Thursday, January 8, 2015

Interview with Author Sean Michael Hayes


Sean Michael Hayes
Vancouver, BC



Good morning, Sean, and welcome to Vision and Verse, the Place for Art and Authors.  Can you tell us what have you written?
-My first book! Five Weeks in the Amazon

Congratulations!  That's quite an accomplishment, on top of being a professional skateboarder.  You, go, Sean!  What is your favorite genre to write?
-Short stories with dialogue, when you handwrite it the first time

Favorite food.
-Fruit smoothies

Tea or coffee?
-Coffee (by the pot)

Pizza or ice cream?
-Pizza

Where would you like to visit?
-India! I am flying to Thailand in January and plan to bus and hitch hike my way to India. It's the last country I need to visit before I finsih "I Killed A Black Dog", my next book.

Favorite musical artist.  Do you listen to music when you write? 
I listen to music almost every waking minute of my day. If you want to hear what I am listening to currently check out my soundcloud.com account, Canadianhayes

What makes you laugh?
-Well told true stories

Favorite work of art.
-Jean-Paul Sartre's speech, "Existentialism is a Humanism"

How old were you when you started writing?
-My first memory that I have which attaches me to writing is being in grade school and having a poem I wrote for Nov. 11 recognized by our teacher and read aloud to the school

Describe your perfect evening.
-Throw me behind the bar and that would be my perfect evening...

Where do you get your inspiration?
-The most inspiring thing to me is what other humans have done. I am incredibly inspired by all ingenius men and women who broke boundaries and went against the norm.

What do you do when you get a writer's block?
-I follow Hemmingway's advice: "__________________

Who is your favorite author?
-Plato, Sarte, Hemmingway

Best book you ever read.
-Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger

Last book you read.
-Cannery Row by Steinbeck

What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?
-I'd go back to coaching pro skateboarders, I still might do that, but for now I am focusing on my writing.

Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?
-Professional skateboarder Colin Mckay has been a role model, a team mate, a boss, a mentor and so much more to me. I will always be grateful for the support he's given me.

If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
-I'd love to sit down with Socrates, but hopefully I would have more than one sitting. I would have a ton to talk about and questions to ask. I feel very akin to how Plato describes him in his books.

What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
-There was one sentece I heard a few years ago and I have repeated it over and over in my at least 1000 times.  "The diference between someone who is an author and someone who isn't an author is that an author has written a book." The main thing is to write every day, set a time, set a word count, do whatever works but know that it will take lots of time and lots of dedication.

Do you have any links for us to follow you?
Link to my next book, "I Killed A Black Dog" http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QHRCG8Y
Twitter: www.twitter.com/canadianhayes
Instagram: www.instagram.com/canadianhayes

Website: www.canadianhayes.com

Well, Sean, it has been a pleasure sharing a little about our first Professional Skateboader/Author with my readers.  I am sure they will enjoy it as much as I have.  Come back and see us when you are ready to tell us more about Black Dog. Stay safe, my friend. 

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