I got to hear Donald Miller’s coffee house reading at Summit. A coffee house reading is an informal time where a speaker shares with the audience. Donald Miller was able to spend time talking casually and then reading from his new book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life. Due to publisher restrictions, we could not record the event, so here are my impressions of the session.
People started trickling in early for an Abilene audience, maybe 20 minutes before the event was scheduled to start. As soon as the previous conference session let out, however, then the crowds began pouring in. Most of the people were college age, a testimony to Miller’s ability to resonate with students. Many had a copy of A Million Miles with them, or other Miller books. The seats filled up from the front first, another rarity with most lectures. We were all anticipating an enjoyable hour ahead.
Donald Miller entered the room quietly, standing just off the stage while he was introduced. When he came to the platform, he was very relaxed and casual, talking just like he was in his own living room and we were invited to supper.
He began by telling a funny yet serious story about he came to write A Million Miles. He was at a roadblock in his life and at a writer’s block in his career. He had not written anything in a while, and his publisher was pressuring him to submit something. He began to write a fictionalized account of his life inspired by his own travels. As he began to edit the manuscript to make it a better story, he began to edit his own life to make it more worthwhile, too. The lessons he learned along the way are part of what comprises A Million Miles.
Donald Miller put it something like this: a good story is a character who overcomes conflict. The book is about a person who does that, too. It is about the kind of character we need and the ways that character is shaped by living — by really living — so that at the end when the credits role, we can say life was worth it.
Then he read a section from one of the chapters. Part of the chapter he read is excerpted here, but he read a bit more beyond this point. He told about how he and some friends were traveling across the United States to raise money for water wells in Africa. They hiked, biked, and boated. At one point, they were kayaking through one of the rivers of Texas. It was well after midnight, they were exhausted, and their destination was nowhere in sight. In the darkness, Donald began to wonder why he was even doing such a crazy thing. Then he realized that this situation was not unlike the point at which many people find themselves. They graduate from college determined to change the world, they get married and anticipate all life has in store for them; but at some point reality and routine set in. They find themselves tired and seeming to make no progress. Their goals are not getting any closer, and they wonder what they had been excited about to begin with.
At this point, the group’s guide and friend, who was a veteran of the river and of life, said, “Push through.” He told them life will either make you bitter or better, and he chose to make himself better. “And that has made all the difference.” Sounds a little like a modern Robert Frost, doesn’t it? There was more to the story that Donald read, but you’ll have to read it in his words from the book. Abilene people can check the ACU Library, and other readers can look for the book at library near you. You can read an excerpt from another chapter at Amazon, just to help you decide if you want to read more.
After that, Miller took questions from the audience. I always like it when speakers do that. I’m sure it can be intimidating to them because it makes them vulnerable to whatever someone might ask, but it can establish an immediate transparency and rapport with the audience. Risking vulnerability is something I admire.
There were several questions about his books, about his views on singleness, and expressions of appreciation for his unconventional forthrightness. There were also many questions about writing. The one I remember most was when someone asked how he overcomes writer’s block and times when he didn’t want to make himself write. Donald affirmed that there would be many of those times. “You have to push through it. The glory of writing comes after those times, not when writing is easy, but when you make yourself do what you absolutely don’t want to do.” He said persistence, not skill, is what separates great writers from wannabees. If you want to be a great writer, he said, there’s not much competition because almost everybody else drops out early.
Autographed giant book cover in ACU Library
He did do a book signing at the end, and folks lined up for that. We were glad to get a giant poster of the cover of Searching For God Knows What signed for our library display, and I got my personal copy of Searching signed.
Closeup of Miller's autograph
I wish I had taken pictures of the event. Because the recording restrictions were so tight, I assumed photographs were discouraged, too, yet an ACU photographer was there working. I’m sure many people in the audience got some photos on their cell phones and iPhones. If you have some, but sure to submit them to the wiki.
Posted by Laura Baker 
Posted by Laura Baker 
Posted by Laura Baker 
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