Grooving while the novel packs its bags

This is my current listening - a NZ band headed by novelist Damien Wilkins. I tend to exhaust CDs - play them over and over song by song until I've 'got' them. I am giving the song Iris DeMent a good run for its money - love those opening lines about making mistakes and making them all over again. It's a nice mix of anthem-to-live-by and demented (heh! heh!) gothic tale - but Damien himself sounds like James Taylor crossed with Neil Finn with perhaps a smidgin of Wayne Mason? More on The Close Readers here.

I'm also enjoying forays into two CDs 'mixed' for me by my friend David Cohen with one song for every year of my life. There are 50 songs! Including this one (love that it's a 'folk song' - it was written for a Pink Batts commercial) and the song at the bottom of the post which was my 'theme tune' in a version of 'The Inspector Calls' - I wore a dress so tight I could hardly breathe. Needless to say there are other such gems.

And I need all the music I can get because I am finally finishing off my children's novel. It is all down on paper - from beginning to end - with some last minute editing, then it goes to 'close readers'. What is it about this part of the process that makes me feel unhinged?

It's letting the thing out, after all the thinking and time and work. It's about being terrified that it's not what I think (hope) it is. Great how a song can cheer you up....

US Election

All eyes and all that. As the US prepares to vote for its 44th President, we hear that Obama's grandmother has died - the woman who raised him for eight years. Sad that she won't get to know the results of this election. Meanwhile NBR commentator David Cohen makes a prediction of an Obama win but not of Reagan proportions, wonders about the white Radio NZ line-up to cover the US Election, and suggests the amount of fainting in the Obama crowds might not be entirely accidental. I dunno, David, someone nearly fainted at my book launch - I think it happens in crowds (especially hot or excitable ones -mine was hot), and Obama has been at the centre of a lot of crowds lately. There were apparently 100,000 at his last speech.

Doing a quick trawl on You Tube I found this video made - it says - by a young black film-maker which seems to capture some of the feeling of the black population in the US about this man, Obama. Having said that, I'm always a little sceptical of You Tube stuff like this - it's hard to know where the truth ends and fantasy begins most of the time. Although this offering seems to speak for itself.

For the faint-hearted election watcher, Gordan Campbell on Scoop has produced a useful guide: How to Watch A US Election . Campbell will be reporting live tomorrow as the results come in. Go here for how a NZ writer [Paula Morris] will spend Election Day in the US. And here's a depressing video of average parking-lot Americans discussing Obama's 'terrorist bloodlines' [is it his father's middle name that gets them riled?]

For a good, healthy laugh, spot Sarah Palin and her running mate on a quick trip through NZ. I'll finish with the real thing (well, there's an element of fakery in this too - the two gents are a Quebec comedy duo notorious for prank calls to celebrities). And I'll continue to cross my fingers that, after tomorrow, this dreadful woman gives up and goes back where she came from, and Barack Obama has the win he deserves.

Late Breaking News: Just before midnight Tuesday night our time, a quick google of the US election revealed some polls were already open, and in the small New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch, it has opened and shut and the votes have been counted! The remote town traditionally opens its polls at midnight on election day. For the record, it was 15 ballots for Barack Obama and six for John McCain

The Blue in Fiji

Alexandra and Quentin sent me this photo of The Blue in Fiji beside the pool with wine glasses taken last year. It looks pretty perky if a little out of its depth (probably wondering if that's Montana wine about to be served.) The thing is the humpback whales that migrate through Cook Strait - and are the main targets of the whale hunts in the book - usually head to Tahiti or Rarotonga rather than Fiji, or that's my understanding.

I tried to get to Tahiti when I was researching The Blue but it wasn't possible. I really just wanted to see the humpback whales breaching, it is supposed to be one of the wonders of the world. I had to look at photos instead.

Talking of wine, David Cohen has waded into the feeding frenzy over the caught short Montana shortlist.

Thanks A and Q for the Fijian still-life.

A Perfect World

My friend David Cohen's book A Perfect World, a father's quest to unriddle the mysteries of autism has been shortlisted for the BPANZ Book Design Awards. The designer is Catherine Griffiths. David is quite rightly chuffed about the honour mentioning it in his 'This is not a blog post'. It is a good-looking sort of book to have and to hold although I'm not an expert on book design.

I do know that what's inside is worth reading for its insight into autism and for its take on the way we deal with those on the rim of the society wheel classified as 'different'. David's audacious way of telling a story can wrap up politics, history, culture, fiction, non-fiction and the personal in one magnificent swoop, and leave you in no doubt that what you have met is both a fascinating intellect and a father who won't rest until he's found some answers to explain the riddle of his own small son. Highly recommended. And if you want to know more about Autism or order the book, try human.org.nz .