'Writing is the release for me': Liam Hayes interview

Much of last eight years has seen former Meath footballer and author Liam Hayes grappling with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, yet it hasn’t stopped the journalist and author from doing what he wants to do although, he tells JIMMY GEOGHEGAN, it has been a real roller-coaster ride.

It’s eight years since he was told the news. The news that he had cancer; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. 

Much of the intervening years have been spent grappling with the illness, yet it hasn’t stopped Liam Hayes from doing what he wants to do although, he admits, it has been a real roller-coaster ride.
“The illness puts out your fire, then it re-ignites it again and that has been the case for me. I’ve gone through periods - and I’ve eight years of my cancer now - when you feel defeated. Then there’s periods when you feel euphoric and you want to rule the world. You just have to try and balance both,” he says.
Illness or not he has continued to be prolific and busy. The 56-year-old (he will turn 57 in January) continues to publish books on a regular basis and to work in journalism. As Head of Sport with DMG Media (publishers of the Irish Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday) a lot of his work involves administration and logistics. He also writes a weekly column, commenting on sporting matters.
He’s certainly well qualified to understand and comment on the unique pressures that go with performing on the big stage. During an decade-long, inter-county football career with Meath, Hayes won two All-Ireland SFC medals in 1987 and ‘88. He also picked up an All-Star in ‘88; an indication of his talents as a midfielder.
He started out in journalism at 17 working with the Meath Chronicle. He moved onto the Irish Press Group and later was involved in opening up and running a series of newspaper titles.

Liam Hayes, third from left, with David Hanly, Olivia O'Leary and Lord Killalin at a media award ceremony in the 1990s.

He has written or co-written a large collection books, some of them published by the company run by him, and his wife Anne, including ‘Out of Our Skins’, the revealing, endlessly insightful, slim classic which was first published in 1992 and re-issued almost 20 years later. The book is partly about the traumatic loss of his brother Gerard through suicide; partly about his days as a Meath footballer.
Since then Hayes has written or co-written a slew of biographies and memoirs, mainly about GAA and rugby personalities - and it’s something he loves to do. Recently he ticked another box when he published his first novel - ‘You Haven’t Got All The Time In The World Heidi Wells.’
He published the book under the name of ‘William Hayes.’ He was advised to do so, he says, because there were so many sports books written by Liam Hayes. It would just cause more confusion.
Putting a fictional story together, taking it from an idea in his head to its conclusion has been a revealing, immensely satisfying, surprising, journey for Hayes; something of a voyage of discovery. 
Writing the book has also engendered for the Skryne man a vision of his future; a dream. He wants to live in the west of Ireland and become a full-time writer of fiction. Simple.
“I love building a book around people’s lives and that’s always something that’s very important because there is a great sense of achievement to that, a great sense of purpose about putting someone’s life into a book - not many lives go into books. So to put someone’s life in a book - GAA players, rugby players - it’s a big thing, it’s there on the shelf forever.

