Memoir
Date Published: July 5, 2023
We all have two lives. We only get to experience living in the second after
we realize we only have just one.
Simon Yeats had his first real scare in life when he was attacked by a
kangaroo when he was seven years old. His first brush with the cliff-face
edge of death came when he was 12. His father drove his family down the
dangerous, 4WD only Skipper's Canyon dirt road in New Zealand in a rented
minivan.
Including the occasions he was almost involved in two different plane
flight crashes, in the same night, there have been at least a half dozen
more times when the author has come within a moment's inattention of being
killed.
However, none of those frightening incidents compare to what he experiences
after his son is abducted to South America.
This memoir is the story of how Simon used the traumatic experiences of his
life to give him strength to forge on during an incomprehensible 13 year
fight to be a father to his son.
What did it take for him to get to his second life?
It took him to truly understand what fear is.
INTERVIEW
Can you tell us a little about the process of getting this book published? How did you come up with the idea and how did you start?
This book was conceived on the night I was so distraught and manic that I thought about ending my life. The initial writing process started out as me penning a suicide note. It then took ten years and hundreds of rewrites and edits until I was happy it told the story it did. The process was nothing short of single-minded dedication for a cause that goes far beyond typing words on a page. Every thing that could be a roadblock for me to finish was thrown in my way, mostly with my own fear, uncertainty, and lack of trust that my son’s story would matter to anyone else.
What surprised you most about getting your book published?
That even though it is published, I am never satisfied that the full story will ever be understood and appreciated by anyone, and that the twists and turns of this saga did not stop simply because I had written a book. I have had to reedit and add three more excruciating details to the story that happened after the initial publication. I was surprised that I believed the book would bring me some level of closure, and it did just the opposite. It made me even more frantic and desperate for a resolution to the story.
Tell us a little about what you do when you aren’t writing
I write two different types of memoirs. The story of My SECOND Life, and when I am not thinking about that story, I like to relax by writing my travel memoir stories. I exercise as much as I can, but find that some of my best inspiration for writing comes while I am in the middle of a 10K erg on the rowing machine.
As a published author, what would you say was the most pivotal point of your writing life?
Getting that first book done and completed. I felt finished and accomplished and within 2 months, I was uneasy that I still had so much more to write about. So, starting on that second book was the pivotal point. Anyone can do something really difficult once. It is lining up to have a go for the second time that is the make or break moment.
Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that is?
I get my best ideas in the middle of my 10K ergs. I think it is because I am so focused on the rowing and keeping my pace that my mind reaches a point of being devoid of any ‘overthinking’ or ‘trying to hard to be funny.’ At that moment, my brain has no filter and so I can say things to myself that are purely from me. And this is the material that I always think is the funniest. The other people in the gym think I am weird that I break into cackles in the middle of straining on the rowing machine. But that is what happens.
What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author?
The silent criticism. The opinion that is given with no justification. I have a single one star review on my book My SECOND Life. The courage and suffering it took to write this book are beyond what anyone could imagine. The suffering my son continues to endure is impossible for any parent to imagine. And yet some unknown reader gave it 1-star as a rating with no explanation. It is the equivalent of a person being told that a family member has been shot by a gunman who indiscriminately opened fire at a mall, but the gunman will not offer any reasons for doing it. Why? Why would a person do that? It does not change the fact it happened. It does not change the pain of what went on. But to be the recipient of such indifference to what is so important to a person is very aggravating.
What has been your best accomplishment as a writer?
Finishing my first book, My SECOND Life. It is not even just the writing. I have finished 4 books since and the writing process is always hard and exhausting, even when you are loving what you are doing, but the topic of this first memoir is a heavy weight for me to bear. Every re-edit would leave me shaking as I had to revisit what is has been a long traumatic period in my life. It was like running uphill into a strong wind. All the effort I was putting in and I not feeling like I was making any progress. To get it done was an absolute fucking relief.
How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
By the time this goes to press, I will have probably have just released my 5th book that I am currently working on. That is the 4th book in my Lesser Known Travel Tips series. I have one or two stories that will be something to add into a 5th book in the series, but only after I have had some more travels and disastrous adventures to write about.
About the Author
Simon Yeats has lived nine lives, and by all estimations, is fast running
out of the number he has left. His life of globetrotting the globe was not
the one he expected to lead. He grew up a quiet, shy boy teased by other
kids on the playgrounds for his red hair. But he developed a keen wit and
sense of humor to always see the funnier side of life.
With an overwhelming love of travel, a propensity to find trouble where
there was none, and being a passionate advocate of mental health,
Simon’s stories will leave a reader either rolling on the floor in
tears of laughter, or breathing deeply that the adventures he has led were
survived.
No author has laughed longer or cried with less restraint at the travails
of life.
Contact Links
Amazon Author Page
Goodreads
Instagram: @authoryeats
TikTok: @authoryeats
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