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Hey There, Ocean City

If you're like me and make sure to watch ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition with a box of tissues in hand, you were bawling after last night's episode about the Marrero family. They were living in a run down home in Camden, which is America's second most dangerous city. It also happens to be the town next to mine. Plus, I went to graduate school at Rutgers University-Camden and write about Camden for Rutgers Magazine, so I have seen how bad Camden is really is. I pass through the heart of Camden every time I take the PATCO high speed line into Philly, and it's not a pretty sight.

But that's not why I'm writing this post. I'm writing because the intro to last night's show was flimed in Ocean City, NJ. Never mind that OC is over an hour ride from Ocean City to Camden. It looked like a whole lot of fun. I'm guessing they were at Wonderland Pier based on the rides, and their positon on the Boardwalk. I might have even been in OC the day they filmed. The only thing I remember about the week that Extreme Makeover was in town (since it was covered in local media) was that it was hot as hell. Not the best time to be building a house. Then again, based on how the Marrero family seemed transformed by the show's help, any time was a good time to be pulled out of poverty.

What I'm Listening to: News and Tributes by The Futureheads

News from Around the South Jersey Shore

Update from Atlantic City's "sitcom" government: the mayor is guilty of cheating Veterans Department.

Here's an interesting article on the growing population of Asians gambling in Atlantic City.

Well, this isn't good -- more trouble within the Sea Isle City police department.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh. It's almost time for Ocean City's Quiet Festival.

Vegan? Check out The Healthy Voyager's report about her trip to Cape May.

I'm not as shocked about this as I should be: gangs in Cape May County. I'd heard about this back in the spring.

Don't pick up the horseshoe crabs! And this rule isn't in place because they're dangerous -- they're not. The Delaware Bay is the world’s largest spawning grounds for horshoe crabs, which explains why the Jersey Shore has so many. The Delaware Estuary is also the largest staging area of shorebirds that travel the Atlantic Flyway, largely due to the horseshoe crab — they eat the horseshoe crab eggs. Horseshoe crabs can also save your life, indirectly. According to the Ecological Research and Development Group, extracts of blood from horseshoe crabs are used to make sure that items like intravenous drugs, vaccines, and medical devices are bacteria-free. So leave 'em alone.

Update on the potential buy out of Trump Entertainment Resorts from Forbes. Summary: doesn't look like it's going to happen.

What I'm Listening to: Preston & Steve on 93.3 WMMR

Another Level of "Done"

I just sent an email to the copy editor assigned to my book. This was not just any email. Attached to it was the Cape May chapter -- the last chapter in my book. Over the last few weeks, I have re-read my book from cover to cover, approving the changes the publisher wanted while also clarifying and correcting anything that need to be clarified and corrected.

This is not the last time I'll see the book before it goes to press, but it's the last time I could make any major changes. So if any more casinos expansions want to catch on fire, restaurants decide to fall into the water, or shore towns opt to use digital beach tags, could you please wait until after my book comes out?

I feel a little sad letting that last chapter go. Right now, I'm sitting in my office with a crick in my neck and an empty feeling all over. It's a lot of information, and I poured, so far, almost a year of my life into creating this book. I guess when I started I never thought ahead to this point, just like when you're 17, you can't imagine what it would be like to be 27. But, sure enough, I'm 27 now, and the book is almost published.

Anyway, this is not something to feel glum about -- it's something to celebrate, so I'm going on a run. While I'm at it, check out my bookaweekwithjen.blogspot.com blog for an update on how my "52 books in 52 weeks project" is going. I'm tempted to make my book #7 of 52 since I did read it within the 52 weeks. But I don't think my own work should count!

What I'm Listening to: Air Stereo by the Damnwells

Down the Shore with...Caroline Leavitt

This week's installment of "Down the Shore with" takes us to Ocean City with Caroline Leavitt. Not only is Caroline a big OC fan (of the town, not the TV show), but she's also a fantastic writer, counting eight novels, like Girls in Trouble and Coming Back to Me, to her byline, as well as numerous essays and articles in magazines you know and love.

Writers, listen up (or read up). She gives great advice to us ink stained wretches and aspiring authors.

1. What do you consider your shore town? Why?
Ocean City! Neither my husband Jeff nor I are really beach people (I didn't own a bathing suit until we started to go! I have parchment pale skin so I always burn, too, which makes the beach less fun) but when we had our son, we realized we couldn't deny him the experience of the beach. We chose Ocean City because we heard it was a family-friendly place, and because we heard it had a boardwalk! (One of our first dates was on the boardwalk of Atlantic City. We both love kitsch and ended up spending way too much money on figurines and snow domes!) We have both come to love Ocean City and go every year. I even buy new bathing suits and go in the surf and slather on sun block with a SPF of about two thousand! Every year we also hit the arcades and get one of those photo booth shots of all of us making silly faces. We have about ten of them framed at home to remind us how much fun we have at Ocean City.

I just love everything about it--the salty air, the arcade, the boardwalk, the food, the ocean. We're still not major beach people (we only stay four days and we usually limit our beach time to an hour and a half every day), but anyone who knows us always thinks it remarkable that we can't wait to come here.

2. A lot of people go to the shore just to eat. What's your favorite Ocean City hot spot?
Bashful Banana is FABULOUS. It's right on the boardwalk. They make incredible (and healthy) sandwiches, wraps, hot stuff, and even better is their banana whip, which is a frozen banana that they somehow puree with honey so it becomes this extraordinary dessert. Plus, the waitstaff is always really, really friendly.

3. Which do you prefer? Wonderland or Playland?
This is a question for my 11-year-old, since just looking at rides makes my head swim! He adores Wonderland and would rent an apartment in there if he could. However, I admit I love the LOOK of the place, especially at night when everything is all bright and shiny with lights, and we have taken a zillion photographs of it.

