Soliloquies
Soliloquies was a book you foreshadowed in 2021. What are you trying to communicate with the work?
I intended to write a collection of letters, again in the short ebook format I like, that reflected upon the people that left impressions in my early life up until my twenties. Of course I also touch on the passing effects of my parents deaths, but mainly it shines light upon the funny and tense and heavy moments of my upbringing. My mother’s influence is especially present in the text, and I hope, that my own voice adds great character to the stories that are told.
This work is much demure and more personal. Was that deliberate?
Yes, I intended to not only come out as Toni Greenwood, the person behind the artist Samantha Cauliflower, but to write a work of non-fiction. It is personal. And it is concise. Hopefully I am successful in sharing the way I saw life at the time, and how it has echoed through my life to this present day in each reflection.
Why did you decide to out yourself now?
When I was at University and ending a contract job in Youth Work, I was musing that I needed a stage name in order to be a musician, given that I wanted my day job one day then, to be a Doctor of Psychology. And I remember thinking, something memorable, something androgenous. Sow. In 1999 I created Samantha Cauliflower and practiced my way to my third ever live performance that became my first album, The Red Velvet Tour (2001). I still have desires to keep painting, writing letters and making music as Samantha Cauliflower the artist, and author of Polyamorous Love Letters Volumes 1-4. But I have many personal stories – grabs from the past that are worth sharing. Hence Soliloquies. Writing under my birth name and sharing my own true-life narratives was the most authentic way to present the material.
What is next for Samantha Cauliflower and Toni Greenwood?
I am starting on scoping another ebook of letters, this time philosophical reflections on patience and gratitude. There is no deadline, but I am really reveling in the format of ebooks of letters. I am not one to waffle on about a topic, but I do like a good segue. I hope the audience finds the short book format page turning and satisfying.
Many thanks!
Toni Greenwood 2023