By Craig Wilson, USA TODAY  , author of best-selling memoirs  , has a few more thoughts he'd like to share — this time for kids who are graduating this spring.  His latest book, a slim volume on sale Tuesday, is called A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future:Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (Hyperion, 100 pp., $18.99).  The irony of writing such a book is not lost on him. "I asked the publishers if they were aware I'm not a high school graduate," Fox says. "But we all do get an education, and the book is based on my experiences."  Fox, 48, dropped out of high school in 11th grade, left Canada and headed to L.A. to pursue acting. "You're making a big mistake, Fox," one of his teachers told him. "You're not going to be cute forever."  Fox had a quick reply: "Maybe just long enough, sir. Maybe just long enough."  And he was. Fox parlayed his talent and "cute" factor into fame and fortune, learning more than a few lessons along the way — some of them the hard way.  "We all have our own paths that we go on," says Fox, who adds that he marched to his own drummer as a child.  Fox says the best lessons come when life "all goes skidding sideways, through the guardrail, over the embankment and down the mountain."  Although he says he didn't write the book for his kids, he hopes they might some day read his story about being "on the beginning of this trip."  Fox has four children — Sam, 20, twins Aquinnah and Schuyler, 15, and Esme, 8 — and he says one daughter (he doesn't want to say which one) is also a free spirit, a little quirky.  "She's very much like me," says Fox, who is married to actress Tracy Pollan. "She can end up being anything from Ethel Merman to president of the United States. Maybe both." It's a thought that makes him happy.  Fox says he's not "a complete Pollyanna," but he does believe "that life is good and we should celebrate that."  Despite having Parkinson's disease — he wryly calls it "a gift that keeps on taking" — he says he's fine. "I can't arrest it, so it does keep on taking, but it continues to be a gift because everything it takes, it gives an opportunity to give something else back."  You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference.
Michael J. Fox, author of memoirs 'Lucky Man' and 'Always Looking Up,' has a few more thoughts to share for kids graduating this spring.