Seven weeks.

It took Salt Lake native author Richard Paul Evans only seven weeks to finish his latest Christmas novel “Christmas in Bethel”—it’s the fastest one written of his 47 novels but it didn’t come without a price.

Evans’ tight seven-week deadline was due to a cancer scare and poor health leading up to his writing of the book. By the time things settled down, the deadline was barreling towards him.

During those seven weeks to meet his quick deadline, Evans’ life could be described as write, eat, repeat.

“I did nothing but write for seven weeks…through days,” Evans said. “I would go a week without shaving or showering.”

“This book, to me, is a miracle book,” he said. “I don't even feel like I own it that much, other than I really suffered to get it done.”

He said the process started with a heartfelt plea.

“I just told God, ‘Look, you and I both know this isn’t possible. I've never done anything like this, but I think it's important. And if the book comes out, I'll give it everything I can,’” he said.

After two years without a Christmas book, the “King of Chrismas” didn’t want to let his readers down for a third year.

“I just adore my readers,” Evans said. “They deserve the best I can give them.”

And so he wrote. And wrote. And wrote.

While Evans wrote, he said one recurring thing he noticed through the days was the number 11.

“One of the weird things that happened—and it's very curious to me—I kept seeing numbers, and I'm not into numerology,” he said. 

When he looked it up, seeing the number 11 or the “angel number” is a sign “that God or the universe is with you and is conspiring for your success—it's helping you to succeed in this great task.”

“It gave me chills when I read it,” he said. “And it didn't end when I finished the book.”

After writing through the night, he finished the book at 6 a.m. on the day of the deadline. Without being able to sleep, he went to breakfast at 11:11 a.m.

“It was just a miracle, that's all I can say,” he said. “I didn’t know if the book was any good, I just knew I gave everything I had and tried to write the best book I could and that I received remarkable inspiration.”

His wife, Keri Evans, was the first to read the book.

“She's a good critic—she reads more than anyone I know, and she's also very honest,” Evans said. “So when she first read it, she was nervous because of how the book was written and the speed.”

Despite the hurried pace, she ranked it as one of his three best books.

“My books do come from my soul,” Evans said. “And so it's such a powerful thing that books can change, start revolutions, and change the world and change a personal world.”

Christmas in Bethel’s main character Beth is a testament of this. He said if his readers can take away anything from the book other than enjoyment, it would be that “we're all broken” and everyone needs “to give themselves some grace and give others grace.”

“Most of us are doing the best we can,” Evans said.

“It's a powerful book for me [and] it profoundly affected me while writing,” he said.  “I wasn't sure how it was going to end until the last few weeks. It was a pretty miraculous experience.”