Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Sean Michael Hayes was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. In his younger years he was a professional skateboarder and broke lots of bones. This is what brought him to America, the skateboarding not the broken bones, where he now lives in Encinitas, CA. He likes to head out into the world on solo backpacking adventures, and when he’s not coaching younger professionals skateboarders he’s doing something like diving with great white sharks in South Africa or living with a shaman in the Peruvian Jungle. In the last 18 months he has traveled to Spain, South Africa, Thailand, Peru, and about a dozen more countries.
This is gives him a diverse social and cultural understanding; the foundation for dynamic and thoughtful literature. His experience with travel, elite sports, global marketing, and social media all compliment his transition into the literary world.
Sean’s soon to be released books are antipated by thousands of fans he built off the launch of his Kickstarter campaign
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What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Five Weeks in the Amazon is based on my true story of going to live with a shaman in Peru… Here is my introduction..
Introduction
Last year I wanted to kill myself. It wasn’t the first time—that happened back when I was seventeen and ran away from home. I have a great family, so I didn’t go too far, but I just felt so miserable I didn’t know who else to blame. If only they could understand what I’m going through, I thought—but of course they couldn’t understand. I didn’t understand it myself. All I knew was that it didn’t feel right to be alive.
When I was a teenager I fell in love with skateboarding. I was good, too—good enough to be the first Canadian to be featured on the cover of our national skateboard magazine twice in one year. Sometimes I blame myself for not pursuing my career further. Maybe I did sustain too many injuries, or I might not have been talented enough to be great, but the truth is, during my early twenties when I should have been proud and confident of my achievements, I didn’t have enough energy to focus on skateboarding. I was too confused by the amount of pain I was in every day. The first doctor told me what I was going through was normal, that my depression would get better with medication. The next doctor didn’t help me any more than the first, misdiagnosing me with Bipolar Disorder. I started doubting everything to do with mental health treatment.
The problem was that I never trusted the way the anti-depressants (Prozac, Wellbutrin, Zoloft) or mood stabilizers (Lithium) made me feel. If I was ever happy, I didn’t know if the feeling was authentic or if it was a byproduct of taking my little “happy pill.”
Feeling unsure about my future as a skateboarder, I transitioned into a managerial role within the skate world. I planned, drove, and did skateboard demonstrations with 12 other skaters across the entire country, and started feeling pretty good about myself. To help my depression, I began seeing an acupuncturist who, I guess you could say, began seeing me as well (she started it: I was just lying on the table when she climbed on top of me). I moved to California and started managing higher-profile pro skateboarders like Ryan Sheckler, Danny Way, and Paul Rodriguez. I stopped taking my meds.
When I was 24, I met the president of the Dominican Republic when I organized the first team of pro skaters to ever visit the country. We had a 30-person MTV staff filming the whole thing for Sheckler’s show, Life of Ryan. The next year, I was flown first class to Tahiti. We got to stay in those fancy over-water bungalows and the president of that country flew us in his private jet to Bora Bora. That year, I made a six-figure salary.
However, by 26, I had nothing. I mean nothing. I denied that I had any mental health issues, instead blaming my unhappiness on my job, my relationships, living in Venice Beach, the traffic, the people—I blamed everything and everyone but myself. I turned to drinking more and taking drugs more often. I lost all sense of financial responsibility and never made it past living paycheck to paycheck. I was fired from my job just after Christmas that year.
I came up with an idea, though, a career no one had thought of before. I was going to become the first person to coach professional skateboarders. At first people thought it was absurd: why would skateboarders need coaches? But I believed that just like in most sports, good coaching could directly improve performance.
I had known Ryan Sheckler since we competed together in a contest called Slam City Jam, and our friendship grew when I was his team manager. After he broke his ankle in the finals of the 2009 X-Games, I told him I wanted to help him make a comeback. He hired me to coach him while he prepared, and with my help, he won the 2010 gold medal.
The next athlete I worked with, Aldrin Garcia, won the Guinness World Record for the highest Ollie. Not only did he break a record that had been untouched for 15 years, he did it after being air-lifted to the hospital with a concussion and a broken jaw two weeks earlier. I’m most proud of that one.
In 2012, Red Bull hired me to work with Ryan Decenzo, another top professional skateboarder. That year, he went into the finals for the NBC Dew Tour in second place, needing to beat Paul Rodriguez for the overall championship. Ryan won the championship, decimating Paul and every other competitor.
I was successful again, but my personal life was still a disaster. You would have thought I learned my lesson when I married a Dutch model after only knowing her for one month. But I didn’t. During all the successes, and especially during the failures, I kept coming back to the feeling of wanting to die. I didn’t hate my life. I hated how much it hurt to be alive.
I had stopped taking medication years before and convinced myself that if I just worked out a little more, or ate a little healthier, or found a more fulfilling job, then maybe I would be happy. But this never happened, and I was tired of waiting. Leaving everything behind to find answers and adventure, I went to the Amazon jungle to live with a shaman and figure out a way to fix myself.
Let me tell you about the trip that saved my life.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes! I wake up before the sun, and when I’m writing my best it’s in a foreign country with a notepad and most importantly, a fountain pen! (my favorite is the Schaeffer Delta grip)
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love philosophy classics, some of my favorites include: Plato’s “diaglogues”, Michele de Montaigne, “Essays”, and Jean-Paul Sartre “Existentialism is a Humanism”
What are you working on now?
Just getting everything ready to publish my first book Dec. 2!!!! Every day I feel like I’m about to puke!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I used Kickstarter to raise $5000, which for me was as good as getting an author advance!
I also like Twitter, I’ve persobnally connected with some of my biggest heroes on there.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
“The difference between someone who is an author and someone who is not is this – An author has written a book” Not sure who said it, but I like it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“write for the wastebasket”
What are you reading now?
My own book, over and over and over and over and over (editing)…
What’s next for you as a writer?
Thailand, January 17th. I have a secret new project
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
one steinbeck, one hemingway, one plato, – Existentialism is a humanism
Author Websites and Profiles
Sean Michael Hayes Website
Sean Michael Hayes Amazon Profile