[applause] i'm not brad meltzer. brad meltzer is my father. you have probably all read here to my daughter. i know, you have read here to my son. the person who wrote the two awesome books. the best dad in the world, brad meltzer. [applause] [applause] >> he writes his own material. you think i'm joking. most important things first, simply to say thank you. thank you to mish l kaplan. i travel the country to bookstores, that's what i do. that's my job. i talk to imaginary people and i travel the country to. books and books the best store in the country. i don't say it because i know

him. i don't say it because he knows my family. i love him and he's part of our family for so long as. it's a fact. anyone argues with me is just wrong. i want to thank, of course, my family, this becomes a very -- as mitch said a bittersweet moment. this the first event that my dad is not here. we have been through a lot of lost. i lost my grandma also. i'm going to talk about that and this event was dedicated to him. there was no question. he's also the guy the signings are more quiet. people are listening. my cad was in the back trying to sell them more books and where to get a good sandwich. he played a vital role. we miss him every day.

became a search for new heroes and maybe also more than anything appreciate the heroes that already in my life. of course, need to thank the heroes who have been there for me as i was losing parts of my family, the family that remains remain my safety net. bobby, dale, amy, adam, my newses and nephews, and adam are incredible. they have saved me in more ways than you know. and my own family, my jonas, lie will, and though owe. there are no books without them. my biggest hero is cory. you're here and i love you. [applause] here is to my daughter. -- heroes to my daughter was born on the night my daughter was born. i wanted to write a book that lasted her whole life. i'm going give it to her and think i'm the greatest father of

all time when i see the wisdom presented to her. it was going to be spectacular. it was the perfect plan. the truth was i didn't know anything about being a dad. i loved my daughter. that's all i knew. and i wrote the day i came home from the hospital, i wrote down resumes to live by just as i did with my son. she should love god, be nice to the kid that needs help in class. i'm going write a book of rules. i did something similar with heroes of my son. it came out two years ago. my daughter keeps asking where is my book? tick to be, come on, let's go. you think she was joking she was worse than my own editor. i started with looking at heroes look sally ride and everyone knows sally ride the first female american astronaut in space. the question to me is why sally ride.

why she out of all the great american women ask nasa pick her? some say she's a jen yous at physics she was a great athlete because she was fearless and those are all true. here's what's also true. ing? something to to happen first. he to see a college ad and seize it. that's why they picked sally ride. that's the kind of her roy i want for my daughter. someone that she can learn the lesson from and see how you can do what no one else has done before. i don't want to give her a book of rules. i want to give her a book of heroes. heroes like rosa parks and christopher rev like marie curry, self-reliant heroes. that was the key. and that's where the book began. i thought it was going to be like my son's book. i had more men than women.

i treat my kids absolutely equally. that's the kind of dad i am. right. the perfect one. and the truth, i ended the book and i thought they were the same. my editor said we have a problem. she said there's a problem with your book. what? you use one word over and over and over again. and every description every hero you have. the word fighter is used in over a dozen. you use fighter in dally llama he is a peace person. she fights, that's totally different. the truth was, it shows you two things about my as a dad. i'm overprotective of my daughter. in ways i didn't know about. my daughter used to jump in the pool and she would sink and pop

up and say i'm okay. we would laugh at that and that was her thing. and it took me a long time to realize is realize why she was saying i'm okay because i always asked. here's what i don't apologize for. i want my daughter to learn how to fight. i do. the i want her to know if you see something you want, you have to forget it. if you injustice. you have to fight harder than you've ever fought before. i will never apologize for that. i tell her with do not be the princess who is waiting far prince. you can save yourself. this book ask an example of that. it's a example filled with people that prove that. one of the people in this, there are lots of famous people people that you know and there are people that are i think more modern heroes people like randy. i have never told the story.

