Even if you don’t.

As many of you know, my book, EVEN IF YOU DON’T, will be launching worldwide on Amazon.com this Saturday, January 27th. Less than 72 hours from now!

I wanted to use this final post before Launch Day to answer a few commonly-asked questions about the book. These questions have been compiled from a number of sources, including my launch team members, newspaper reporters, and even some of you, my blog readers.

EVEN IF YOU DON’T FAQs

1) What’s the book about?

First and foremost, as evidenced by the front cover, EVEN IF YOU DON’T is a love story. The book begins on the night I met Kailen, at Southland Christian Church in Lexington, and ends shortly after our final moments together on this earth.

It’s a harrowing, fast-paced narrative that follows us through a young, Nicholas Sparksian-style love into something much deeper, and far more enduring. I do my best to narrate the story with unrelenting honesty, giving you unfettered access to the experience through my eyes.

Near the beginning, you’ll probably beg me to keep going. And near the end, you’ll probably beg me to stop.

But in both cases, just as in real life, the story must go on.

Raw and completely unfiltered.

2) Why did you write the book?

When I sat down at my desk and began praying about EVEN IF YOU DON’T, before I ever wrote a single word, I established 3 concrete goals for the book:

Honor Kailen.

Glorify God.

Help others.

I knew, even on that first day, that if I could achieve those 3 goals, the book would be a major success. And I still know that now.

Though the narrative is technically a love story, it’s just the outer shell – much like our bodies superficially encase our souls, the inner substance that truly defines our identity.

If love story is the body of this book, pain and loss are the soul.

My prayer is that the book’s lasting impact, for years and even decades to come, is as a source of hope, comfort, and encouragement for hurting hearts all over the world. I want my and Kailen’s story to prove that love and pain not only can coexist, but must; I want to convince and assure the brokenhearted that life can be a fairytale, even when it’s a tragedy.

And most of all, I want people of every nation to know that no matter what agony they’ve endured or are enduring, they are NOT alone. And they never will be.

3) How long did it take you?

I wrote EVEN IF YOU DON’T in just under 2 months. 55 days.

Many people have found it surprising that I wrote it so quickly. And admittedly, at first, so did I. That is far and away the fastest I’ve ever written a book.

But as I look back on my writing process, I realize it shouldn’t surprise me at all. Because unbeknownst to my conscious mind, I’ve actually been writing this book for several years.

Though I don’t recall a specific moment of enlightenment, sometime during the final months of our war with cancer, God made me aware that this was a work He had prepared in advance for me to do. (See Ephesians 2:10)

Since then, I have come to understand that God absolutely never wastes pain. As I say in the book, it’s a sort of divine curriculum, always meant to instruct, edify, and sharpen, all-too-often in manners unseen.

And now, sitting at the same desk at which I sat on each of those 55 days, I realize there is no better way to achieve my 3 goals for the book than by humbly and transparently making my pain available to God, and to the world.

While this book is no consolation for the suffering and loss we endured, I know Kailen would be honored by the idea that God is using our pain to help others with theirs. And in turn, I know helping others glorifies God.

So, upon typing the first letter of the first word, there really wasn’t much work left to do. I simply allowed my heart to spill onto the page.

The result is the book you’ll read on Saturday.

4) How did writing this book affect you?

To be clear, the process was extremely painful. I wept more during those 55 days than I did during our entire 3-year war with cancer.

It was emotionally arduous, to say the least.

But it was radically healing.

Since Kailen died, nothing has healed my heart like writing this book. Not even close.

In the research phase, I was forced to reread all her blogs, journals, and handwritten notes; my tear-soaked eyes stared at thousands of pictures; my heaving chest felt the weight of the years, those gone-by and those that never-will-be.

In short, I relived it. The young, innocent love, the Sparksian rise, the tumultuous descent of diagnosis, and the heartrending, soul-callousing war we waged.

I laughed, cried, and frantically turned the page.

I loved, lived, and fought to the death all over again.

And this Saturday, I pray you will, too.

No matter who you are and no matter what you’ve endured or are enduring, please know you are NOT alone! And you never will be.

If you have questions about the book I didn’t answer, please feel free to comment below and I will answer them! Also, just like last week, if you would like me to email you the moment the book becomes available on the 27th, simply fill out the short form below.