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Before I was through my teens, I had been introduced and exposed to artists who would, in later years, become legendary.

I was raised to be some kind of artist.

I became famous almost before I had a craft.

I'm astonished by my success. I wrote because I needed to and wanted to. It never occurred to me that I'd become famous.

My art became very public.

I ended up writing songs and growing up in public with my songwriting. And it's a good thing for me back then: in the early '70s, there was a thing called artist development, where an artist could find his feet, find himself, find his voice. I think I made five or six albums before I sold five or six albums.

I didn't want to be that artist that is successful as a result of someone else. Not that that's wrong, but I felt like I had what it took. I really believed I could do it on my own, so I wanted to try, at least.

I read a blog about this young filmmaker in the Philippines who made a short film, and one of the characters in the film reads my novel and then starts discussing the novel with someone. The idea that my book can inspire another artist and be part of that other artist's work... that's the reason I write.