I Met the Man

I finally met the man who has been the inspiration for a lot of my blog posts...

Richard Paul Evans!

Anyone who has been reading my blog posts in the last while knows that I have read a lot of his books, I use a lot of quotes from his books, and reading his books usually puts me in an inspirational and contemplative mood which often leads to a blog post. For anyone who does not know, Richard Paul Evans is the author of over 20 best-selling novels including his first and probably most famous book The Christmas Box. I have read all but three of his books. So when I found out that he was coming to the Provo Library I made plans to be there. The event was to celebrate his new book that came out last week. This book is the first in a new series and really different from his other novels. It is a Young Adult adventure novel whereas his other books have been inspirational stories geared more towards adults. This is a picture of the book:

It is definitely still created to be inspirational though. I got to the library early and was able to get a front row seat. It was really cool to see Evans in person and to hear him talk about his new book. He talked for about an hour and I always love hearing about the creation and process of his books because it is unlike any other author I have heard. He is an LDS author but his books are not LDS, although he does usually have some mention of God and general religion in his stories. And as he was talking about all the amazing things that happened and fell in to place he made it clear that he knew there was a higher power guiding him along the way. It was pretty amazing to hear his stories of things that definitely fell in to place too perfectly to be coincidence. He also shared a little more of the religious symbolism and things that he had put in to the book since we were a mostly LDS audience.

It was also really inspiring to hear about the difference that his book has already made for people who were advance readers and people who had already finished it. The main character in the book is a boy with Tourettes Syndrome (which Evans and his son both have) and so he wanted to give a voice to that since a lot of people don't really understand what it is and also empower the boy who had been picked on a lot by kids at school just as Evans, his son, and many other people with Tourettes have been. Evans has gotten a lot of response from such kids that told him that for the first time they felt special for who they were. So that was really cool to hear about.

After listening to him I waited in line to meet him and get my book signed


I am excited to start the book as soon as I finish the book I am in the middle of now!