10 things you still may not know about Nicholas Sparks

Having the privilege to bring Nicholas Sparks to Manila is a one-of-a-kind experience that took about two or three years of work. When the occasion finally came along, Filipinos were very fortunate that Nicholas chose the Philippines to be his only Asian stop on this international tour for his new book The Best of Me. Needless to say, the opportunity to have the Philippines’ single-best-selling author ever visit us does not come very often. However, I think every romantic, sentimental and book-loving Filipino made the most out of this once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet their favorite author.

For someone who has sold 90 million books, six of which have been made into movies with three more on the way, Nicholas Sparks is an unbelievably humble, unassuming and — for lack of a better word — “normal” person. This may be due to his much talked-about Catholic upbringing or perhaps it is because of his small-town values (he lives in New Bern, North Carolina!). But after you get to know him for a while, you come to the inevitable conclusion that he really is just an all-around nice guy who enjoys the same things that you or I would — hanging out with his dogs, playing video games or procrastinating when he knows he has to work. 

Much has been written about him, but here are a few more things that you may not have known about Nicholas Sparks:

The huge crowd filled the entire atrium of The Podium. When the Mall opened at 10 a.m. the line stretched all the way to the 5th floor.

1. Nicholas is a voracious reader who reads 120 to 150 books a year. He reads both physical books and e-books but preferred to bring physical books on this trip because his Kindle conked out on the first day of his recent safari leaving him with nothing to read for three weeks.

2. He was not an overnight success. Like most people who excel in their fields, Nicholas had to work to get to where he is today. Even if his first book, The Notebook, was sold for US$1 million, he has had his fair share of book signings where only one person showed up.

3. He believes that it is important to go on book tours. He shares that there are a lot of successful authors who do not bother to go on tour. For Nicholas, it is not just a chance for him to meet his fans to say thank you and show his appreciation, but it is also an opportunity to get feedback from them regarding what they like and what they don’t like about his works.

4. He likes to play Fragger on his phone.

5. He moved to North Carolina because while he was a pharmaceutical representative, he found it too expensive to live in California so he asked for a transfer. He and his wife loved North Carolina so much that they decided to live there permanently.

6. He can write anywhere. Normally, however, he writes in his office above his garage. His favorite author is Stephen King.

7. Whenever he travels to California, he and his family end up staying in his ex-girlfriend’s parents’ house and not with his own brother! He points out that he has remained very close with his ex-girlfriend’s parents who even paid for his honeymoon with his wife. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the day after they broke up, he went to them just to apologize that things did not work out with their daughter.

The early bird line at The Podium started forming at 3 a.m. and stretched around the building

8. He works out regularly … as if that wasn’t obvious.

9. He and his wife are putting up a school, which emphasizes a well-rounded international education. He says that by the time a student graduates from their school, he would have visited about 16 countries. Nicholas thinks this experience is important especially for kids who grow up in rural areas like North Carolina because they do not get the international exposure that kids who grew up in New York, Los Angeles or some other crossroad cities might get.

10. He has two unpublished novels, which he wrote before The Notebook. He says they will never see the light of day again.

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