read his latest book. I know, I know – that’s heresy to a lot of
twentysomethings out there. But unless you’re going to buy it for me,
I’m not going to read it. I read this interview on Relevant Magazine
Online though. They’ve published some things I’ve written before so I
feel obligated to read their magazine… sometimes. All of this to say
that I think you should read this interview, well, at least the part I
posted and then click the link at the bottom to read the rest.
Talking with the author about story, why it took so long to write another book and being the fat kid.
Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from the two-part
interview with Don Miller that appears on the new RELEVANT Podcast. Click here to hear part one of the interview on this week’s episode, or click here to subscribe at iTunes. Click here to answer the podcast question of the week and win a signed copy of Miller’s new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.
Q: You seem to play the role of the lovable loser in the
Christian world, but now you are one of its most influential voices. Do
you finally feel like the cool kid?
A: Oh no, I feel that, just a couple days ago I did a thing in
Houston, which is where I grew up, and all my high school friends,
about 6 of us, went out after the show and hung out. There were awesome
memories of growing up but I was definitely the fat kid who didn’t have
a lot of friends. Everybody kind of liked me but I was always on the
outside. That became my identity and it takes a long time when you have
that kind of childhood, no matter how successful you are or how
popular, to no longer identify as that guy, because it’s a foundational
point of life. But I don’t think when I sit down and try to write I
position myself as the lovable loser; I’m just being honest. And I
can’t say in my book I’ve won some sort of award or I have this much
money; everybody will just hate me. What are your choices?
Q: In your books, you always appear to be troubled until the
end in some way. How much of that is your style, and how much is that
the reality of what your life is like when you write the book from
start to finish?
a book about growing up without a Dad, but after I had processed it and
gone through some counseling, so I am telling it from a position of
strength but going back into those moments of weakness, those scary
moments. But there’s also a narrative structure when you are writing
that helps a human brain engage a story, so you obey those principles
as a way of serving the audience. It is not that you’re being
inauthentic as much as it is putting together a good paragraph. I think
it is part narrative structure and part that’s the way our lives work,
that we are becoming better people, growing up and becoming more
mature. It seems to work. I don’t know if I am going to write another
memoir … well I don’t know if I have written a memoir but in a
memoir-voice, but I don’t know if I am going to do that for a while.
That’s something I have covered [laughs].
