Started out as a musician, playing in punk bands in the late 70s/very early 80s, then traveling the world with the reggae band Boom Shaka. I retired from music when I was 30 years old and began writing a few years later. I am a better writer than musician, but I'm better at pretty much everything than I was at music. Writing is also much easier, considering there are no musicians involved. You really don't want to hang around that type if you don't have to. My first collection of poetry and short stories, alternative man, was published in 1996 and it's available right here on Smashwords. Or if you're one of those ink-on-paper Luddites, on the mjpbooks.com site.