randy the story that's in the book. i don't think anyone knows. famously wrote the last lecture. when he wrote the book, he cowrote it with my dear friend. jeff passed away a few months ago. i think i hope i can honor him tonight in my hometown by passing on the story. you worked close with randy. can you tell me a story no one knows. and he told me this story. randy on the days before he died, he wasn't on opera doing the talk show circuit. he had one rule, he spent it with his family. she was with young son and dylan came to his father friend and said is cancer solvable and the father's friend said no. your dad died from cancer. there is no cure. and you can tell the son was upset, why? and still dylan said my dad said

i have it within me to solve problems. i found out that last summer young dylan winter went to capitol hill to lobby for cancer. it is far more viable when one more person acts on it. i love that he is proof of it. that's what makes us who we are. the book is also filled with people you have never heard of that young girl named alex scot who is in the book. and alex before she was a year old was diagnosed diagnosed with cancer. only a life she knew. chemotherapy and surgery and hospitals. and when he was four years old she said to her parents she wanted to open a lemonade stand

not to buy any toys for herself. she wanted to give the money to doctors to help other kids it cancer. within a single day the stand races $2,000. and then she eventually sets a new goal and what's what i love best. other lemonade stands pop up with her name on them. let's raise $1 million. on june 12, 2004, hundreds of lem naitd stands open up and every state in the country ordinary people selling water and sugar and lemons to help kids with cancer. nearly two months later alex dies she's eight years old. before she dies she set a new goal. let's raise $5 million. this day her lemonade stand has raised over $45 million and going strong still. right. i love that one girl, one idea, one big dream. that is a hero for my daughter.

you better believe she's in this book. i wanted her in here. to me, i love that fact. to me that's the most important part of the regular heros. famous people are great. i tell me son and daughter all the time. you know what it means to be a famous athlete? nothing you're good at sport. do you know what it means to be a best selling author? nothing. it means people by your books. there are people we have never heard of and i feel like because i'm in miami i have to single out. my teacher is in there. my ninth grade english teacher. there are people who i know had sheila spicer. i know, they are here. and sheila spicer was the first person that told me can write. i want you to think of the first person that told you were good at something. sheila changed my life. you can write, you know what you're doing. and she tried to put know the honors class and change me no the honors. i had a con fliest.

your going to be sit in the corner the entire year. ignore everything i do. every home worng assignment. you're going to do the honors work. what she was saying is you're going to thank me later. that's a exactly what i did. twelve years later, a decade later when the first novel was published, i went to the classroom in junior high school, and i knocked on the door, and i said to her, can i help you? she didn't recognize. i had a full head of hair last night. i said my name is brad meltzer and i wrote this book and it'sst it's for your. why are you crying. i was going to retire this year. why? because i didn't think i was having an impact anymore. and i said are you kidding? you have thirty students we have one teacher. one teacher. she had no idea of her impact on my life. here's the best part. it's noted in the book. last shirm retired. and as a surprise i wanted to surprise her and thank this woman who changed my life. i went to her retirement party

to surprise her. i showed up. i was in back. it's a scary moment when you go back and think when you go back to something that was great when you were younger, you're risking the entire memory. right, you're ready to risk the foundation of the entire memory. when you go a restaurant you loved when you were a kid and you go back and the restaurant sucks. it's a terrible place. it's a memory that was good. i was terrified to go back. what if i go there and she's not as inspirational or as great. then the whole memory is gone. bicycle go back to the retirement party and there i am and '00 it's like the teachers lounge with the long cigarettes and they're tired. it's a friday, they want to go home. they're there to pay the tributes and give her a beautiful, you know, nice thank you gift. and she has to do is say thank you very much. i love you, i hate half of you but i love the other half of you. that's all she has to do.

that's it and say thank you and retire. my teacher goes up in front of the jaded group of teachers and says, you know, all of you who complain that it's harder now that the kids are different, it's so much harder to get through to them. you're getting lazy and old. to the do not give up open the kids. don't give up on my of them. she gives the rousing speech like we're going storm the beaches. i'm signing up to be a teacher. i'm ready right now. i'm going teach next year. it was so amazing. and it showed me why the woman is my hero. that's the great moment. and, you know, to those people who think when you think to yourself who's is the person who gave me my first shot. the first job that told you were good at something. that person was a giant in your 0 life. you are now that person. you all have that power to go out and go that for someone else. you have the power go out and

say i like what you did here. good job. you do a great job at this. that changes their lives lives in ways you will never know. if you continue use that power. your power fades with over time abuse use that power. if i can ask one thing. think of that person think of your mrs. spicer do me one favor go and thank them. that's all i can. go on facebook find then whatever you can do. find them and thank them. you will never believe how much it means to them. it's an amazing power. you don't have to raise $45 million in lemonade sales to change the world. you have to be kind to one person. that's how you get to be a hero. beyond that, a couple of other story nays i do want to tell because i i felt like i wanted to tell personal stories and tell you why they are personal. the other heroes you see are the heroes of united night flight 33.

