Writer's elbow

A while back I saw an advertisement for the First Chapters - Ngā Wāhanga Tuatahi programme at the Botany Library. So I applied. And got in.

What this means is I'm going to get two sessions of one-on-one coaching with award-winning author James George. He'll be looking at my work and hopefully taking it apart and showing me how to make it better.

I'm also going to work up some new stories from a slightly different perspective than what I usually do, which might help me to figure out how to keep my short stories, you know, short. Actually, the Ask a Writer segment of this recent Adventures in Scifi publishing discussed this very issue.

In other news, I think I can finally see the end of the first draft of what I'm working on now. It's way too big, way too many things happening and has two protagonists in completely different dimensions. I'll get to the end, let it bake then bring out the scalpel.

But enough about me. Biggest news of the day - the new album by Elbow has landed!

Uncut like it, it's the CD of the week at the Guardian and The Times are calling it one of the year's best records. No sign of it on emusic yet, but it carries all their previous albums. Fingers crossed.

Here's the video for their first single, Grounds for Divorce. Play it loud.