Every time I hear of another book or movie hit by author Nicholas Sparks, I remember when he was a nobody, and I knew him. Sort of.

I've looked in my blog archives trying to find an old post about why I keep my AOL account, the nostalgia associated with my first connection to the Internet, but I can't locate it. In the beginning, one of the things I loved about AOL was its chat rooms. Nancy Olson (owner of Quail Ridge Books) and I used to go into this room called "The Book Nook" where we talked about books (of course) and came to know (in the cyber-way) quite a few people. Some of them came to Raleigh eventually, and we got to meet them.

A frequent visitor to the chat room told me one night that he was getting ready to publish a book set in North Carolina. I jumped all over this, insisting that he contact Nancy when it came out, because she is such a great supporter of local writers.

It was Nicholas Sparks. I'd say he's come a long way from "The Book Nook".

Next: "The Time Nicholas Sparks Came to Quail Ridge Books"