Good writing, with a strong point and with life oozing out.
“He writes with consummate skill and style and clarity … A Force of Will is a beautifully rendered manuscript and memoir.”
Phyllis Tickle Founding editor of the Religion Department, Publisher's Weekly
Photo credit: PeterBPhoto
With the release of A Force of Will, the last few weeks have been an exciting whirlwind– a book release in Philadelphia, speaking at several pub theology groups, doing a book signing at Barnes and Noble, giving at talk at a local seminary, appearing on several radio shows, and presenting a paper at a conference in Missouri. There is more of this to come, and I’m enjoying the challenge of developing some second-order reflections about grief and loss, and also interacting with people extemporaneously.
Even better has been seeing how the book resonates with folks I’ve never even met. One of my concerns in publishing my story was that it would be perceived as a book about grief, or (even more specifically) as a book about parental grief. The challenge one takes on in writing memoir is that the story must be particular, but one hopes that in its specificity it will resonate with others in their wide variety of experiences. It has been gratifying to see it work in exactly that way: folks who have lost many things– relationships, parents, marriages, health, dreams, and etc.– have appreciated how my story has mirrored their own. I’m learning that loss is loss, and we grieve our many losses in life in roughly the same ways.
Recent events in Boston have been on my mind, and have given many of us pause. The bombings have been a loss for many people– loss of life and limb, to be sure, but also a loss of peace and security and stability. Not to mention the loss of dreams of the thousands of determined runners who were denied their long-awaited finish line.
Since I write about both the Boston Marathon and grief in the book, my publisher has generously decided to have a special limited-time sale on the book. For the next few days, the eBook version of A Force of Will will be just $1.99. If you haven’t picked it up yet, this would be a perfect opportunity to get it at a great price.
A Force of Will is not just a book – it is an invitation into a new way of life. Mike Stavlund opens his life and the transformative pain he has experienced as guide to all who have struggled and suffered – you do not walk alone. This book is honest, hard, compelling and propelling – it sends us into our own lives and the world as new people.
Doug Pagitt, Author – Radio Host – Ultramarathoner
Here are the sources for various readers:
Sony and other readers (and an even deeper discount!)
“Mike Stavlund’s writing grabbed me by the heart and soul from the first paragraph and has yet kept its grip. I literally had to force myself to put his writing down and get back to work; the first thing on my list being to pray Mike had not already found representation. The message of Mike’s book FORCE OF WILL — that God will reckon us to himself by whatever means he sees fit – is one in which anyone who has ever suffered heartbreak will find solace. But I think it’s written even more for those who’ve somehow managed to live any measure of life and yet somehow still deny that heartbreak can be God’s greatest gift.”
Sandra Bishop 2010 ACFW Agent of the Year, Vice-President of MacGregor Literary Group.
“I flew through the initial reading of the manuscript because he's just a damned good writer: intellectual without being pompous, emotional without being cheesy, poetic without being flowery. ... he writes with a beauty and sensitivity to language that makes you whisper parts of his writing to yourself as you read.”
Amy Moffitt Musician, Poet, Discerning Reader.