i'm one of those people i lived in washington when 9/11 happened. i don't like seeing 9/11 being used to celebrate these things. it feels like a manipulation. who do we thank or may be the heroes in heros for my daughter when i was putting it together? i can make it to people who were the firefighters. a firefighter i keep on my desk every day because a woman right after it happened she gave me a picture of her brother, never forget him. i keep the picture on my desk. he'd be the perfect person then i think of tom a flight attendant on the pentagon. a friend who died. and i thought maybe who we should celebrate tom and actually move forward. we forget about those heros. i couldn't ease candidate united 93. i owe them personally because i was living in washington, d.c., on 9/11. my wife on that morning, grow

look at the fourth flight, the government wouldn't say where it was going to hit the white house or the capitol. but if you look where they actually put the plaque to honor the heroes, the plaque is in the capitol to me that means one thing. it was going to the capitol. on the morning of 9/11 i will never forget it because my wife was driving to work at her job at the united states capitol. she was nine months pregnant with her first child. i'm not saying the plane was going land on my wife's car but i will promise you one thing, if it hit there, i have a feeling my life would are easily and profoundly different today. i owe those men and women personally forever. you better believe they're in their book. they are hero to me. i owe them for that. a couple of more heroes. last two and they are both personal. it came out and when they told me the announce the day of the publication. i was thrilled it was my grandma's birthday. and she was one of the last heroes in here.

and dorothy rubin is in the book because she raised me she helped raise me. which i love her for. what she's in the book for is when my grandma lost her husband, my family said she'll never go on. she'll never be only to go on. she went on for twenty years and she went blind she went on after that. and she went deaf and she went on. i used to go on sunday with my kids to visit her. i scream, how are you doing? she would say, fine, i can't compline. and i was are you kidding you're a jewish grandma. you're supposed to complain. you're a professional. that's what you're supposed to. that's with a we do. we are better than anyone. right. [laughter] that's what our major is in college. complaining. we are great at that. she never did. and you people looked at her and say she has nothing. she's blind and deaf and she's a widow. to her she had everything

because she had her family. i have everything they're right here. i love -- i think of the thingings in our lives that we complain about and mown about and i love my grandma put it in perspective for me. the best is the last pages. your hero's story and photograph here. you take a picture of your mother or grandma or military member of your family you put the picture in this book why you write one sentence whether it's a teacher, coworker or anyone. it will be the most important hero in "heros for my daughter." that's the way it should be. that should be the best page. for me the last page is one of my heros and i have a special guest to introduce that hero to you. i want to be clear here. when you go to dan browne's book signing he doesn't bring lee

leonardo with him. i brought my daughter with me. i want to introduce you to my daughter. here she comes. [applause] [applause] >> are you ready? fighter, cory meltzer, mother she's the most important hero in here. my mom. when she was in fourth grade, the category five hurricane hit the dominican republic, she was only nine years old. but cory heard the people were suffering. she was -- some people wrote checks, other es made personal donation. my mother's solution subpoena she -- she started a club to

collect canned god. soon they were running a school wide food driven. even in fourth grade, she was mart. the more more people she involved. the more hurricane victims she could help. [applause] [applause] i'm going to add to this. i love that story. and i love it because all these years later one of your mother's favorite expressions is this. people don't change. she's actually wrong. your mother changed me. but when it comes to herself here's what never changed from high school to harvard to being a lawyer for the house judiciary to the work with the inare city school your mother loved to pick a good fight. it's always the same fight. the fight for someone else. best of all, there's no one not on the entire planet who every single day fights the way she fights for you. she always will. you have a strong mother.

let it make you a strong woman. [applause] dan brown does not bring leonardo. we bring the daughter. let me tell you something, that joke doesn't work in virginia. [laughter] right. in virginia they're like my year. here we have the juice. it's miami. we're ready. we have joe kilns here. i have it on helen killer. it kills in miami. i love that. so with that said, what i love to do is open up to questions. i appreciate you guys coming here. i'm going to close after. but what i promise that we do is a couple of questions. you can ask about the thrillers, you can ask about heroes for myson or daughter. you can about heart surgery. i where fiction. i'm make up an answer. yes, sir? >> [inaudible] >> what?

