Welcome from Stephen

Thank you.
This book is nothing short of a dream come true from me.  23 months of revisions and re-writes. 17 readers. 13 endorsers.  4 years it took to build a community organization led by young people.  3 web designers (who created this site as a favor).  An invaluable editor.  A patient wife.  And now you... spending a moment of your time to learn about this book because maybe you want to make the world a better place.  Thank you for being a part of this. (Read on...)
Writing a book is self-indulgent.  I wrote this book after I left community organizing for a year to live in London.  My wife and I went abroad to learn more about the rest of the world and to focus our first year of marriage on each other.  While my organizing experience was still alive in my veins, I wanted to capture the things I had learned.  I wrote the book because I didn't want to forget. 
Luckily, before I began, a good friend gave me three pieces of advice.  One: write what you know.  I knew about the struggle of trying and failing to organize.  Check. 
Two: write to a specific audience.  If possible, he said, write to one person.  I decided to write the book as a sort of letter to myself at age 22.  I wanted to write a book for people who were naive enough to believe the world could be different and aware enough to know changing it wouldn't be easy... a short book that people could carry with them, scribble in, and loan to someone who may not give it back.  Hopefully that's you. 
My friend's third piece of advice: write something that deserves to be written.  Don't write just another cookbook or sports book or organizing book.  Write something that's not been written before, and write it well.  What's different about this book is that it recounts a journey not yet completed.  It's an organizing book written by someone, perhaps like you, who is still figuring things out, still questioning whether he's got it in him to leave a legacy, and still willing to say something that might get him into trouble later.   
Organizing works because people come face-to-face with each other.  They learn one another's stories and passions.  They find some point of agreement, some common dream or common enemy, and they hold each other accountable to take action to reach the dream or fight the enemy.  Those meetings, with first-time teachers and young religious leaders and ex-offenders and homeless teenagers, were my favorite part of organizing.  They still are.  But a book, most books, are more individual.  They have one author, and they get read one person at a time.  With your help, maybe this book can be a little different.  A few ideas about how we could make this book more than words on a page:
1) 10 percent of all the royalties will go back to Chicago-based community organization, PACT, to help them pay for more conversations and more action.  Check out their website: www.chicagopact.org. 
2) Let's read the book in groups.  Classes, church groups, community organizations, at work, with a spouse or partner.  Before you start reading the book, think of someone to read it with, someone to share it with.  If you can't think of anybody, shoot me an e-mail and we'll figure something out: stokingthefire@gmail.com.
3) Once you've read it, let me know what you think.  Send questions, screeds, and new ideas to: stokingthefire@gmail.com.
4) Finally, let's find a way to work together.  I'd love to come and meet with you, your group, your school, your conference.  E-mail me to learn more about scheduling a stop on the book tour.  One rule: let's try to avoid speeches and readings.  Instead, we'll schedule a training or strategy session or dialogue. 
I'll stop here for now.  Look forward to hearing from you.
Stephen