Return to Transcripts main page
Glenn Beck
Encore - Honest Questions with Richard Paul Evans
Aired December 31, 2007 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): It began as a way to teach his own children the true meaning of Christmas but became a worldwide phenomenon. "The Christmas Box" made history when it simultaneously became the No. 1 hardcover and paperback book in the nation.
Now author Richard Paul Evans is bringing us an incredible new message of love and hope with his latest story, "The Gift." Join me for an incredible hour about the real spirit of Christmas and the holiday season. Richard Paul Evans for a full hour of honest questions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BECK: Well, hello, America.
Joining me tonight, best-selling author Richard Paul Evans, and it couldn`t be just a better night that we`re going to be able to spend together. I think this hour may make the suits upstairs a little uncomfortable. If you`re offended by the "J" word, Jesus, you might want to call your local ACLU office, because he`ll be here for the whole hour.
RICHARD PAUL EVANS, AUTHOR: I like it.
BECK: You -- everybody knows you wrote "The Christmas Box," which you actually wrote for something for your daughters. And I want to get into that amazing story here in a little while.
But I found this -- this came out in October. I think I actually got an advance copy, and I happened to be going someplace. And I got on the plane, and I started to read it. I read it the whole trip. You know, on the plane ride out. And just loved it.
The stewardess would come, "would you like any" -- shh. I mean, it`s just fantastic.
EVANS: Thank you.
BECK: The message of the book is what?
EVANS: The message of the book is healing. And I think all my books on some level are about healing. But what I want people to talk from it is -- the story`s about a little boy with the power to heal but that we may all have that power.
We may not be able to touch someone and to heal them, but there`s someone in our lives that we can -- that we can touch in their own way, that we can forgive, that we can bring into our home, that we can reach out to them. And that`s what I want to come from it the book.
BECK: You`re a Christian. Do you have -- do you get people saying to you at all with this message of this book that people have the power to heal, "No, no, no, no?" Because I mean, a lot of people will say, no, Jesus Christ had the power to heal. Man doesn`t have that power. It`s a weird kind of line that some people draw.
EVANS: I actually address that in the book. Where...
BECK: I don`t remember where.
EVANS: Yes, the little boy, when the minister comes and...
BECK: Oh, you`re right.
EVANS: It`s like some people might worship the boy, some might say he`s of the devil.
BECK: That`s right; that`s right.
EVANS: When I finished the book, I gave it to my editor, who is Jewish. And I gave it to her, and she said you wrote a book about Jesus, as if Jesus came to the earth today. And of course, the allegory was not lost on me.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: And I learned a lot through the process of writing this story about what happened to Jesus while he was here that wasn`t necessarily my intent. She said that`s a very difficult thing to write. How are you going to do it?
And I said, "I`m writing a story about a little boy and his mother."
She goes, "You got it."
BECK: See, I don`t think -- to me it didn`t feel like a Jesus story.
EVANS: No.
BECK: I didn`t get that, you know. Because I believe in the power of everybody being able to heal, work in his name. You know what I mean?
EVANS: Right.
BECK: And so maybe I just -- I read it differently.
But I was also taken aback by its darkness. You don`t necessarily find Christmas stories -- you know, they`ll always be heart-wrenching. Oh, they don`t have shoes, and Grandpa lost his pipe. But this one has some real darkness to it. The main character is -- you know, has some real problems with Tourette`s and...
EVANS: His past.
BECK: His past is digging with him. The dark side of this, where does it come from?
EVANS: Well, remember, Dickens was writing ghost stories, not Christmas stories, when he wrote "The Christmas Carol." I wanted to -- I always write real characters. And so in this case we deal with real things.
I have Tourette`s Syndrome. I`ve suffered with Tourette`s Syndrome my whole life. My little boy has Tourette`s Syndrome, and he suffers more than I do. And so it`s something, as a father, I wanted to express and talk about and let -- and hopefully, make the world a better place for him, you know, shed some light on this.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: And in terms of dealing with the hurts of our past, that`s what the book`s really about. I think all of us have hurts, and sometimes they`re horribly unjust. Sometimes they`re horribly deep and these cuts -- I believe that love can heal these hurts. And people think I may be Pollyanna in saying that or overly optimistic, but I really think that power is the greatest force on this earth.
BECK: Yes. It`s not -- it doesn`t necessarily have to be from someone else, either. It just has to be -- I was a horrible alcoholic and everything else and just caused so much of my own pain in my own life, blamed it on everybody else all the way along.
But I just had to accept that I was worthy. I just had to accept that I was loved myself. You know what I mean? By a higher being and to know it was OK: no matter what I did I could start all over again. And once you do that -- and I don`t know how to get that across to people. You`re such a good storyteller. I guess that`s what you`re trying to do every time -- is get it across to people that it doesn`t matter.
Are you ever struck by how people hide their own stuff inside and they just think, "Oh, if people knew that I was like this, that they would hate me"? Isn`t it amazing how many people don`t kick that wall down because they think they`re the only ones?