>> why -- what -- [inaudible] said on the radio the story you told. >> oh. oh. what happened. oh. one of the those stories. thank you for that. that was awesome. here's what happened. now you're -- ready. here's what happened last book signing two nights ago, one of my heroes, one of the heros in the book was christopher revs. he's one of my heros because not because he played superman. i love superman. the most important part of the story is not super pan many. the most important part of the story is clark kent. we know what it's like to be boring and ordinary. the news is we can do something incredibly beyond ourself. christopher is a hero for that. he can't move after the surgery. he regrained sensation over most of his body. the hero for my daughter was christopher rev's daughter.

and his daughter came up and read the entry for her father. whey love the most beyond seeing, here's one of my her heroes my daughter introduces his daughter and she reads that. when we were picking the pictures for the book, e were picking up the one for christopher, i want to show you quickly what his entry was. we were debating. do we put him in the superman costume. in a wheelchair how do we show him to people what is his lasting legacy. how should we portray him. the picture we put is this one in a wheelchair. hold up it for a second. and the picture that we picked for him shows him in the wheelchair and what alex said i loved. i said this is how he needs to be remember not because he wore the underwear on the outside of his pants. which i will do on halloween on occasion. she said this is one of my

favorites of my father. and the reason is because it's it was taken as a democratic national convention that year. which i no idea. i picked it because i loved it. and she said, and this was the moment where he realized that he needed to make the transition from an actor to an activist. you can it happening in this picture. that's the picture you picked. and of course, i said that every signing we after that was going to be straight downhill. we wouldn't have her there to explain that. i got to read that. thank you for remind me of that. other questions? >> yes, sir. >> [inaudible] >> how do we go about choosing my heroes not the famous. i love that there are so many heros. and, you know, people ask me all the time. tell why the famous person. to me they're not the best. the best are the ones you live with. we had z a poll. and do me what i hope the book is and nothing else is it helps

us redefine or i should say e focus on what we should be focused on. i think if you look at heros in the country. they tell the history of the united states. if you look back at the great depression, the heroes were famous they were characters designed to transport elsewhere. it was the depression. you don't get that name unless you are dprezzing people. people wanted to be in the 25th century. they wanted to be in the jungle away from their own lives. the characters took off. and world war ii comes and encroaching on the shores and who comes and the biggest character? superman. we're a country that is scared and terrified. here comes superman. when you look after 9/11. we'll never laugh again, remember the first movie it was spiderman. and if you look now at the superhero movies the good and the bad. they're making over $100 million a pop. why? we're a country starving for heroes. we're starving for them.

if you look at the last presidential election. look at obama v mccain, that alone. one of the guys is a great hope to half of america. the other fought the bad guys with the bear hands. we weren't looking for politician. we were looking for saviors. we're still, look at the country now. we are starving for heros. we haven't found them. when it happens you see the things continue. that's how it operates. but we didn't -- we say people focus on reality stories athletes how do we renows on on the heroes. all you have to do is looked at your own family. look at the people who did things for you. people submit their hero stories. you know what my heroes are? the ones -- the number one story over and over my mom, dad, grandma, grandfather worked two, three, jobs to go to college. i am the first in any family to go to college.

i love that story. it hits home. i'm in the first in any immediated family to go to college. i know, my mom and dad killed themselves go and make sure they could attend. those to me are the best heros. that's how i pick them. if you want know how you pick them. it's the supreme court of pornography. you know it when you see it. that's the rule. if you know it when you see it. yes? >> we are actually -- [inaudible] fellow chargers. >> i love the chargers. >> nice to see hometown boys. our daughter is actually getting ready to graduate high school. your book is going to be our gift to her. [inaudible] we wanted something that has -- meaning the timing is perfect. it says all the things we want to say to her. my question to you is, what is advice or what statements would you make to your own daughter at that point where she's getting ready to start the life day one

everything you have talked about. finding the people to give to her as a hero. >> sure. no pressure. i'm going raise your daughter now. [laughter] here's a question. the question is present for someone graduating and wants to know what advice i would give her because it says so many wonderful things. what is the best life advice? i actually. what advise would i give my daughter. i gave her this advice. when i got the first copy, i gave it to her. i wrote a special note in it for her. one of the things i wro to her i said this book is going to change over time. it will change always. most book -- every book does the same thing. they change over time. and but this book especially because whenever you are in your life within there are answers in this book. there are answers not from me, but from the heroes and i love there are people who boy this

for the young daughters and people graduating college. there's a pastor who said you should read the book. it's not because of me at all. it's because of the heroes. because of rosa parks and amelia earhart. why is she a hero? she 0 disappeared and the mystery is so awesome. and we love that and we love she was the first to break the records. i love that too. but owe no what i love more than any of that nonsense? amelia earhart wasn't a natural pilot. she had 20 worked a it. she work as a photographer, anything to save money for flying lessons and buy that plane. when she bought it it was bright yellow. she wasn't good. she had to work hard ore than anyone. i love that. as for what i say to my daughter, it's what i say to her every single night. i say to her, you want to say it? i say -- you want to say it?

