 "Headward Jr. is the third Olmec-inspired sculpture on the property, and he’s aging well.
Please disregard the hurricane and tornado damage to our property -- still trying to clean up the place because it's a mess. But Headward doesn't care. Like his predecessors, Junior emerged during a writing break, this time following a year-long dive into a script—a television pilot called GRLSTSFYRE (‘girl starts fire’). Creating Headward Jr. was a first for me in terms of materials: five discarded tires were stacked and filled with organic matter, wrapped in wire mesh, and transformed layer by layer. Concrete and water became my medium, schlepped and slathered on in careful coats until—slowly but surely—a face began to emerge. And voila! Another member joins the family."
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I've spoken with other writers about their favorite ways to avoid writing and their are many. The obvious ones are immersing yourself in a streaming series as a distraction. Or perhaps reading a book that you've been wanting to get to for a while. Or eating. Gardening. The list goes on. My distraction is based on a need. After spending a month, three months, a year or more on a piece, you have to try and turn off the brain. If you're like me, and I think most writers are, you can't not write. Even when you are in a group, you are writing. You see a mannerism, hear a comment, witness an exchange in a restaurant and it triggers something. And when you spend that kind of mental energy, sixteen, eighteen hours a day, your twitching neurons and synapses need a break. And that is where sculpting comes in. I need something grounded in a physical act. I can't use my brain, or at least not consciously. So I mix up concrete and lose myself in fashioning...something. Sometimes I will make a rough sketch, but more often than not, I'm freelancing and making whatever comes to mind. Sometimes you make a small face and like it so much, you make a mold so you can produce ten more of them to sprinkle into a wall. On a side note, walls are my current fixation. The wall below was created after twelve months of pushing through on Poacher and three related SynOrganics stories. At some point, you have enough and your head is filled and you have to get your hands dirty. She's starting to age nicely and I can't wait for moss and lichen to show up and give her a bit more character. Right now she looks like she just dropped in, out of place, trying to get her bearings. But soon enough she'll blend in and be the member of the family she has always been. Now it's time to get back to writing.  Every writer, whether financially successful or not, needs a partner who offers the freedom to truly be a writer. This means navigating our quirks and foibles without fleeing into the sunset, and standing by our side through all the struggles, ups, and downs that come with this path. Monique and I have been together for over thirty years. We’ve faced loss, celebrated triumphs, and endured more than our fair share of life’s ups and downs. Through it all, she has always been there for me. I’d like to think I do the same for her. When I was laid off, she was the one—without hesitation—who said, “Forget about finding work. Just focus on your writing.” She knew I had always struggled to find the time and space to write, to truly dive deep into what I wanted to say. But here’s the real gift: she has made me a far better person than I could have ever been on my own. This isn’t just something I feel—it’s something I know with absolute certainty. I know the road I would have traveled without her, and it’s not one I’d want to imagine. For that, and for so much more, I am profoundly thankful. I love you more than anything, Peep. Thank you for always being there.
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