EVANS: Yes, I absolutely understand, and I know them. That`s what I try to do with my books because what happens is I get al these, you know, nudge-nudge secret, "That`s my story."
BECK: I know.
EVANS: You know what? It`s everyone`s story. I hear this everywhere. All these letters come in: "How did you know you were writing about me? It was my book."
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: "It`s my story." And we carry these things. We carry these hurts, these regrets.
But I agree. We`re worthy. It`s OK. It`s OK. We weren`t supposed to be perfect. We try, and we do our best, but we need to cut ourselves some slack and cut our neighbors some slack and just love and say, "OK, we`re not going to be perfect but we`re going to do the best we can, and God will make up the rest."
BECK: You must -- because of "The Christmas Box" and now this and all the other titles you`ve done, you must have amazing experiences with people, because they will credit you -- I mean, you`re just talking about the truth in story tomorrow, you know. And I don`t mean to lessen the art of it here by any stretch of the imagination, but truth is truth. And they come to you, and they must say to you, "You`ve changed my life."
EVANS: Miracles. Yes. I was speaking in prison once, and it was kind of rowdy. I was speaking to the women`s correctional facility. And they`re a little bit rowdy. And suddenly this woman stood up and told everyone -- she was larger than everyone else and they were obviously afraid of her. And she said, "Be quiet, listen to Richard. He changed my life."
And it was fascinating, I mean, to have the stories -- the readers come from all over the place and all around the world, and it`s a beautiful thing every time.
BECK: Do you save all that?
EVANS: Yes. I save the best.
BECK: I bet you do.
EVANS: And some of them just are amazing to me.
So when I write a book, it`s a very personal experience. I`m alone, I`m locked up in my den, I don`t talk to anyone.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: In fact, I don`t even keep myself company. It`s a very lonely process to go out there. And so when all of a sudden you take this part of your heart and then you throw it out to hundreds of thousands of people or maybe millions of people and it`s like, oh, they`re going to read that. It`s like you forget about it when it happens.
BECK: Have you ever had the experience, like with my book that`s out, it has my face on the cover. So if I walk into a room and somebody -- they`d know, you.
But your face isn`t on the cover.
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: Have you ever been in a situation where somebody has -- have you ever been in a situation where you saw somebody read and react to the book?
EVANS: Last week. Thank you for asking. I`ve always wanted to have that experience, to be so -- on an airplane, because I travel so much. And to be on the plane and see someone.
And this time I sat down and my -- a friend of mine was sitting next to me, and then this woman sat down. She pulls out the book. And she hadn`t read it yet. So she just opened to the first few pages. I`m kind of watching her. It`s like what will happen?
She gets to the front. I see her going -- and then she takes her glasses off, and then she just starts sobbing. I`m like, you just started.
BECK: You`re sobbing there.
EVANS: You`re on page three, and she`s apologizing to people around her.
BECK: I tell you, it gets -- there`s a lot of books that it takes you a while to get in. I`ve said to people, you know, you`ve got to read this book, but it`s going to take you about 100 pages to really get into it.
You drop into this story so fast. And you`re just -- you`re hooked right off the bat.
Why -- why do you suppose -- do you think this would be -- do you think this would be a hit in July? You know, like Frank Capra did "It`s a Wonderful Life," released it in July. It bombed.
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: Why -- why is it -- what is it about Christmas that makes this story able to be told?
EVANS: I don`t know. I think our hearts are a little bit more open. You know, Dickens said Christmas time is the one time where we see each other for who we truly are, fellow passengers to the grave.
I -- I don`t know. We did release my second book, after "Christmas Box," we released it in April, and did five weeks on the "New York Times." It was good by most standards. Compared to "The Christmas Box," it completely bombed. So next book we released at Christmas, and it was 11th best-selling novel in America that year. So there`s something about Christmas.
I have to admit, I actually after "The Christmas Box," I didn`t want to be typecast, so I tried to distance myself from the season. It was a mistake.
BECK: That`s such a weird thing. I want to distance myself from Christmas.
EVANS: Well, you know, Christopher Reeves became Superman.
BECK: Right. Yes, yes, yes.
EVANS: And it was hard to take him seriously in any other role.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: And so after all these books I thought I love Christmas.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: It`s my favorite time of the year. And I -- the "New York Times" called me the king of Christmas fiction. I`ll just own up to it. I love the Christmas books. So I brought -- I came back and, wow, sales are huge.
BECK: OK. I want to come back and talk about the moment that changed Richard`s life and eventually became the story of "The Christmas Box." We`ll do that in just a second.
GRAPHIC: How much does the average American spend on Christmas gifts? $2,500, $850, $1,000, $375.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRAPHIC: How much does the average American spend on Christmas gifts? $1,000.
BECK: Yikes. I must be the poorest man in America. Is that the average, $1,000?
