his life, and we learn the components of what goes into telling a strong story. I originally picked up this book for tips on writing memoir. I finished it feeling more knowledgeable about life and satisfied at time well spent.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      It took me about 200 pages for it to finally click, but when it did I realized what Miller had astutely crafted. Seeing our lives from the point of view of our storyteller, and putting ourselves in the business of story craft is a masterful stroke. It brings together so many ideas from suffering to Imago Dei, to spiritual direction. I wish he would have made the Romans 5 connection that suffering leads to perseverance, perseverance to character, and character to hope, but he connected all the dots up to that point. Having the perspective to see sub-stories and mini-climaxes within our lives proved to be one of the most helpful of ideas.It's not overtly Christian as, say, Searching for God Knows What, but the book, especially the end, is undeniably Christian--it's just Christianity without the filter of Evangelical piety, which as a member of a fundamentalist church, I say can be refreshing.Unfortunately, probably doesn't have the broad appeal Blue Like Jazz does, but its a great read, especially for avid readers of fiction and writers.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Although it often takes me a chapter or two to get used to Donald Miller's writing style, I find his work forthcoming and easy to read. This book - about living a better story - is a great way to jump start a new year. A year (2012) that I believe is going to be my best year yet!
    • 4/5
      I read Miller’s book, Blue Like Jazz, a few years back and was surprised to find some I could relate to so easily. This one is no different. He struggles with his faith, etc. and is completely honest with his thoughts. He also recently got a puppy, which made his story particularly accessible for me. He talks about searching for his father, traveling to Manchu Picchu, helping mentor kids, getting into shape and working on a screen play for a movie version of his book. He suggests that people will live better lives if they think of them in terms of making them a “better story,” which is an interesting concept. One friend decides to do just that and moves his family to another country to work as a missionary. There are no earth-shattering realizations in this book, just interesting observations and experiences that can be applied to almost anyone's life. 
    • 5/5
      When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are. And when you stop expecting material possessions to complete you, you'd be surprised at how much pleasure you get in material possessions. And when you stop expecting God to end all your troubles, you'd be surprised how much you like spending time with God.
    • 4/5
      This book was written in a light, humorous style, but had some very intense lessons. The author was trying to determine what was important in life. He discovered along the way that it was the impact we make on others and the good we do, that makes life sweet.
    • 4/5
      Life is a journey, and we are all part of a much larger story - something we write each day.
    • 2/5
      For some reason, I just couldn't get into this book. It makes a few good points, but it's beyond me.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book...while I was reading it I felt like my life was changing. And when I finished it I still wanted to continue to change my life. I recommended it to everyone I could. If I were Oprah I would have given a copy to everyone in my studio audience for a month.The book is a recount of Don Miller's experiences with two screen writers who are making a screenplay about one of his earlier books. The main concept I took away from this book was that a screenplay is like a life. The better the story, the better each one is.Miller gives a lot of examples with how he struggled to grasp that concept, he uses little snippets from his life and his friends' lives to illustrate concepts, and his writing style is so personalble, friendly and honest you feel like you're just sitting in a diner having a cup of coffee with him and a really nice chat.This book would be a great read for really anyone from young adults to senior citizens. It's inspiring, uplifting and hopeful. It's been a long time since I've read such an empowering, beautiful book. It's really worth everyone's time to read.
    • 5/5
      Donald Miller was down on his luck. The success he achieved by writing the elusive best seller did not bring the happiness he desired. Donald was avoiding life. He simply could not face the music. Eventually with the help of a few friends and a couple of movie producers Miller realizes that life or your "story" is what you make it. However, instead of facing the music, Miller embraces it. This book was an amazing reading experience for me. Every once in awhile a book comes along that makes you re-examine yourself. This was the book for me. Miller puts his heart out on a limb throughout the book. Good stories don't always have happy endings but Miller reinforces the fact that its the journey not the destination that is most important. This book is a must in any library. I highly reccommend this to everyone.
    • 5/5
      I have been reading Don Miller since his 'Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance' days. This is unequivocally his best book to date - and I loved 'Blue Like Jazz.'Miller has matured since BLJ as a writer, and it appears also as a person. I was simultaneously hopeful, humbled, and repentant while reading this book
    • 1/5
      In Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life you will certainly find honesty if nothing else.It my policy to only promote edifying christian books. And although the book did herald the goodness and mercy of God and did encourage the reader to a better life, I cannot recommend this book as it does contain very inappropriate references.As a book reviewer for Thomas Nelson, I am required to review this book. It is my personal policy, however, to NOT disparage a writer or publisher.It is for this reason, I do not post reviews that discourage a reader to choose a book. Readers are certainly able to decide for themselves based on other reviewers posts whether they should read this book or not.

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    A Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller

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