4. When did you start writing fiction?
As soon as I could hold a pencil. I made up books for book reports, I wrote stories instead of reports and I always knew I wanted to be a writer. Nothing seemed more fun than making up whole worlds! I didn't get really serious about sending things out until after I graduated college, though!

5. This blog is read by a lot of writers -- what advice would you give to aspiring fiction writers?
1. Never, ever give up. No doesn't always mean no when you approach agents or editors--and even if it sometimes does, remember a "no" is just one person's opinion.
2. Write every day if you can, or at least five days a week. Don't wait for inspiration. Instead train your subconscious to help you.
3. This one is the most important, next to number 1. Write what obsesses you, what you are most passionate about. Don't write for the market! That's a huge mistake because the market always changes and because if you just write what you think might sell instead of what you really care about, the work will be dry and flat.
4. Befriend other writers whenever you can because writing can be a lonely business and it helps to have the support of others who know what you are going through.
5. Read everything. Pay attention to how other writers solve problems about character or plot.
6. I repeat, NEVER GIVE UP!

6. Tell us a little bit about your Boston Globe column.
I started out writing part of their "A Reading Life" column, where I could talk about three books around a theme--for example, three first novels all about sky diving, or three books that all look at betrayal! I did that until they had a budget cut and then I simply reviewed for them. Recently they offered me a new column--about self-help books, but they told me I could write about the smarter, quirkier ones, such as titles by Annie Lamott or Peggy Orenstein or that wonderful book, EAT, PRAY, LOVE. I'm out to transform the genre! It's every other month, and so much fun. I'm originally from Boston, which makes the job all the more fun, plus it's truly a wonderful place to work. I also review books for Dame Magazine and People, teach writing through UCLA online, mentor writers, write novels AND I'm a professional namer! (I just named a brand of potato chips!)

7. What writers do YOU like to read?
I love Dan Chaon, Alice Hoffman, Robb Foreman Dew, Maggie O'Farrell is wonderful. Leora Skolkin-Smith, Rochelle Shapiro, Elizabeth Strout. I have a soft spot for new writers (Dean Bakopoulos' Please Don't Come Back From The Moon is astonishingly good) and I also love nonfiction about history and science.

8. What's next?
I just turned in my 9th novel, Traveling Angels, to my beloved agent and immediately started a new novel. It's set in 1950s suburbia so I am doing some research and in that dreamy stage, which is bliss. I am working with Leora Skolkin-Smith and a producer and director to adapt her novel Edges to the screen and am hoping to sell two other scripts I completed (both just got into the quarter finals of the Writers Network Screenplay competition, so my fingers are crossed so tightly, circulation is about to be cut off.) And I am trying to learn to knit socks so they come out properly!

Check out Caroline's blog at carolineleavittville.blogspot.com.

Prep Alert

A welcome surprise from yesterday's trip to the shore: a new JCrew outlet has opened in Atlantic City.

JCrew is one of the more recent additions to Atlantic City's "The Walk" (Atlantic Avenue, Atlantic City) and both the Walk and that JCrew are hard to miss if you're coming into town via the AC Expressway. I'm wary of outlets since I think you can find better deals on the sales racks in the regular stores. But I scored a few great sales on pants yesterday at JCrew, which is a major plus considering I'm updating my wardrobe (being back "on the market" and all). It's much easier to try out new looks, like winter-wear shorts paired with tights and boots as a "going out" outfit, at discount prices. I never though of trying that look until I found the pants for $9.97 at this JCrew outlet (and put in two months of serious running to get my legs back in the kind of shape where I could fathom pulling this off -- I rarely wore shorts this summer). And you know what? It looks pretty good -- much more interesting than my fall back of "jeans and a cute top."

Speaking of 'the market,' Saturday night I'll be at the Bridesmaids Ball, which benefits the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, with a few people who were in my Avalon shore house. I'll probably be the only woman wearing a ladies' tux (which is pictured in this post), so stop by an say hi if you happen to spot me.

Now, I didn't buy that outfit at JCrew, nor in Atlantic City. The tux was purchased a few years ago from a Guess? store in King of Prussia -- BUT there is a Guess? outlet at The Walk in Atlantic City, and I've seen a tux almost exactly like the one I'll be wearing on the outlet racks at an outlet price. It's an extremely versatile piece of formal wear -- I'm just glad I finally got rid of all my "testing every pizza parlor, Italian restaurant and ice cream shop at the Jersey shore" weight (thanks again to running) so I can fit into this on Saturday night!

News from Around the South Jersey Shore

Here's a Q&A with Sarah Silverman, who's performing at the Borgata on Saturday night.

This upcoming weekend is also the Sherlock Holmes weekend in Cape May. Yes, Sherlock Holmes weekend. Sleuth to your heart's content.

Studio Six, a legendary gay club in Atlantic City, has closed.

This doesn't look so good -- Harrah's is getting sued.

This summer, I interviewed the woman behind the "Where the Hell is Strathmere" bumper stickers. They've got a new one now -- a car magnet that says "Shhh." Why? Because they want to stay a sleepy shore town. Read the story here.

Ocean City is reporting that it had a great summer. And, no, I am not related the to the person writing this article. Unless my little brother wants to tell me something.

I'm headed down to Atlantic City this afternoon for meetings and maybe a bit of early Christmas shopping. Nothing too crazy last night for Halloween, though my dog had a flying good time:



Gotta love dogs in costume.

What I'm Listening to: Preston and Steve on 93.3 WMMR
What I'm Reading: The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web, and the Race for the White House by Garrett M. Graff