Meet Dan Sheehan | Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dan Sheehan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dan, what role has risk played in your life or career?

I think that every worthy endeavor carries a risk of failure–it is the yin to success’s yang–and the threat of failure has been a valuable source of motivation for me throughout my life. It didn’t matter if I was flying helicopter gunships in the Marines, struggling to find the right words to help veterans heal from war, or raising my two kids as the stay-at-home parent, the possibility that I might fail kept me focused on doing what I had to do in order to succeed.

That being said, after I left active duty and started a family, the level of risk I was willing to assume dropped significantly. My personal risk of dying in a crash was much lower as a civilian pilot, but the cost of dying was now unacceptable to me because it would be borne by my kids. Once I realized that, I stopped flying and switched responsibilities with my wife; she began a new career and I stayed home to raise the munchkins.

Such a drastic shift from flying gunships to changing diapers and retrieving stuffed animals from toilets was not without risks, but I was more than willing to face them. They opened the door to the incredible gift of being fully present with my kids and gave me the foundation that I needed to face the different risks of being an author.

The greatest risk of setting out to write a book was the possibility that I might be wasting my time. Writing a book takes years of dedicated effort with no legitimate expectation of rewards for a new author. I accepted this risk and did it anyway, writing while the kids slept, and ended up publishing two award-winning books that attack the stigma against seeking help for the physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges faced by veterans, active duty military, and law enforcement professionals.

But I’m not done taking risks yet. After achieving success in the memoir and self-help genres, I’m taking a leap into the unknown by writing fiction in the fantasy genre. My current project is a novel about a 17th century English sailor whose magic mushroom binge lands him in a wager with Hades. If you’re in the mood for an irreverent tale of conflicts from Greek Mythology playing out across the Golden Age of Piracy, the South Pacific in WWII, and the central highlands of South Vietnam in 1969—and let’s be honest, who isn’t?—then keep your eyes open for The Judas Goat.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

I began writing as a means to understand how my experiences in Iraq had followed me home, but I chose to publish my story in the hope that it could help other veterans. With that as my primary goal, I’m intensely proud of the messages I’ve received from men and women stating that my books helped them comprehend and heal from their own traumas.

My first book, After Action: The True Story of a Cobra Pilot’s Journey, recently became required reading for all Marines when the Commandant of the Marine Corps added it to his professional reading program list. After Action is the first, and only, self-published book to receive this honor.

My second book is Continuing Actions: A Warrior’s Guide to Coming Home. It is a self-help book for men and women who wouldn’t be caught dead reading a self-help book, and offers “no BS” guidance through the challenges that many veterans face after they complete their service.

When I was preparing to publish Continuing Actions, I reached out to Dr. Jonathan Shay MD, PhD, to make certain that my suggestions for how veterans can manage, and in some cases overcome, the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) were safe and effective. In addition to being a world-renowned PTSD specialist, Dr. Shay is also the bestselling author of Odysseus in America and Achilles in Vietnam—two books that opened my eyes to the universal experience of PTSD by warriors throughout history. I was immensely proud when Dr. Shay showed his enthusiastic support for my work by volunteering to write the foreword for Continuing Actions.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned along the way is the need to carve out, and aggressively protect, time in my day to focus on my writing. Writing words down is easy. Writing the right words down is hard, and finding them requires a writer to make a conscious choice to ignore social media, the nonstop news cycle, and other pointless distractions to access their innate creativity. I do my best creative thinking while walking my dog, surfing, or freediving in the kelp in search of dinner. Typing is just the means of recording the story I’ve already imagined in my head. If you want to write, find your own creative space–and then snarl at anyone or anything that encroaches upon it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My favorite thing to do when I visit my family in Phoenix is to go trail running in South Mountain Preserve. The miles of open, rolling terrain offers peace and solitude that can’t be beat!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I owe debts of gratitude to many people, but I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize the positive impact of one group in particular; the veterans of the Vietnam War.

Those who served in Vietnam often came home to a society that was unable to separate its hatred of the war from the men and women who were sent to carry it out. In contrast, when I came home from Iraq, I was welcomed and celebrated–even by folks who considered the war immoral at best and illegal at worst.

This drastic change in public sentiment didn’t just happen on its own. Hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans, united by the common mission to never let another service member suffer the pain of returning to a society that was unwilling to comprehend the sacrifices offered in its name, worked tirelessly to make it happen.

By sharing their own stories, lobbying in Washington, and pushing the Veterans Administration to improve its services, the Vietnam veterans’ efforts to educate the American people about the human costs of their service directly translated into the support I received upon my own successful return from combat. They set me up for the life I now love and cherish.

So, to the Vietnam veterans I say thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Your fortitude ensured that I had access to the tools I needed to navigate my own challenges of returning to normal life after war. I hope that my non-fiction books can provide the same level of support for future veterans that you gave to me.

Website: www.dansheehanauthor.com

Instagram: @dansheehanauthor

Linkedin: Dan Sheehan, Author

Twitter: @dansheehan_dan

Facebook: Dan Sheehan, Author

Image Credits
Bill Wechter