“My dogs,” says Sparks, “are there to teach me to take a break. I tend to work a lot because I have so much going on whether it’s film or novels, but my dogs will come up and – about once an hour they’ll let me know, 'Hey, you need to get outside. You're going to turn fluorescent purple here if you keep staring into that computer screen. You need to take a little break.'

“They’re there to remind me that there’s more to life than work.”