EVANS: Wow.
BECK: I didn`t see that one coming.
Back with best-selling author Richard Paul Evans.
Tell me who you were before you wrote "The Christmas Box."
EVANS: I was actually an advertising executive. I had a little company called Clay Magic Productions that did clay animation. And then I moved into political consulting.
BECK: Ooh.
EVANS: Which kind of -- clay animation and political consulting, a lot of similarities. And -- and it was actually in a cellular office that I wrote part of "The Christmas Box."
BECK: How long did it take to you write it?
EVANS: Six weeks.
BECK: How did you write it? What was the moment? What was...
EVANS: You know what? The thing was it was a Christmas gift for my daughters. So I didn`t even write about it in my journal. I have one reference to this thing that changed my life. I wrote, "I`m working on a Christmas story." That`s all I said about it.
But I just -- what had happened, I`d actually run for the state legislature and lost by 100 votes. And best thing that ever happened to me, because I all of a sudden had all this time. I wrote this book as a Christmas present. And it changed everything.
BECK: Now, it actually -- you self-published it, or you just bound it...
EVANS: I made 20 copies...
BECK: Twenty copies.
EVANS: ... at Kinko`s, handed them out as Christmas presents. And that was it. I was totally happy.
BECK: And so then what happened? It started making the rounds?
EVANS: Yes. People started calling me to tell me what the book meant to them, and people I didn`t even know. I said, "Where did you get the book?" From so and so. And I found out they were passing it on, that people were sharing it.
And so what I found in the four weeks since I handed out the 20 copies they had been read more than 160 times. And then bookstores started calling with orders for the book. So then I thought, well, maybe I should publish the book.
BECK: So wait, wait, wait. They were calling -- bookstores were calling you...
EVANS: Were calling me.
BECK: ... for the Kinko`s copy? They wanted you to go to Kinko and make more copies?
EVANS: They didn`t know. Because I was in advertising, I made it look like a real book. So they called and said, "Well, we tracked the author down. Who`s your publisher? Where do we get it?"
And I said, "Well, the book`s not published."
They said, "Well, we`re getting orders for it."
BECK: Holy smoke.
EVANS: So I sent it out to all the local publishers, and they quickly rejected it. A book like this will never sell. It`s too overtly Christian. It`s...
BECK: Are you amazed how the people in the media and publishing and everything else, they just don`t get it?
EVANS: No, they don`t.
BECK: How do they get their jobs? They just don`t get it.
EVANS: No. No. They really didn`t.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: And so of course, you know, they get it after the book...
BECK: Oh, yes. Then everybody, it`s their idea.
EVANS: I think there was like -- well, there was like 300 imitations of the book after it hit No. 1.
BECK: So OK. So then you got the phone call from the...
EVANS: From a bookstore.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: At that point I thought, let`s try to publish this. I sent it out, and no one wanted it. And so I decided I would self-publish it. Knew nothing about publishing. Just barged into the industry. And the book had such strong word of mouth sell that it would sell upwards of 1,000 copies in a bookstore. One bookstore sold 5,000 copies of the book.
BECK: Oh, my gosh.
EVANS: And I didn`t know that was good. I`d walk in the bookstore, I go, "Well, how does that compare to your other Christmas stories?" And he`d laughed. This is a Barnes & Noble. He said, "It`s three times more than the rest of our titles combined."
BECK: Wow.
EVANS: And I said, "Well, that`s good."
He goes, "Yes, that`s good."
So at that point I decided -- I decided I would take it national, not realizing that a self-published novel had never hit a best-seller list.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: I just felt this mission, because I saw it -- people were calling me to telling me the book had changed their lives. People were quitting jobs after reading the book. People who had lost -- had personal losses were coming to say, "It took away my pain."
BECK: So two questions. One, you published both hardcover and soft cover same time?
EVANS: Just paperback.
BECK: Just paperback.
EVANS: The little $5 paperbacks.
BECK: OK. No, but when it went -- when it went national, was it first just $5 paperback?
EVANS: Just paperback. Yes.
BECK: And then how long did it take before you went to hardcover?
EVANS: Well, what happened, it took about -- it took about 12 weeks for it to hit No. 2 on the "New York Times" best-seller list. Now, at the time it was only 1 out of 20 bookstores in America, and it hit No. 2. The publishing world then decided they did want the book.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: So I`m getting multimillion-dollar offers over the phone. It just went nuts. I had been working so hard, and my wife was having complications. So I actually hid up in our little tiny 700-square-foot home, and we just hid up for a while and said, "Talk to me later."
They said, "We have $2 million. We`ll give it to you today."
I said, "Just talk to me later."
And then the book went up for auction. Simon & Schuster won with about a $4.5 million advance. And that`s when the hardcover came out. I brought the paperback out still, because I wanted everyone to be able to afford it. And both books hit No. 1 on the "New York Times."
