Pursued looks like a great book. What can you tell us about it?
We had lit a forest on fire...
We were stoned as crap...
My sister was calling 9-1-1...
As I watched the flames dance across the twilight sky, consuming everything in
their path, I realized they represented my life. In my pursuit of pleasure and
partying, I had ignited an addiction worse than any forest fire. After five
arrests, a dozen allegations, a v-squad of cop cars chasing me down center
street, and years of worshipping all the wrong things led me to the brink of
death, I finally found hope in life. This is a story of how the initially
enthralling and sometimes humorous pursuits of drugs, sex, and success cannot
satisfy in the way that they promise, but there is One who can.
Embark on a journey of tears, hysteria, and utter chaos that will help you
realize you are not as alone in your brokenness as perhaps you once thought.
Any plans to turn it into a series?
I have two more books in mind that would turn this into a
ripping series.
That’s an amazing cover.
Can you tell us about it?
My wife is a professional illustrator. She usually
commissions pet portraits and specializes in realism, but when it came time to
create my book cover, it was a no brainer. She is the best artist I know and
she couldn’t have done a better job! I love it!
The mountains are based on pictures that she took just
outside the studio she works at. They are pictures of the Wasatch Front, the
mountain range in which the scene of the life-threatening accident in my book
took place. The silhouette is me and it’s based on a real photograph she took
of me posing. No, I wasn’t actually smoking a dobie when she took it. Been
clean from that crap a long time! :D
What inspired the idea for the book?
I’ve known that I needed to write this book from the moment
God saved my life with those three world shattering miracles. There are a lot
of books about drug addicts, and there are even more books about drug addicts
getting straight. There are very few things that dig into the root cause of
addiction and even fewer that do so in a way that makes people break down with
hysteria in one chapter, and weep themselves to sleep in the next.
For weeks, months, and years after that accident. As the
surgeons inserted titanium screws, bolts, and rods into my bones, as my body
slowly recovered and I learned how to walk again, all I could think was, why
would God save somebody like me? I lived my whole life in rebellion against
Him. If there was anyone who deserved death, it was me. And yet, without His intervention,
I would be dead. A God whom I did not even believe in interjected in my life in
concrete, tangible ways. On that mountain, some place between life and death, I
saw Him. He held me in His arms and He chose to spare my life. In that moment I
realized God isn’t a pile of bricks and a set of outdated rules, like i’d
always thought. He is my maker. The one who made me and has a plan for my life.
The one who see’s my brokenness completely and loves me still.
This book is just as much for those who are facing addiction
as it is for their friends, mentors, counselors, and teachers. For all those
high schoolers and college students thinking that drinking and partying is the
high-life, this will hit home. For all those graduates and working
professionals striving relentlessly to build a name for themselves through
accomplishments, wealth, status, luxury, and success, this book will resonate.
Maybe you're at your wit's end, believing that you will
never heal, you will always be broken. Maybe you're in the trenches of
addiction or maybe you recently took your first hit or shot. Either way, these
humorous pursuits, sorrowful stories, and powerful truths will help you know
you're not alone in your battles and your hardships. More than that, this book
will empower you to stand and fight for yourself and for those you love!
How did you come up with the title for the book?
During the first two years of writing I couldn’t think of a
good title. After the fifth draft I started calling the book “A Rock Saved My
Life.” After the ninth draft something was tugging at me. The title didn’t sit
quite right. The title Pursued struck me out of nowhere, but it made sense. In
my pursuit of drugs, sex, partying, hooking up, and success, the more I had the
more I needed. I couldn’t find anything that truly satisfied. Yet, the whole
time I pursued all these fleeting and temporary pleasures, the only true
satisfaction in the universe was pursuing me with relentless passion and
determination. It fits.
Did anything stick out as particularly challenging when
writing Pursued?
I initially wrote 300,000 words. For those of you who aren’t
writers or avid readers, that is about three to four novels worth of words. The
process of condensing, consolidating, and refining each of those precious
stories was painful. I ended up cutting more than I kept! The book took over
5,000 hours which equates to three-and-a-half years of working 30+ hours per
week on it!
What do you like to do when not writing?
“The more I tried to refrain from drugs, the more important
became snowboarding, wakeboarding, longboarding, skating, biking, hiking,
bouldering, cliff jumping, and every other thing that got my adrenaline
pumping. I realized these things couldn’t balance me out inside, but they were
good outlets. That feeling of insidious fear, the big “what if?” that pulsates
through your mind while suspended in midair. The split second where everything
seems to freeze before you go plummeting towards the ground like a bolt of
lightning.” Pg. 196, Pursued
Where can readers find out more about your work?
If you’d like to read all the raving reviews, check them out
on Amazon, and then grab yourself a copy! https://amzn.to/3p4ILCN
I’ve been spending a lot of time developing free resources
for addicts and their loved ones. You can find them at https://www.michaeljheil.com/addiction-resources.
I’m also writing a companion guide that goes along with the
book and am offering that complimentary to anyone who wants to download it!
Studies on resilience have found that developing one or more deep interpersonal
relationships with a responsible non-substance abusing adult can increase
resilience up to 80%. I have too many friends who have lost the fight to drugs
and I want to help as many other people as possible to have break-through with
their loved ones. https://www.michaeljheil.com/companion-guide
If you simply loved the book and want to donate a few copies
to struggling youth at the Utah rehabs, jails, and treatment centers that
Michael volunteers at you can do so here! Thank you so much! https://www.michaeljheil.com/store
The resources are designed to take you from a place of
powerlessness to a place of hope by giving you a concrete plan for battling
your addictions! There a lot of things still in the works so please be patient
with me. I’m aiming to have all of the online courses and companion guide
finished by mid-July, 2023.