NaNoWriMo update

I know some of you are fellow writers, even if you aren't fellow "WriMos".

As of today, I'm at 15,005 words. My first three days went like gangbusters, with me reaching 10k by Sunday night. I'd had the foresight to take a couple of days off of work in a row...revolutionary, I know. One of my coworkers, when I reported my wordcount, even asked me if I started early.

No dogs in this story, which has happened in the past couple. The Last Song involved no dogs (which is far better for the dogs, I assure you). My current NaNoWriMo project is untitled. Literally, the file on my computer is Asbury Park 1979 (which is three years before I was born, for those of you who only Internet know me, but it was a date that ended up appealing for the "mood" I was going for.

Mentally, Jersey Shore summers of that "era" evoke a kind of golden haze for me, which might be why I lean towards that style when editing my pictures for blogging purposes. I guess it's how a lot of the photographs I've seen end up looking, whether they looked that way at the time or not. In the course of writing this, and trying to fill in the spots on my mental map, I've found wacky things like a Flickr stream in which the author seems to have taken more than 5000 pictures of grocery, drug, and convenience stores in the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware area. And labelled what the stores were when they were built, when they changed, that kind of thing (when they knew the info).

But I can't cast aspersions on niche interests, obviously. I'm writing this on a dog blog. And people with niche interests like that fill in the tiny blanks that would otherwise drive me nuts. Sometimes, just knowing one detail is wrong can derail me for the time it takes me to go down the Internet rabbit hole and find something close enough.

In or near Asbury Park, NJ? go to Woofstock!

Woofstock is on August 16...that's this coming Thursday!

It takes place in New Jersey, land that I love. The Wonder Bar is just up the street from the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, and right across the road from the ocean and boardwalk. Woofstock is a concert that benefits the Monmouth County SPCA; it's also a pre-registration event for the "Grateful" Dog Walk and Pet Fair, which will be on October 6, at Brookdale Community College.

Quoted from the Monmouth County SPCA web site:

6:00PM

• Bring your dog for Yappy Hour <outside on the doggie deck>

• Meet 2012 Honorary Chairdog PINOT

• Get together with your teammates or register for the Walk as an individual

• Pick up important forms, promo materials, etc.

• Learn valuable fundraising tips

• Hair Designs by Rachael Herman

7:00PM

• Live Music <inside on the main stage

• Music by On Your Marks, Cross Town Train, Earthman, The Hopeless Carrion

**Dogs must remain outside for the duration of the event so please plan accordingly!