The kids nicknamed me 'French Boy' in England, because French was my first language. When I was seven years old, still living in England, I recall telling an old aunt that some day I wanted to be an author. I remember the incident very clearly, in the hall at 24 Oakwood Avenue.It could only have been my father who instilled in me a love of literature. In some ways, it backfired on him when I was broke - but it paid off in the long run. In those early years I didn't know anybody else who was interested in literature. Mum was certainly keen to read to me in French. She read novels by an efficient novelist, M Delly. However, my father spoke of Moliére, whom he claimed was as good as Shakespeare. the mid-to-late 60s, there was a cultural split between language studies at school, and songs and poems which we enjoyed back home. A wall of Pink Floyd proportions stood between them. From our teachers, we learned tedious poets like Wordsworth and Keats, then we'd rush home to read Bob Dylan's poetic liner notes on his Times They Were A-Changin' LP.Around this time - and largely because of Dylan's magnetic influence - I started writing terrible poetry. Teenage angst gets no thanks. Since then I have never stopped scribbling poems in my little notebook. I do only two edits, at the most, because - like all you other budding poets who scribble in books - and unlike John Laws - my poetry has no market. But I didn't see this in the late-60s.I thought I was going to be a poet. I published my own Rags poetry magazine and I had a stand at Sydney's Domain, which no one remembers.In 2007 I started doing something new, 'writing from television'. Not 'for television' it's 'from', meaning the book of the TV show. The first was my Mythbustersbook, published in 2007, the second was South Side Story about the South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL footy team (2008). I also ghosted another six books on subjects like the sharemarket, sales and leadership, none of which have my name on the cover. And for fun, I am writing a never-ending autobiography that will probably find its way onto this site in due course.Finally, I am pleased to say that I have found a small place in teaching, at the Katoomba Day/Night College and also the Vale Street Centre. Maybe I'll get more teaching gigs, maybe more books - who knows what the future holds? In the words of the song, 'my future's so bright, I'm gonna have to wear shades'.Here's hoping.(Photograph of Lowell by Konrad Lenz)