BECK: So how did that change your life? Because you actually -- tell me about the -- trading diamonds for stones.
EVANS: Well, this happened long before. And some people thought that happened afterwards. When I was so busy in advertising and that life, I was coming home every night, and we had this sweet little girl. And I was missing her life, because I`d come home. She`d be in bed. And I`d go and kiss her.
And one night I went in, and I kind of opened the door and saw her there, went over and kissed her good night. As I walked away I heard a voice. And it said very clearly, "You are trading diamonds for stones." And I looked around.
BECK: Just a second. Like an internal voice or "you shall " -- one of those.
EVANS: It was internal. But it didn`t sound like my thoughts.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: It didn`t sound like my thoughts.
So I turned back, and I looked at her, and the voice came again and said, "When her childhood is gone, it`s gone forever." And I started to cry. And I picked her up, and I held her, and I made her a promise that I would change my life. And I did.
BECK: Wow.
EVANS: And when I watched my little girl walk down the aisle at graduation two weeks ago, I thought how grateful I am.
BECK: You know, my -- my mother passed away when I was 13. And right after my last Christmas with her, it was a couple weeks later. I`m walking down the hall and I pass her in the kitchen and she had her hands in the sink. I can still see her clearly. She had her hands in the sink, and I heard a voice. And it was an internal voice, but it didn`t sound like my thoughts either.
And it said, "Go back. Tell her you love her. She won`t be here long." And I didn`t because I dismissed it, and I thought it was just me. And a couple weeks later she -- she died. And I think that was part of, you know, where I started to fall apart.
So many of us don`t do what you did. So many of us just dismiss: "Oh, that`s just me; that`s crazy." And we don`t do what you did. Congratulations.
EVANS: Thank you.
BECK: Now, you did something else. You went and you took the money from the book and you did good with it. You started The Christmas Box houses. What is that?
EVANS: These are shelters for abused and neglected children. And it`s been a wonderful thing. We`ve housed more than 16,000 abused children.
Carrie and I -- I have the most wonderful wife. She saves me daily. We were nervous about what money might do to our children. And we were very happy with our middle-class lifestyle. And so Carrie actually asked me to give all the money back. And I said, hold on.
BECK: Wait, wait, wait. I want you to hold that thought, too. We`ve got to -- we`ve got to come back and see, did he give the money away? Hang on.
Back in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Where is the real meaning of Christmas? Is it found in "Jingle Bells"? Now that I`m getting older, I don`t think I can do "Jingle Bells."
I -- (singing) "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh."
No, not so much.
(singing) "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh, what fun it is to ride in a Cadillac Escalade." Hey!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Back with Richard Paul Evans, 12 consecutive "New York Times" best-selling author. New book is "The Gift."
I know it`s Christmas Eve. Open -- go to a store that is open and get it if you can. It is absolutely fantastic.
So you were telling me that you had a big signing bonus. Your wife said, "I think we should give this money away."
EVANS: Well, she actually has a much better voice than that. But we were sitting in our minivan, and we just walked out of this meeting about trusts, in case our kids end up as alcoholics and drug addicts.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: I was like, what? Our sweet little kids? It`s like, oh, money ruins them all the time.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: OK. That`s not what we`re in for. And Carrie said that. She goes, "Let`s give the money back."
I`m like, "Hold on."
BECK: Whoa, whoa.
EVANS: I was like, "It`s not good being poor either. I`ve done that too." And so I said, "Well, maybe we can do good with it." And that was the genesis.
I went to my dad, who was a social worker. I said, "If we were to help children, where should we go? What`s the best thing we could do?" And no one could answer that question. So I said, "Well, let`s bring everyone. Let`s bring in churches and the government, put them in the room together," and they all had the same idea...
BECK: Hang on just a second. Did you say the government because you wanted the churches to exorcise the people in the government or...
EVANS: We wanted to -- we wanted to get everyone involved.
BECK: OK.
EVANS: We wanted to find out what was going on.
BECK: All right.
EVANS: We actually sat them down at tables together. And they -- we learned, first of all, they didn`t like each other, that they were all protecting their own turf.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: B, they all had the same idea: "If we could do this," but no one`s working together. We brought them together, and we started building these shelters. And they`ve been phenomenal.
BECK: That`s incredible.
Do you think that -- do you think that any of your success is tied to that? I think -- I think the best thing that ever happened -- seven years ago I couldn`t make a $695-a-month apartment payment. Now I can make that.
And I think the key is, the secret was to tithe. I started giving 10 percent of my income away. And then the more I make, the more I give away, and it seems like the more I get. You know what I mean? I think -- I think you have to demonstrate that you`re a good steward with money. If you`re a good steward with money, you know? God...
EVANS: I believe that.
BECK: Right?
EVANS: Someone explained it to me in their non-religious way. They said, "I believe that the universe is abundant and is always looking for ways to shower it upon -- upon earthlings. And so when it finds a conduit, someone who`s willing to give, it pours as much of it in there as it can. And when it shuts off, when they stop giving, then it goes and finds someone else."