me. everyone is a volunteer. okay. ready? wait. wait. say it. dream big, work hard, stay humble. >> that's it. dream big, work hard, stay humble. you get all the words hard. those three say it. i stole the idea from a friend of mine. his dad used to say it. i love it to this day. other questions? >> not too far off the track. are you planning to go back to washington, d.c., any time soon? >> i love that. thank you. the question are you going to write more comic books and usually i'm actually disappointed. they always ask the first question. right. us nerds nerds we don't want to wait for anything. i where superman and batman and wonderwoman. ly sometimes wear the underwear on the outside of my pants. i love the heros. i love the superheros. i where thrillers also. i love the heros.

i did buffy which was a thrill. there is no plans to write anyone new because working on the next novel. we're hearing to hear from it comes back for season three. and the next novel will be coming out in january called "fifth asis sin." i'm working on it now. they're putting together the cover and as long as i finish on time. don't tell my publishers i'm talking. it will be out soon. those are the plans for the future in different areas. couple more questions. >> [inaudible] as far as what your working on the thing i love about the show you show a lot of things that the whole background of things they kind of -- mount rushmore no clue about the back story of it. could you tell us what you're working on? >> sure, the question is on

decode what the are -- you love things like mount rushmore and listen, we went to mount rushmore and we showed people the secret hidden room that is hidden and's head. this is an awesome hour of television. the show is called brad meltzer's decoded. i it's the greatest much all time. what do we have for brad meltzer's dinner. tonight i'd like to have -- you can sleep on brad milt meltzer's coach. i love that we get to go to mount rushmore and find the hidden room that is behind abe's head. no one is going look at how about rush more the same way again. let me tell you it's amazing how the novels and the show and heroes the heroes books and heros for my daughter and son harry is one of the heroes in

heroes for my son. he's one of the heroes when he was younger he lost his dad. he had to take care of the family. the young guy eric weiser which was is original name. much. he should have worked in a factory. he did the most daring thing of all. he did what he loved. that's the lesson. do what you love. find what you love and do it. that's why he succeeded. that was greatest cape. escaping simple. feed of course as i do the research, we have other topics, the other topics i want to look at they are bunch that i want to look at. i never talk about them when i do, last time i did, history channel will do them and i ruin them. i love to do jfk. i love to -- i think it's a

perfect episode. one of the stories -- i'll tell you the story they love. do something no one has ever heard. doing mount rushmore. showing people something they don't know about it. here is the great story i heard about jfk, i have to look in to it. this is the one i want to start with. when you actually looked at the book it was owne for awhile it was owned by a texas millionaire and before he sold the building he said pull out the win dote fix it guy. i want it window that oswald was shooting out get the window on the right. get the window on the right. the guy takes the window out and sells the building to another texas millionaire who comes in and realizes he said the window on the right from the inside. he took the wrong window. the second texas mill area. get the window. i want the window. the best part there are two texas mill areas inthey have the

window. i want to know who has the right window which is the window and we know which the window is. who has it. to me there are obviously great stories people have sent me and so those are the things i love to tackle. we'll see if we get the shot. it's been an amazing ride. >> [inaudible] it struck me. emotional impact on the page. i turn to that oil. hits me the hardest is when you see tim drake and that shot of his eye and and cradling in his arms. is there any page that you got as you were -- [inaudible] you were like wow, he knocked it out of the park and that sums up the entire book and everything i

was going for. >> yeah. he was asked about a identity crisis. a murder mystery. he's asking what is the page that you saw when the art came in that blew me away. when you write a novel. it's your palate. it's your palate of words. you can do whatever you want. it keeps you driving it off the cliff. but, you know, pretty much it's your palate, you get to write how the comic book should be drawn. you have to learn to shut up. you have another guy helping you. you have a great artist, a woman drawing the hem out of it. and you can say panel one, i wanted a close up on superman. pull in tighter so your on the curl. pull in so tight you see a bead of sweet coming con. i want to so tight on the bead of suite you can see the reflection of who he is talking to. you know now that superman is nervous and you're a nerd like myself. you know he doesn't suite.

