Name: Bryan Mealer

Claim to fame: Bryan is the author of The Kings of Big Spring, Muck City and the New York Times bestseller The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind – written with William Kamkwamba. His other work has appeared in Texas Monthly, Esquire, the Guardian, and the New York Times.

Where to find him: On Twitter, Amazon, and his website

Let’s start with the basics: What time of day do you start writing? Is it easier for you to write early in the morning? Late at night?

Ever since I’ve been writing, I’ve always maintained a 9-5 schedule. It’s just when I’m the most productive, and now with three children, it’s also what works the best. If I’m doing rewrites or fact checking, I can go till the wee hours. But my best writing comes in the daylight.

Do you listen to music when you write, or do you prefer silence, or something else on in the background?

Total silence. But my office sits along a busy road, so I use a white noise machine to block out the rumble of traffic

What’s the best money/investment you have ever spent or made as a writer?

When I started buying running shoes. Running is an essential part of my writing life. It empties my head, allows me to meditate on the work, and puts me in bed early.  

Your most recent book The Kings of Big Spring: God, Oil, and One Family’s Search for the American Dream is a memoir of your family’s time in rural Texas. How did your research and writing approach change vs your other work? Was writing a memoir harder or easier than your previous work?

This book was very research heavy, as opposed to my other work, which was mostly reportage. I had to learn how to craft compelling narrative out of court records, old lawsuits, and family interviews, and juxtapose them against historical events. It was slow going and very difficult but I’m happy I learned how to do it.

You also co-authored The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind with William Kamkwamba. How did that routine work between the two of you? Any surprises co-authoring a book?

I tried something I’d never done before. At the time, William didn’t speak fluent English and I worried that I wouldn’t be able to capture his true character – his quips, silly jokes, and cadence. So I hired an interpreter and conducted all interviews with William through him. I’d ask William a question and he’d answer in Chichewa, his mother tongue, and the interpreter would tell me in English. It worked wonderfully. I was then able to write an entire book in the voice of a 14-year old kid. Every few months we’d get back together in Malawi and I’d read aloud chapters. William would tell me if I got it right or not.

The only surprise was how much fun I had. William and I made a great team and we’re still very close friends. But I don’t think I’d like to co-author another book.

Do you have a different approach for your journalism and your books, or does it all follow roughly the same process?

For books, I obsessively outline on index cards that I post on a large cork board in my office – each card represents a new scene, and that’s how I write chapters. For my journalism, I just try to have one Word file where I keep all my interviews and information. I also do a skeletal outline in that document.  

Do you wait until your research and reporting is done before putting pen to paper, or are you writing as you go along?

Both. For the Kings of Big Spring, I reported and researched for a solid year before writing a page. Then I’d push on to the next chapter and research as I went. You inevitably do that anyway since everything changes once you’re writing the piece from the ground up. You notice holes and broken fences that you never saw from 5,000 feet and you have to fix them.  

If you were thinking back to your younger literary self and give some advice, what would that be?

Whenever in doubt, show up.