“That’s something I derive a lot of fulfilment from but in terms of experiencing that pure love of writing, fiction is where I hope to land. “Writing I think it’s something many of us aspire to, it’s a hard lonely road I know that. Ghostwriting a memoirs involves working with real live people but writing a novel you are locking yourself away.”
There is something of an irony, a cruel irony perhaps, in the fact that it was the cancer - and the treatment he has received over the years to combat it - that led to the Skryneman writing his first novel and discovering just how fulfilling writing fiction can be.
Waiting around in the oncology units in places such as St James’s Hospital left Hayes with the time to take the first steps on a journey that ended with the publication of ‘Heidi Wells.’
As part of his treatment programme the former Meath footballer received chemo for four months before embarking on “a maintenance programme,” - essentially a “top up” of chemo.
“When you are in a place like James’ you spend a lot of time waiting. It’s a great place, I love the people there, they are magnificent, so good at what they do,” he adds. “You have a lot of time on your hands and that’s where I got thinking about Heidi.
“I was thinking would it be advantagious if I knew I had a certain amount of time to live - four years or six years or eight years whatever. What would I do with that time and that led me to creating ‘Heidi Wells.’
“When I was sitting in St James’ I got thinking that the cancer could kill me and would it be better if I knew the day, the date and the time? Would I get more value out of my life, would I do more with my day?
In the novel Heidi is a 32-year-old girl who is living in London. She’s a chef and her father discovers (by means that is explained) what date members of his family, including Heidi, are going to die on. “I thought how would someone react, what would they think if they discovered that information. Heidi’s initial response is that her father has lost his marbles but she sees information that backs up what he is saying and she’s still disbelieving because disbelief is your number one emotion to such information.
“She goes about finding out more about what her father learned, how he learned it and how she will meet her own fate so from that point of view it’s a fairly gripping narrative - I would say that some might say - but it is a gripping narrative and the characters are very strong characters. I think the book holds up.”
During the writing, re-writing and editing processs Hayes discovered some surprising aspects about himself and what’s involved in the writing of a novel. He was surprised at where the process took him and how close he came to the characters he created.
“I started off with a concept and the book has an entirely different ending than I imagined when I started. I had my characters, I had my storyline, my central narrative but certain characters emerged very strongly in the writing process, almost naturally, I wasn’t pushing it,” he explains.
“Your characters are there and to some degree you are the puppet master but in other ways and, I don’t want to sound up my own backside here, but in other ways they become real life characters and you develop a care and love for them, you really do.”
The Skryne man says that because he is a “night person” he is able to find a balance between holding down the day job and writing fiction. “I don’t play golf, I don’t have many other interests really, apart from family, so I spend a lot of time writing.
“Writing I find is a release, it’s like someone going off to play golf in the evening, a summer’s evening, after a day’s work. I would normally do a lot of writing from maybe 10am to 2pm or 3pm. I’m a night person, not a morning person, but there are sections of the year when I’d take time off to really seriously write around the clock.”
Already Liam Hayes has started work on his second novel and he’s looking to put out a number of books next year through his publishing enterprise.
Cancer or not Liam Hayes is determined to conquer new horizons; to utilise every moment. His prolific output, since he was first told he has cancer, suggests he is doing just that.

Liam Hayes On .....

... how he admires  people who face a diagnosis  of terminal cancer

"I would like to emphasise that I'm the lucky one. If you are given a terminal diagnosis, that's a whole different kettle of fish, the terror, the panic, the courage of those people summon up is something else. My cancer is not terminal so I know nothing about it, I have to stress that. 
"I got a chance, I've got the percentages on my side all the time. I had a 40 per cent chance of survival, it went up to 70 per cent. Now I know my cancer will re-occur, they can't give me any more chemo because they can only give you a finite amount of chemo before your organs are messed up. They know the cancer will return, I know it will return so there's no drama attached to that and when it does they will do a bone marrow and stem cell transplant and I know that's two out of three success rate so I've always had percentages on my side."

... the process involved  in writing a novel

"I think it was John Banville who said that he regretted all the years and years he spent alone writing and he's obviously one of our more successful writers. The glory of writing a novel is that you create characters and you create storylines. In my experience they evolve, the characters bring you in certain directions. 
"It didn't take that long initially (to write the novel) and I thought that's great. It only took me about 12 months, less, normally it would take years and when I was finished I was happy with it. Then I came across a learning curve in that you start re-writing and re-drafting. I started re-writing bits and re-visiting it for 12 months or 18 months. Then I found it very hard to let it go. It was rIdiculously hard to send it. When I had it finally finished I spent about three months before I could press the button to send it."

... his future plans 

"I would like to be a full-time writer of fiction. If I could I would click my fingers and start tomorrow. I wouldn't be living in Lucan. I would be living in the west of Ireland. I would hope to be living down in the west soon. Anne's family are from outside Westport, overlooking Clew Bay, magnificent. We've been down there occasionally looking at houses - that would be our wish in the next few years."
 

(From Inspire Magazine, Winter 2018)