right. come on. he can't sweet. i love that you get to do that. you have -- that was test for the add yens. the guy in the back saying he doesn't. and issue 152. he does. it's the kryptonite reason. kryptonite exists. you're a nerd too. i know. the answer is, what happens is though is you write something and you get the art and it's so far better than you thought. and he asks the question of which of the pages that came to me and blew away. of course that hit home for me. the scene i wrote was in the new character robin loses his father. for that moment now realize in

the moment it's not batman and robin, they right-hand aren't superhumans. when batman sees robin lou the father. thigh have the most horrible thing. you see batman hug robin and tear up and cry. that page was the page that blew me away. i bought that page of art. i own it. the own thing i could tell you how comic books work. one of my favorite pages of art is the team shot of justice league of america. all of the superheros. a team shot. i told the artist when you sell that page -- i'll never sell that page. when you sell the one page of the one shot, i want to buy it. and he said absolutely. so he called me up one day. my cell phone rang and i didn't know. i call him back and i say, hey, i sold the page of art. i couldn't reach you.

the page with the team shot. i couldn't reach you for an hour. you sold the shot? yeah, some guy wanted it. that was my favorite pain. i can't believe you sold it. he felt terrible. he felt tervel. i'm at comic-con in san diego. the guy comes up to me and puts down. i have a page of art. i would love you to sign. he puts down my favorite page. i'm like -- i want to be like -- i look at him in the moment and i look at him and i said here is my phone number and e-mail. i want to buy it. i came on so strong it was like coming on to a girl in the bar. he got terrified. he runs away he takes the art and runs away and never calls me. never calls me again. here's how life works. now i'm at the bookstore in philadelphia in pennsylvania, and the bookstore manager says, brad, i hope you don't mind. because you were here and signing books there's a comic bookstore that's a block away

and i told them you're a nice guy you would come. of course, i love comic stores. i walk the block and i walk in the comic store. and he says can you sign this? we have a customer here who told me the story about you two years ago, it was at comic-con and i had said he has a piece of art you wanted to buy it. the guy goes to this comic stores? my fellow nerd is here? and i say to him, here's my phone number, here's my e-mail address. i'm not joking. give it to him. and a week later, i get a phone call he said, brad, he sayings i've had this for two years now i don't know why but i feel like it's supposed to be yours. it came right around. my favorite page come back to me. i owe him. it was the other page i love. the other one i will answer is sue dib any. the character in the book dies. it's the death scene in the head. you want it to be emotional.

but rags drew the heck out of it. and just i looked at it. i remember seeing it for the first time. it was a husband holding the dead wife. he drew it like it was his dead wife. i look that the page and i said we have a problem here. this is going to really freak people out. it's going to move people in a way i hope they understand that what we're trying to do here. and i love that page. so, i'll kill rags if he sold it. he did sell it. he sold it to me. it's true. okay. last question then we'll sign some books. anyone got a question? in the back. sorry. didn't see you. >> [inaudible] >> yeah. no. i love this. her husband in the bathroom. we can say how was the brat. embarrassing him on national television. >> [inaudible]

he wants to write a book and he's a fellow attorney. >> yeah. >> and -- [inaudible] how you get -- [inaudible] something nur your head that you want to do -- [inaudible] >> yeah. the question is her husband for six years now has been working on wanting to be a writer and writing a book. what advice do i give him. to me, writing a book is like building a sand castle grain of sapped at the time. chapter one you put it out and you add three more pages and you go it's nothing. it's too grains of sand next to each other then you come back on wednesday and you go big again. and the thing is if you write a page a day every day you will have book. it may not be a good book.

