I have always loved astronomy, and being an astronomer once lurked in the back of my mind. But I was never good at algebra. In fact, I flunked it twice in high school.

That's correct, I flunked out of high school twice because I couldn't write.

In high school, I loved history. I also loved cosmography, algebra. Mexico is so rich in culture and history, and I have always enjoyed that.

After high school I was going to be an architect. In fact, I was studying to be an architect when the audition for 'The Monkees' came along.

I flunked three grades before I got out of high school.

I remember all the way back in high school thinking about writing books. And, in fact, I've written a lot of stories. I've got dozens of stories I've written that no one's ever seen.