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: I -- I believe that. You know, my parents gave a lot their whole life, and they never had any money. But, you know, I tithed, and I think that`s important.
BECK: Yes, OK. I want to get into "The Gift" here in just a second when we come back, because you shared something at the very beginning that was very personal. And as soon as I read it I went, "I wonder if that`s part of the story or if that`s real." An amazing part of the story.
The power of storytelling and the power of redemption. Richard Paul Evans gives us his most important message next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: We don`t take the time to go outside and throw snowballs with each other, go sledding, and just play in the snow. Remember when we were kids we would play so long and so hard that our cheeks and our noses would be on fire. And mom would be inside making some hot chocolate, maybe some soup. But now our obligations take us away from making the snowman with our dads or with our children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Back with author Richard Paul Evans. The latest book he has out is "The Gift," and it is absolutely fantastic. I open it up and I start reading it, and I didn`t know, because, you knew I was going to say, this story is true and everything else -- or that it`s based in some true things that you have experienced. And I`m thinking, OK, I don`t know if this is really you saying this or this is part of the story, because you talk about Tourette`s, that you have Tourette`s.
EVANS: I do.
BECK: And nobody knew that before this.
EVANS: Well, my family.
BECK: Well, your family. But I mean it wasn`t well known that you have Tourette`s.
EVANS: No, I didn`t talk about it.
BECK: But I mean, it`s -- there`s a couple of things. You`ve gone to the White House, and you met with Bill Clinton.
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: And you have -- you had the urge to spit...
EVANS: I have an impulse to spit in the face of famous people. Not just Democrats.
BECK: Yes. Yes.
EVANS: Famous people, period.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: It can be church leaders. It can be, you know...
BECK: It must be horrifying.
EVANS: It is. I bite my tongue. You know, just bite it and say...
BECK: Did anyone notice he`s not bit his tongue the whole time so -- but you`re not famous. You`re -- you know.
EVANS: You`re definitely famous. I thought about it before. I did. I thought about it before I met you.
BECK: Did you really?
EVANS: Before I came out, I thought, OK, just control the impulse. And I just -- I`m aware of it, so I don`t do it.
BECK: Really?
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: What is that -- have you ever come close to doing it? I mean, have you ever...
EVANS: The Oval Office was the closest.
BECK: Oh, my gosh.
EVANS: I thought -- I stepped away literally to just get away.
BECK: So do you think -- because I don`t know anything really about Tourette`s. Is that -- because, you realized sometimes I`ll have, you know -- you`ll be with a church leader or something and you`ll be like -- I just want to say a swear word here. You know what I mean? You`ll be like, whoa.
EVANS: That`s exactly what it`s like.
BECK: OK. So it`s like that except this is, like, really powerful.
EVANS: Yes. Yes, it is. And some people can`t stop it, and some people get up and they`ll make animal noises.
BECK: You know, you write with such empathy, such empathy. You read this character and what he`s going through, and it just -- it tears you apart. And then at the very beginning -- I don`t want to give much away about the book, but at the beginning you see this character and you know he`s going through problems and everything, and he does something beautiful at the airport.
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: And explain a little bit of it.
EVANS: He meets a family that`s stranded at the Denver airport, and his -- on the (INAUDIBLE) secretary has reserved a room for them, and he offers it to this family. And even though he`s sick with bronchitis and he`s in pain, he offers it -- just he sees this little boy who looks like he`s lost all his hair, so he`s been through chemotherapy, and he thinks they need it more. And so I`m showing the man`s heart and he offers it. And that`s what sets off the miracles, because he does it -- he learns about this little boy later.
BECK: Right. It`s amazing to me how doing good is so difficult. You know? So many people will have the urge to do something, and then they`ll be like, no, I don`t want to, or they`ll think that`s weird or I don`t want to -- you know, I read that scene, and I thought, how many people will have that urge, first very few, but how many will have that urge and then like, no, that -- they`ll -- it will be uncomfortable for them.
EVANS: You know, I passed a woman on the sidewalk yesterday. We`re in downtown New York. It`s busy and she`s on the ground. And I -- we started to walk with the people with me. I said this woman`s on the ground. They said it`s New York. And I said -- you know, I thought I don`t want to be the kind of person that walked away from someone on the ground. So I went and found a police officer and I said, "She`s on the ground." He didn`t seem to care that much, like OK, I`ll get to her, crowd control.
BECK: There you are.
EVANS: Then I walk away, it`s like, you know, I don`t want to be that guy that left someone.
BECK: Yes. Yes.
EVANS: I really care about this thing. I was like, I don`t want to be the person who didn`t call the police.
BECK: Yes. Yes.
EVANS: And -- but we have to make that decision because it`s very easy to do to get into kind of a herd mentality and say, "Wait a second, this is someone`s daughter."
