Sonjathewriter - A Reading & Writing Blog

The absolute joy of being booped on the nose by a cat's paw.

This still worked out to give me my first name- Sonja...

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Writers: Just a friendly reminder that creativity is difficult to quantify.

If keeping track of your daily word count or time spent writing motivates you and makes you feel good about your progress, that’s fantastic. By all means keep doing it! But don’t use those measurements against yourself as a way to size up your failure or shortcomings.

Whether you wrote 100 words or 1,000 words today is not an indicator of your worth as a writer or as a person, nor is it an accurate measure of “productivity.”

Some of my best writing days have happened when my actual word count for the day was very low, but I had a revelation while taking a walk that completely changed how I approached the story the next day.

Be nice to yourself, and try to remember to see the myriad ways your creativity is constantly flowing regardless of your word count or the number of hours clocked behind your computer.

The Loner - Short Story

Birth

Like most children, the Loner was born crying. Unlike most children, the Loner was also born fighting, squirming violently in the arms of the doctor as he tried to hand them to their mother. Their parents never quite knew what to do with them as they grew up, that vicious fighting instinct sticking with them even as they learned other ways to vent their emotions. When the Loner finally learned to speak, among their first words was the persistent repetition of the word “doom”.

Early Years

The Loner’s childhood was filled with just that: loneliness. Since learning to talk, they never quite learned to filter their language. The topic of doom—with occasional variations of “the end of the world” and “Armageddon”—was almost always on their lips. Their parents came to ignore it, pretending it wasn’t happening, just like they did with everything else they deemed odd from their child. The children at school never managed to do the same. They always did their best to steer clear of the Loner, even when all they wanted was something as harmless as teaching their peers how to efficiently sharpen a stick into a spear.

The Collection

Shortly after the Loner entered second grade, a secret collection of food began to grow in their bedroom. They quickly discovered the short lives of the bananas and ham and cheese sandwiches their mother packed for their lunches. The cans they stole from the pantry, however, never seemed to fail them as the other foods did. Cans accumulated in every hidden corner of their room: under the bed, at the back of the closet, and at the bottom of their toybox.

The Model

High school shop class quickly established itself as a favorite of the Loner. They were allowed to build whatever they wanted, so long as they made sure to complete their actual assignments, and it was in that class that they built their first bunker model. Wood sanded perfectly smooth held the shape of their dream home and they could barely hold back their excitement over their creation. The Loner proudly showed the model off to their parents and, met with their characteristic disappointment and disapproval, resolved to keep it hidden on the top shelf in their closet. Only they could truly appreciate the craftsmanship.

Higher Education

College was never in the Loner’s plans. Their parents begged them to go, but there was nothing they could do when the Loner signed up for a survival camp instead. It wasn’t different from most other summer camps, aside from the poisoned water and the death of four campers. There, the Loner finally received the final pieces of their education and when they returned from camp, they were ready to move out into the world on their own.

Home

The Loner’s first home was, as it would turn out, also their final home. They hand-built their fortress in a section of forest just near enough to society to reasonably live. Everything about it was perfect from the complex water filtration system, to the diverse garden in the greenhouse, to even the armory hidden in the basement. Their favorite part of their home was none of those details, but rather the bunker nestled below the basement. It matched that first prototype almost exactly, with only a few important differences in the air filtration system and the food storage. As the rug that laid before their front door said, this was truly their “Home Sweet Home”.

The Outbreak

The day the first outbreak aired on the news, a persistent knocking came at the Loner’s door. They knew who their guests were even before checking the security cameras; their parents, old teachers, and old classmates crowded at their doorstep. Everything the Loner had warned and tried to teach them about was coming true and they begged the Loner to save them. The Loner contemplated their options for dealing with their unexpected guests for a while—days, actually—before making their decision. They knew they’d be hated for their choice but, as they reasoned with themselves, they only had accommodations for one.

Survival

Long after those guests rotted away, the Loner lived peacefully in the fortress they’d built. Every aspect of the survival system they’d created served them dutifully. Despite its perfect working condition, they spent much of their free time even further upgrading their home, just for fun. As soon as the Loner managed to fix the local telephone lines, communication was quickly revived in the surrounding area. It took some time, but a close community of survivors eventually rose from the ashes of their fallen society.

They knew it was still too dangerous to travel outside so underground tunnels were soon built between the survivors’ homes, further connecting their new community. After a month of heavy negotiation, a simple trade system was established in their community, allowing proper sharing of all of their resources. The Loner was everyone’s go-to person for whatever they might need, and the Loner’s prices were always the fairest in the community. Despite the unlivable conditions beyond their walls, the Loner eventually settled into a comfortable life. They finally weren’t alone.

Death

Of all of the causes the members of the old society died from, the Loner died peacefully of old age. The friends they’d made in local survivors made the journey to their fortress to stay with them in their final hours. It was a peaceful release, the most peaceful the survivors witnessed in the many years following the outbreak, and it was the end of the Loner’s long life.

This is a piece I wrote for a creative writing course I took recently. I don’t have any current plans to continue it but I thought it’d be nice to share it with you all! I hope you guys like it!

love u guys

happy sts! are there any songs that you associate with your characters?

Oops, I’m a bit late on this one. Sorry!

I only have playlists for two of my characters (Shiloh and Oliver) and, oddly enough, their songs often more closely match their story’s plot than their actual character. A song I definitely associate with Shiloh though is Don’t Threaten Me With a Good Time by Panic! At The Disco. With her easygoing personality and some of the shenanigans she gets into in her story, it’s a fantastic fit.

The Cellar by Natasha Preston ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book did a great job at keeping my attention all the way until the end but I can’t say that I like how the story itself flowed very well. I feel like the author rushed into the situations a bit early into the book and that there possibly could’ve been a bit more detail as to how the character was doing during the five month skip about half way through. All in all though, it was a pretty good book and I’m glad I read it. I totally recommend it to anyone who likes an intriguing story (of any kind).

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I read this back in February and unfortunately didn't have time to review it until now. I absolutely loved it! The backgrounds of the characters are even more complex than books with linear timelines. The main character, Nix (I believe), was tempted by so many different things to try to save herself from an uncertain future or not even a future at all. Her problem solving was beyond something I've experienced in any other book. I highly recommend this book!

City of Bones

By Cassandra Clare (Sorry I forgot to take a picture before I returned it) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I absolutely loved this book and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. If you like demonology and paranormal stories I highly recommend this to you. It had a little bit of romance as well but if you’re not into that don’t worry; there’s a fun little plot twist. All in all this book was soooo fun to read and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Up To This Pointe by Jennifer Longo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is absolutely a beautiful book. I enjoyed how it went back and forth between Harper’s time Antarctica and the events that led up to her going there. The characters are all awesome and I truly felt bad while reliving the hardships Harper went through. I definitely recommend this book to anyone that enjoys YA books, fun relationships between characters, and a nice amount of conflict.