you're going have a book. most people do is say it's monday, i'll write two pages on tuesday. i can write three pages on wednesday. they don't want to it put down every day. i think if i give you advice for how to finish. you have to put the grain on every day. when i wrote the first book i wrote every day. i was paying off school loans. i would come to write 8:00 to 11:00. i would write all day on saturday and sunday. that was all i did. i wanted to finish. i love the imaginary people i was talking to. what i would tell your husband, and this is to me, anyone who is writing or doing in when they chase their dream. i got 2 rejection letters. it's sitting on any shelf published by kin closet. i got 24 rejection letters from twenty publishes. some people wrote me twice. i love it. if they don't like this book i'm

going write another. what i would tell your husband or any writer listening to. i don't look backen the experience and say i was right they were wonk. what i look back on i wrote it's subjective. it's takes one person to say yes. you get one person to say yes, you publish your book. that's the only difference. it doesn't mean i was right and they were wrong. i didn't find the person on the first book. it's a cliche, it's true. whatever your dream is in your life. the only way you find it is to chase it. whatever it is you do with your life whether you run a restaurant, a teacher, or stay at home. whatever it is you do, don't let anyone tell you no. never ever that is a lesson for writing or anything else. that's it always. with that said, i want to say this is the end of national library week. i want to thank every library began and teacher. i know, one library began and

typier here. thank you for what you do. thank you for giving books to all of us. [applause] my 4-year-old is quite. i want to take it as a sign from god. thank you for coming here tonight. i appreciate it. [applause] [applause] >> one more big round of applause for brad meltzer. [applause] [applause] you can help us all, you can buy one of brad's books and help fix the awnings and help put brad's kids through school. we will all welcome brad as he takes off on the book tour and help propel this to the best seller list. thank you for coming.

thanks, c-span. >> one more thing. i forget my daughter said. the shirt i'm wearing says i'm abraham lincoln. when i was shopping for clothes for my daughter while i was writing the book and i would see things she was wearing and it was princesses pane i would see sports team. i have better hero than that. i designed a shirt for her a little amelia earhart character. i wrote it i'm eye meal ya. i know no bounds. my wife love it. we brought it to the estate and they loved. they did one to lucille and they loved it. we launched a clothing line called ordinary people change the world. you can see the shirts and buy them. if you go to ordinary people change the world.com. you will see my true motto in life. i don't care where you go to school. i believe in ordinary people and their ability to change their world.

if i can give and let people to wear the heroes. 10% of the proceeds go to charity. you pick the charity. we are working with the city of miami. i think it's the greatest organizations anyone and i feel terrible i forgot to mention them. a make wish foundation. the power is in your hands. you vote where it goes. i appreciate you helping out the organizations. thank you very much, again. [applause] tonight on book tv, jon gertner talks about his boot the idea factory. examining the history bell laboratories and some of the companies 20th century scientific chie. >> one of the most impressing aspect of the cell phone effort is some of the people who solve the problem actually came from the bell labs military work and one guy in particular spent a lot of time talking had done a lot of work on radar bell had a

small facility working with western electricity and at the time, he come back from the tour of duty working at highly sophisticated microwaive systems. came back to bell lacks and they said they were going discontinue the kind of thing he was doing. somebody suggested why don't you talk to the guys who are working on cellar. maybe you have something for them. and it was, again, part of the maybe serendipity of labs he was a guy with a kind of knowledge that few people in the world had at that one particular time. and they drafted in to the project. his name is jerry. soon enough he a band and was going to philadelphia and cleared out the van and stuffed it with a lot of electronic economic and they would test all the signals to make the working cell phone system go. >> you can see the entire interview with jon gertner on his work idea factory tonight at

8:00 eastern right here on c-span2. >> john ken city once met with harrold the british prime minister. in the day of newspapers they discussed arms control or whatever, you know, issues between the two pours. they sure did. only long gast wards did we get the notes what they said to each other in private. it turned out that kennedy component a lot of time complaining about bad press coverage. press was being tough on jackie and others things. mcmill enwho was a generation older. why do you care? brush it off. you have other thins to care about. kennedy said that's easy for you to say. how would you like it if your wife was portrayed as a drunk. he said you should have seen her mother. [laughter] it gives you an idea what the people are like. but you can't learn in real

time. >> historians and biographer use the advantage of hindsight to understand the subjects through a prison imof time. subtle your questions, calls and tweets on the line livesth president and wars hot and cold. in deptd at noon eastern on c-span2 booktv. >> you're watching booktv on c-span2. we are on location in new york city at the annual book publishing industry convention held at the center in midtown manhattan. we want to introduce you to a new author the book is coming out in september. his name is kevin powers. and he is written a novel called "the yellow bird's." first of all, if you would, give us a little bit of your background so people understand where you're coming from. >> sure, i grew up in virginia. i signed up for the army at 17. what year was that?