BECK: So you wrote this book and you brought out the Tourette`s. Is it because -- is it because of your son that you wanted to do it?
EVANS: You know, at first I told myself I was doing it out of selfishness because I thought the critics -- what most people know about Tourette`s is what they learn from Bill Murray on "What About Bob."
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: You know, they walk around swearing.
BECK: Or the guy in "L.A. Law."
EVANS: Yes, and -- yes. That`s what they know about it. You know, Tourette has a lot of different manifestations. So it`s like I know about Tourette syndrome. So I wanted to bulletproof myself. But I thought why did I even write about it in the first place? And I realized, as parents, you know, we want to make the world a better place for our children and my son has very severe Tourette`s. And I want people to talk about every time he goes to a new school or new class, we go in then we talk to the students and talk to the parents because it`s hard enough to feel different all the time.
BECK: How old is he?
EVANS: He`s 9.
BECK: Do you mind talking about this at all?
EVANS: No. The book`s dedicated to Michael.
BECK: What was his reaction to this? Did you tell him about...
EVANS: When I told him I dedicated the book to him, he said, "Hmm." And that`s what he says when I tell him I love him. He goes, hmm. He would -- never says I love you back.
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: And then that night I went out working I walked out and he was under the covers reading the book. And in three nights he read the entire book. He`s a 9-year-old. And then I was at a book signing and I brought him with me and he told everyone in line that the book is dedicated to him. So he wouldn`t tell me it meant a lot to him, but he went on, so I knew it did.
BECK: The -- I haven`t shared this with my audience, but I am -- I`ve written a book based on my childhood with my mother, my last Christmas with my mother, and it comes out next year. And I didn`t want to share as much in it as I did, but the story wouldn`t let me tell it any other way. I kept changing it and changing it because it kept getting closer and closer to the truth until it was just there. And it wouldn`t -- it just wouldn`t -- it wouldn`t let me tell it any other way. Do you feel that way at all? Do you -- when you...
EVANS: Absolutely. I never write...
BECK: What is that?
EVANS: I never write for someone else. I don`t know how to. The best thing that happened to me was after this huge blockbuster success of "The Christmas Box," which I wrote for two little girls. They paid me millions of dollars for my next book, I didn`t know what it was. And I`m working and working. And one day after like four months I realized I have no idea how to write a best-seller. I have no clue. And so then I got real and it was like, OK, I`m going to write something that means something to me. So I wrote a book about forgiveness called "Timepiece," and it went on to be a "New York Times" best-seller.
BECK: Do you -- have you ever shared anything that you went...
EVANS: My book "A Perfect Day." My wife`s words to me, "You`re really not going to publish this, are you?" Because it`s about an author who becomes successful and it`s really -- there were too many of our fights that were in the book. So yes, I`ve felt that way before.
BECK: And your writing process -- I read that Stephen King only writes 12 pages a day, that`s it. I don`t know how he produces as much volume as he does, but 12. I think it`s 12 pages a day, that`s it, come hell or high water. Do you have a...
EVANS: The worst habits on the planet. I have attention deficit disorder with my Tourette, and I am horrible. So I`m either -- I usually have to wait until I`m in crisis mode, and then I bury myself in maybe a hotel room or my den, and I write non-stop.
BECK: Do you feel -- I`m just fascinated, and I`m sorry to go back to this again. I`m just fascinated. Now, you have ADD. I have ADD. If you have ADD and Tourette`s, the games that must have gone on in your head the whole time, do you -- have you conquered that now? Do you feel successful? Or do you still feel kind of like a fraud? Because you must have been telling yourself, or felt most of your life, I`m different, I`m not a success, or I can`t do this or I -- did you have that?
EVANS: The only reason I do that in other parts of my life but I don`t with my books because I`ve never owned my books. There`s a time when all of a sudden the universal voice begins to speak to me and I know it. And when that voice starts talking to me, the writing`s really good, and I`ll sit there and I will weep. It`s like where did that come from? And I`ll stand back and look at it, like when did I write that, where was I? And things will come to me. So I`ve never been so arrogant to say it`s mine. For that reason, you know, a bad criticism doesn`t hurt either. It`s like it is what it is.
BECK: Yes. Do you -- I don`t want this to sound wrong. Do you feel like you`re on a mission from God?
EVANS: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think the point of my books are to tell God`s children that he loves them. And I mean, we`re living in a world today where you see the God delusion, we see, "God is not great," which is blasphemous to me. And it`s like, you know, there are plenty of books out there, but that is not who I am. God does live. And when the inspiration comes to me, I know it. And so...
BECK: Did you now? Because I found myself growing up in Seattle, that I never saw dark shadows in Seattle because it`s always cloudy, you know? The sun`s rarely, really out. Moved to Phoenix, Arizona, Florida, and my gosh, the shadows are so vivid. And it`s really always given me -- it`s been a source of inspiration for me of hope, that when the shadows are so dark, it`s only because the light behind you is so bright. So here you are, such a bright light. Are there shadows connected to this? Has there been opposition?
