BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

Ocean Grove

So, I'm sick.  It sucks.  I made it through work today though.  Barely.  Then I went to the store, and then came home and napped.

I got Wawa for lunch, mac and cheese (comfort food) and a chicken cheesesteak sandwich, which is actually pretty good, it's nothing like the real thing, but it works in a pinch.

Anyways, so I'm sick.  I made dinner, and worked on stuff at home.  I was going to actually try going out writing at Movie Tavern.  I've never written there!  Seems like a pretty appropriate spot though to write this book.

I figured sitting at that bar and having a beer while sick wasn't the best idea.  Instead, I had tea and honey.

Well, I'm working on this current scene which takes place in Ocean Grove, NJ.  It's not the first scene that takes place there... There's a number of scenes.  I actually went there forever ago for inspiration and walked around.  I'd never actually been.  So, I'm writing this scene and the problem is I've never been in the actual town of Ocean Grove.  When I went back in the day... 2013, I parked in Asbury Park.  Then walked around there, then went to the Ocean Grove beach, then walked around the boardwalk ish area, then back to Asbury.  Then got some beer and food, then went and saw fire works on Ocean Grove... July 4th 2013.

But I never actually walked around the town.  Right now, I need to write a scene that was on the beach, but moves into the town.  So, I'm going to have to take a field trip there, maybe over the time I have off during xmas break?  Perhaps if there's a day where it's in the 50s, I can swing it.  If not, I'll just have to wait until spring or summer.

This original scene was supposed to take place at Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park... But I changed it because it didn't fit the story line.

At the moment I'm just Googling Ocean Grove and looking at photos and things.  There's one photo I found that struck me and it's right after Sandy.  Then there's another set of photos from 2016 and it's basically the same view, and all of that stuff is fixed and restored.

You'd never know anything was amiss.

For some reason my mind just went down this little thought pathway where I started to think about what it is that we care about, or where we are in life when certain things happen.

How tables turn, and things you never knew anything about can become significant or important.  But also, how things that were very destructive or disruptive can kind of be restored back or fade away...

And unless you knew the history, you'd never never even know it happened.

But I mean, here I am, I have a few scenes in my book that are set in Ocean Grove.  A few months ago someone randomly mentioned Ocean Grove in conversation, and immediately, I was like "Oh yeah!".

And they were like, "You know it?"

And I was like... "Oh... Yeah, it's... A long story."

I didn't want to get into the details that I was writing this book and what have you.

But, here I am with these few scenes that take place there, and so, personally... I guess this Ocean Grove scenes are... I've spent time writing them.  I've spent HOURS with these scenes.  My characters who I've spent the last 4 years or so with, spent time there.

It's weird.  When you write a book, that story and the scenes and the character become kind of like your friends I guess.

It's complicated.  But, anyway, to me, Ocean Grove is significant because of the time I've spent with the characters there...

But 5 years ago before I started this book, I wouldn't have said I had any sort of attachment to that place.  I'd be like Ocean whatnow?

I'm just rambling, and also I'm sick, so I don't have to make sense.

But, it's interesting how places and people change over time.  Things you had no interest become the most important things ever... And then perhaps with some more time... They begin to fade a little.  Or, things that were troublesome, are fixed, and then it's easy street again and no one would even know anything was ever wrong or bumpy.

But it's always changing, just like the tides.

Just makes me wonder, 5 years from now... What will be important in my life that I have no idea even exists at this moment.  Or, what will become just a bump in the road, that at the time seemed like a mountain.  You know?

All that from a photo of the Ocean Grove beach.

Well, back to working on a little more of this scene before getting some sleep.