>> 1997. that was actually before my senior year in high school. i had ended up going iraq in 2004 and 2005. got back, i've always been a huge reader and i've always been a writer too. and when i got back from overseas i realized i had a story to tell about the war. i started writing the book. about a year or two after i got back. >> how long are up you in the army and arnled forces? >> eight years total. >> did you -- did you feel fulfilled being in the armed forces? >> there was a lot i liked about it. a lot of really good people. i appreciated the discipline. i learned a lot about myself. and it was a privilege to serve in the armed forces. >> you were in iraq in 2003, and 2005. >> 2004 and 2005. >> 24, 25. when you got back and left the army. left the armed forces, what was your life like.

>> well, u i think one of the things that is difficult coming back is kind of the lack of order and direction. life as difficult as it can be in the military especially overseas. it's incredibly simple. you know what's expected of you. as hard as your job is, right there in front of you. you have to go do it. when you get home, there's so much free time, you know, you feel bombarded with options and possibilities and stimuli, especially coming back from the desert. color. everything is overwhelming. the readjustment period is challenging. >> what did you find most challenging? >> i think the sort of not knowing what i was supposed to do next. that was stuff. -- tough. i knew i was going get out of military after i got become from my tour. i didn't know what the next step was going to be for me.

figuring that out was tough. >> so you started writing the "yellow birds" or your started writing a novel. >> yes. >> how did you submit it? how can you get it to someone that published it. it was published by little brown. >> i started working on it while i was an undergraduate at virginia university. i had taken some creative writing classings i was mainly writing poetry at the time. i ended up in graduate school at university of texas showed it to professors. they were encouraging me. a good friend of my, the author of -- read it and loved it and he offered me to his agent on his match. that's how i got. >> is it based on your experience in iraq? >> i say it's a work of imagination that wouldn't have happened without the experiences i had.

the circumstances that occur in the book not what happened to me while i was overseas, but i think the sort of emotional mood of the book get people out there. one of the most frequent questions i got asked and i think a lot of veterans are asked, what was it like over there? and it's hard to know how to answer that question. that's really what i was try dog when i started to write the book. how do i con twend the question? what is it like? you talk about the emotional core. what was one of the motions. >> i think it was confusion was potential, i mean, you have a sort of job to do and you have to stand your job. you may not understand all the repercussions, the way that it'll effect you down the line or the people around you. particularly the way it effects your family and how for instance my mother the hardship that e doored.

i don't think i understand that until i had time to mature and get older and have conversations with her about what that year was like for her. so that's a story that i wanted to tell too. sort of not just like what it's overseas the effect it can on the families back home too. >> where did the title come from. >> it comes from a marching cadence. traditional army marching cadence. it was one of the thing in the book. "yellow bird" anybody in the army has heard that one a million times. >> why did you decide to make it a novel rather than a fact-based book? >>, i mean. a i think a lot of people have really capably talked about what, you know, a big picture view of what happened in iraq and offings. i felt leek the opportunities to

tell an individual story to give a picture to one person's consciousness the emotional life during the tour. what it was like coming home to. i felt like there was an opportunity for a story to be told on a smaller scale. >> was president second pdsz an issue for you. >> i don't know. i was never san diegoed with that. it was tough coming back. it was a bigger challenge than i thought it was going. it takes, you know, i expected things would be different but you do have a sort of -- [inaudible] and that's certainly something i experienced. i don't know. i do know that people had it much worse than i did. both with my experience overseas and coming back. there are people who are struggling with that and, you

know, maybe the book can raise awareness about what's people are going through coming home. >> you're a student at the university of texas. >> i actually just graduated in may. >> congratulations. >> thank you very much. my mma in poetry. >> as first-time author what's been your experience in getting published in the whole foot blocks around it. >> it's really -- it's exciting, you know, it's not something i can say i expected. i certainly hope for it. but, you know, you i have a great agent. they are been fansic to work with. i feel like i have a support system in place. it was a privilege people might read something i have written. i'm excited about it. >> your next book, you planning on doing another bock? i am. i have a book of poetry that is more or less finished. i'm finishing that up and this fall i'll start on the second

novel. just sort of in the very early stages now. >> is it based on your military experience. >> no. it's not. >> yeah. we've been talking with kevin power about the new novel "yellow birds" based on his experience in iraq. it comes out in september. >> recently booktv asked our twitter followers what they planned on reading this summer. here are some of the tweets. ♪ ♪

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