EVANS: Oh, yes.
BECK: In what way?
EVANS: Oh, yes. I remember my first book came out -- first of all, personally, things -- everything went wrong in my life. Everything we`d set up fell through. I was very humble. I remember being thrown out of a bookstore with "The Christmas Box" just before everything took off. And I remember just sitting in the parking lot -- I was on my own tour. I was scared. I was nervous. My wife was sick. And thinking this is -- I thought I was supposed to do this. God, and why you brought me out here and left me to just die in the wilderness.
And I thought, wow, that sounds like Moses, doesn`t it? Doesn`t it? It`s like, it`s my book, I`ll do it, I will. And, you know, to me I look back and those are the greatest moments. C.S. Lewis said there`s a time when you look up from the cross and there`s no sign of God and still you obey. It`s when Ed Harris says, "Not on my watch." You know? That gives me chills. It`s like, no, you do the right thing because it`s the right thing. And yes, maybe you`ll win, maybe you`ll lose, but you did the right thing, and that`s what matters.
BECK: Richard Paul Evans. What his daughter thinks about being known as Jenna Christmas Box her whole life. We`ll talk a little bit about parenting when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: We should work harder on creating magic for others. Maybe we should work really hard this season trying to create the magic for our children. Don`t let that magic slip away from them. Hold on to it. Create it for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: This is actually from a stage show I just -- we just finished. I think we were in 24 cities in 16 days or something like that. It`s been an incredible month for me. And that`s actually coming from the second half of the stage show, where I talk about the real meaning of Christmas and how we dismiss magic. And there is something about the Christmas season -- I asked you earlier what is it about Christmas that this story can be told where it can`t be. And we don`t -- we don`t pay attention to it. We don`t notice and stop and take a look at the trees and the lights and everything else the way we used to as children. Agree or disagree? Maybe you do.
EVANS: Maybe. I still do. Christmas to me is a very healing time. And so I soak it in and I love it. And especially as I get older and tired and road weary, I just like to sit home and drink some hot chocolate and watch the Christmas tree lights and...
BECK: Hardly, because I`ve got to believe that you, being father Christmas now, that you are out on the road a lot.
EVANS: Yes. It`s an irony. I remember when in the middle of "The Christmas Box" thing it was just massive and I was leaving in and I went and kissed my daughter Jenna good night. And she said, "Dad, why did you write a book about spending time with your children and now you`re leaving us again?" It`s like -- you know, they`re honest. And so -- but it`s mellowed out. And I have the rest of the children...
BECK: How did you respond to that?
EVANS: I couldn`t respond. I said, "I`m sorry, honey, but there are seasons," and there are seasons. You know, there are seasons. And there`s a lot of soldiers who are not here, who are giving their time and are away from their children. And I hope those children never resent them. I hope they look to their parents as heroes who are away from them at this time.
BECK: Tell me about Jenna because she`s been known as Jenna Christmas Box her whole life, right?
EVANS: Naive dad. You know? I said, "Jenna, did people ever make this association?" I mean, I met a woman at an amusement park who had named her child Jenna after my daughter, after the book. And I said...
BECK: Oh, my gosh.
EVANS: And she didn`t know who I was. So I said, "This is Jenna from the book." And she thought I was crazy and didn`t say anything more. I said, "Jenna, do people make that association with you?" She started laughing, she goes, "Dad, I`ve been Jenna Christmas Box my whole life." I go, "I`m sorry, honey." She goes, "No, dad, it`s a good thing."
BECK: Of course, it would be. It would be. I mean, imagine being -- I mean, she`s part of -- you know, part of history and the lore of magic and Christmas. The father that you were before and the father that you are now. Difference?
EVANS: You know, the troubles and trials we`ve had with our son, with Tourette, have made me more accepting and more tolerant, and more patient. My first group -- my girls were perfect. You know, they were so easy and I was like, wait -- I could just bask in the glory of them, oh, they`re al straight A, you know, high citizenship students. I didn`t realize I had less to do with it than I thought, that we really, really struggle. So I think I`m a more patient father than I used to be. But you know, I`ve always loved fatherhood.
BECK: Is there ever -- I have a daughter with cerebral palsy, and the hurt for them just not -- just doesn`t stop.
EVANS: No. There`s nothing.
BECK: There`s nothing like it.
EVANS: They`re my Achilles heel. There have been times when -- now we`re getting real personal. In the dark moments when you think God, I`d give my life, you know, take my life, just tell me my kids are OK. You know, there`s those moments that come as a parent. But you know, those are the real moments. That`s when you get really real. And I -- you know, our parents would do the same for us.
BECK: Yes. It`s hard to understand. I remember when my daughter was born and she had strokes at birth. And I had that -- I mean, I got down on my knees, I don`t think I ever cried out to the Lord more than that night. And it wasn`t heal her because of any other reason, it was take me and use what I have and give it to her. You know what I mean?
