A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

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.

Table of Contents

Part One: Exposition

1. Random Scenes

2. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

3. They Fell Like Feathers

4. My Real Life Was Boring

5. Flesh and Soul Better

6. My Uncle’s Funeral and a Wedding

7. Going to See the Professor

8. The Elements of a Meaningful Life

9. How Jason Saved His Family

Part Two: A Character

10. Writing the World

11. Imperfect Is Perfect

12. You’ll Be Different at the End

13. A Character Is What He Does

14. Saving the Cat

15. Listen to Your Writer

16. Something on the Page

Part Three: A Character Who Wants Something

17. How to Make Yourself Write a Better Story

18. An Inciting Incident

19. Pointing Toward the Horizon

20. Negative Turns

21. A Good Story, Hijacked

22. A Practice Story

23. A Positive Turn

24. Meeting Bob

Part Four: A Character Who Wants Something and Overcomes Conflict

25. A Better Story

26. The Thing About a Crossing

27. The Pain Will Bind Us

28. A Tree in a Story About a Forest

29. The Reason God Hasn’t Fixed You Yet

30. Great Stories Have Memorable Scenes

Part Five: A Character Who Wants Something and Overcomes Conflict to Get It

31. Squeezing the Cat

32. The Beauty of a Tragedy

33. All You Have to Do Is Try

34. To Speak Something into Nothing

35. Summer Snow in Delaware

36. Where Once There Was Nothing

About the Author

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.