If I am blessed it will be optioned as a film with well known names vying for key roles in it. But this is not my motivation for starting to write it now.

That motiation has come because of my daughter Finola, although as I write this she doesn’t know it yet! I have thought about giving her a background into parts of my life I have never written or spoken about before. That’s when the idea of the book project came up.

Rate & Style

I will try to write around five pages a day but if I complete just two that would be good enough for me. I’m not writing this under pressure of a deadline, or to any particular style.

It’s great to have this freedom because I will write something that I hope others will enjoy as much as I want to enjoy writing it.

I hope to show a stylised version of life through my eyes and how my experiences have made me how I am today.

So far the opening line goes:- “Around 13km north of Kingston lies Lawrence Tavern…” You’ll have to wait for the finished thing to read the rest! How many advanced copies will you be ordering?

The government at the time resisted the call. Successive governments over the 28 years that has elapsed since have also resisted the call.

The reason why depends on who you to talk to. To some in political circles Marley does not represent the kind of “wholesome” image (colonial) Jamaica want to promote.

The idea of a “dutty head, ganja-smoking, Rastaman” as one of the island’s national heroes, is an anathema to the very belief system of those who still hanker after the days when the British ruled Jamaica under colonial rule.

Jamaica Poor

Others question what has Marley done for Jamaica and, most importantly, for the poor of Jamaica. Some even knit-pick about his apparent immorality and adultery whereby he fathered numerous children with several different women, some while he was still married to wife Rita.

But, these counter-arguments pale into insignificance when considering Marley’s impact on the world, as a Jamaican.

In terms of promoting Jamaica as a piece of land 150 miles long by 50 miles wide, Marley’s name is very often the only one that people from international shores associate with Jamaica. That and an indigenous herb called ganja and an influencing sound called reggae!

Mystic Mythology

More tourists are lured to Jamaica because of the mystical attraction Marley still generate through his music and mythology than anything else this side of reggae music. Here is a ghetto man who made it big onto the international stage to the point where he was able to romance a Miss World while his music was “bubbling on the top 100, just like a mighty dread…” in the mainstream markets.

Clearly this was something special, that ordinary people could relate to, even as Jamaica enjoyed a period of prosperity behind a socialist regime that rode record levels of popularity.

But, Marley’s influence cut across the class, race, colour and political divide globally was unquestionable. Musicians like Stevie Wonder, groups like the Lionel Ritchie-led Commodores, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones and many others from rock and pop, all queued up to hail the Rastaman!

Home Soil

Meanwhile, Marley still struggled for acceptance on home soil, particularly from Jamaica

I have won award for my efforts to date. That came circa 1990 when I won the Jamaica Federation of Musician Best Entertainment Journalist Award. ((There I am giving an acceptance speech at the ceremony in New Kingston, Jamaica!))

I started off writing poetry in my youth as a way to express my creativity but before I knew it I was also writing short stories, even screenplays!

It was a tradition in most West Indian families for the younger ones to write letters on behalf of the older folks to send back home to the Caribbean, so I was able to hone my writing skill doing this also.

But it was only when I began as a reporter for The Gleaner in Kingston, Jamaica that I really became a journalist in earnest. Since then I have written and researched many thousands of articles and I can honestly say the enthusiasm has never left me.

And I hope it never does!