Mitch Albom's For One More Day

Mitch says he was in the middle of writing another book when he decided to start writing For One More Day. The idea began after a phone call with his mom. "When I hung up the phone I was hit with this wave of sadness—and I thought, what's it going to be like when I'm not able to make that phone call? When I reach for that phone, and I'm going have to take my hand back because she's not there?"

Mitch began thinking about what he would say to his mom if he knew that they only had one more day together. "I was depressed over something that hadn't happened yet and I realized, wow, if you feel that strongly about it now, maybe this should be what you're writing. And I literally stopped that other book on whatever page it was on and began For One More Day that day."

The book became a tribute to his mother and Mitch is thankful she was able to read it. "I wrote Tuesdays with Morrie, but [Morrie] never read a word of it. I wrote The Five People You Meet In Heaven, but my Uncle Eddie never read a word of it," Mitch says. "I really wanted to hand this to my mother while she was still here and say, 'Here, this is something you should read.'"