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Hey there word nerds!

Today\\u2019s interview features Brian Meehl, author of four novels that have garnered several awards and starred book reviews: Out of Patience, Suck It Up, Suck It Up and Die, and You Don\\u2019t Know About Me. His latest genre-bending novel, Blowback \\u201807, transports readers back to 19077, a time when legendary coach Pop Warner, future Olympian Jim Thorpe, and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School\\u2019s team the \\u201cRedmen\\u201d revolutionized America\\u2019s most popular sport\\u2014football.

In a former incarnation, Brian was a puppeteer on \\u201cSesame Street\\u201d and in Jim Henson films, including The Dark Crystal and he also wrote for television shows like \\u201cThe Magic School Bus\\u201d and \\u201cBetween the Lions,\\u201d for which he won three Emmys. He lives in Connecticut and is currently working on Blowback \\u201963 and Blowback \\u201994, the second and third installments of the Blowback trilogy.

In this episode Brian and I discuss:

• Using history to inspire and inform your writing, and the wealth of ideas that come from true events that have come from the past.
• The importance of research in capturing details that help your story\\u2019s world feels real.
• Using your research, your area of interest, and the specific idiosyncrasies of your particular topic to fuel your blog and platform building.
• Balancing close points of view with an omniscient narrator, the strengths and the challenges.
• Keeping your own growth and process in mind when you write. You\\u2019re not going to publish everything that you write.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

About the Author

Brian Meehl has published four novels with Random House: Out of Patience, Suck It Up, Suck It Up and Die, and You Don\\u2019t Know About Me. His books have garnered a Junior Library Guild Selection, a Blue Ribbon from the Bulletin for the Center for Children\\u2019s Books and starred reviews in Publishers Weekly. In a former incarnation, Brian was a puppeteer on \\u201cSesame Street\\u201d and in Jim Henson films, including \\u201cThe Dark Crystal.\\u201d His transition from puppets to pen included writing for television shows such as \\u201cThe Magic School Bus\\u201d and \\u201cBetween the Lions,\\u201d for which he won three Emmys. He lives in Connecticut and is writing Blowback \\u201963 and Blowback \\u201994. For more information about Brian Meehl and his books, please visit www.brianmeehl.com and www.blowbacktrilogy.com.

Blowback \\u201807

It has become infamous for stripping children of their language and culture, but most people forget that the Carlisle Indian Industrial School also gave birth to America\\u2019s most popular sport as we now know it\\u2014football.

In Brian Meehl\\u2019s genre-bending novel Blowback \\u201907; readers are transported back to 1907 where legendary coach Pop Warner, future Olympian Jim Thorpe, and the Carlisle \\u201cRedmen\\u201d change the game. Their plays and formations like the modern \\u201cspread\\u201d and \\u201cshotgun,\\u201d have since become mainstays in high school, college, and professional football.

Clashing twins have one thing in common: an ancient musical instrument left to them by their mother. \\xa0When Iris plays the strangely curved woodwind, the trouble begins: the school\\u2019s star quarterback, disappears.

Transported to 1907 and the Carlisle Indian School, Matt, one of the protagonists, is forced to play football for Coach Pop Warner as the Carlisle \\u201cRedmen\\u201d revolutionize Ivy League football. His struggle to \\u201cplay his way home\\u201d is complicated when he falls in love with an Indian girl.

Meanwhile, there are a cache of secrets that might help bring back someone very dear trapped in the past. \\xa0

Blowback \\u201907 launches a century-spanning trilogy to be continued in Blowback \\u201963 and Blowback \\u201994. \\xa0Books two and three propel the characters to another illuminating past, and transform them in ways they never imagined.

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/135