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: Just -- it`s amazing how the power of love with your children is just -- just overwhelming.
EVANS: It`s the greatest -- they`re our greatest teachers. And when people tell me, oh, kids are a bother, and I think -- I feel sorry for them because I don`t feel -- what was that, the "Velveteen Rabbit," it`s like, you`re not real until you`re loved? I feel in many ways that I wasn`t real until I became a parent. And I wasn`t all about being -- I came from a large family. I didn`t want to have kids, which freaked my wife out.
BECK: I have to tell you, we are so -- I didn`t want to have children. I wanted just to have one. I`ve got four kids now. It`s the same thing. And you learn -- I learned more from my children, I think, than I`ve taught them. You know, I don`t know. I don`t - they`re -- kids, if you`re watching, turn the TV off. I mean, I, you know, it`s -- you learn so much from them. And you want to be more like them because they still have that, I don`t know, sweetness to them.
EVANS: Every one has a trait that I look at, and, you know, they`re just so amazing in each of their ways, and they`re all such an incredible blessing. It`s the hardest thing you`ll ever face. It`s like you can`t buy your way out of it. It`s like hey, I`m rich and famous. I can`t do this. It`s like, no, you can`t.
BECK: Yes. No, no, you can`t.
EVANS: So I say, how do you stay -- how do you stay humble? It`s like, change a diaper at 2:00 in the morning.
BECK: Yes. Yes.
EVANS: Have poop all over your hands.
BECK: Yes. Oh, yes.
EVANS: It`s real. It`s real as it gets.
BECK: Yes. I was scrubbing poop out of my son`s chair just recently.
EVANS: I remember Warren Beatty said...
BECK: Yes.
EVANS: Someone ask me, one of these kids, it`s like, do you get people? It`s like, my kids are people. He goes, "You get people to raise them?" No, they`re my kids.
BECK: OK. Back in a second.
Rapid fire with one of the world`s finest storytellers, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: If you`ve been watching or listening to the radio show for, I don`t know, the last four months or so, I have been on this kick, and I`ve said this line over and over again. Now you`ll know exactly where I got it from. It is so profound. From "The Gift," "I don`t believe society has ever grown more tolerant. It just changes targets." What a great truth that is. And we`re seeing it now.
EVANS: I was mad when I wrote it.
BECK: Really?
EVANS: Yes. It had to do with some of these anti-Christianity groups and books.
BECK: Yes. You said your favorite five words are in this book.
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: What are they?
EVANS: In the end, love wins.
BECK: Let me go through a rapid-fire.
EVANS: OK.
BECK: Strangest place you`ve ever seen anybody reading one of your books.
EVANS: Someone driving a car and getting in a car accident.
BECK: Presidential candidate who would most benefit from reading "The Gift." You don`t want to go there, do you?
EVANS: All of them. All of them.
BECK: How long after the holidays do you leave your lights on?
EVANS: A week.
BECK: Does that mean -- OK, so that`s after -- so the second week of January?
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: Yes, OK. Most annoying Christmas song.
EVANS: Oh, anything with Hawaiian lyrics.
BECK: Why do you have three first names?
EVANS: Serial killers and writers use it to differentiate.
BECK: Yes. Is that your real name?
EVANS: Richard Paul Evans. Yes.
BECK: Yes. Your favorite story as a kid. Did you read as a kid?
EVANS: Yes, my mom read to me. Stories that made me cry. Like "Old Yeller" and "Where the Red Fern Grows."
BECK: Mom read stories that made me cry.
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: Do you think that`s -- is that...
EVANS: Completely. Completely.
BECK: Really? Once upon a time. Yes or no. Yes or no? Once upon a time. Stories -- once upon a time, you believed in once upon a time?
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: Happily ever after?
EVANS: I do, actually, yes.
BECK: How come none of your characters are named Glenn? I`m just...
EVANS: We can talk about it, yes.
BECK: Have you ever thought about writing a story about the magic of the McGriddle?
EVANS: I don`t like McGriddles. No. Sorry.
BECK: OK. Everything I`ve said about this guy`s book, throw it out the window.
EVANS: Sausage biscuits. I just get the sausage. And McGriddles are to sweet.
BECK: Oh, my gosh. You couldn`t be more wrong. Am I famous enough for you to have the urge to spit in my face?
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: Really?
EVANS: Yes.
BECK: Yes. OK. Good. It is a...
EVANS: You didn`t see the glass.
BECK: No. I don`t. It is a tremendous book, a tremendous book. And really, America, please, go out and get it. It`s called "The Gift" by Richard Paul Evans.
Richard, what a pleasure.
EVANS: My pleasure. Thank you.
BECK: Merry Christmas.
EVANS: Thank you. You, too, and your family.
BECK: You bet. OK.
Good night from New York. Fantastic.
END
