Why did you publish The Guardian in April, as opposed to your normal publishing time in the fall?

This had to with my writing career in general. There’s a fine line to walk in keeping readers satisfied, and my thinking went like this: In the beginning, many people discovered me by reading The Notebook, my first novel. Many authors are rightfully accused of “changing” as their career progresses and as a result, the authors become less popular over time. The Guardian is very different than The Notebook, and I didn’t want to become less popular. How can I keep everyone happy, including those who want different stories, and those who want stories like the first one I wrote? The solution I came up with was simple; write a story that is somewhat similar to The Notebook, and release that in the fall (Nights in Rodanthe). Release The Guardian in the Spring. Then, come out with The Wedding (a sequel to The Notebook) a few months later. That way if people were upset by the differences concerning The Guardian when compared to The Notebook, they didn’t have to wait an entire year to discover I wasn’t changing my style permanently, just enough to keep the surprises coming.