I think my brain is broken. I've been trying to write this research paper for the last three days and I have come up with 2,000 words that aren't even any good. At least I'm half way to the world limit. That's nice. It's my fault for listening to music while I try and write. Currently its my playlist "Belt-It-Out-Broadway" and ironically right now it's "It sucks to be me" by Avenue Q. 

Almost up to calling it quits.

The actual purpose of this blog isn't to write boring things about how I can't concentrate on study or how much I hate my life at this point in time. It's to write this boring story that I've been making up in my head over the past couple of years. Yes, years. I am a master of procrastination.

Anyway our main character's name is Hadley. That came to me easily which is interesting because it normally takes me a long time to settle on names for my stories. Of course she's a girl with a masculine name. That gives her strength. Actually I'm not really sure if Hadley is a masculine name. I've never met anyone called that before. Our girl lives on a farm with a family. Mum, Dad and a boy slightly older than her. Did you notice I wrote 'a' family, not 'her' family. She lost her parents in a house fire when she was very young so she was sent to live with these guys. They were always respectful to her but never really kind. They weren't the surrogate family she needed but they were honest and reasonable people who looked after her as long as she worked in return. In the world that they live in that is really the best you could hope for.

Since post-apocalyptic teen stories are in these days, that it what this is. The story is set in a future of course. But a future that is so similar to our past. Technology is gone. Nobody really knows why but a few generations ago everything shut off in the middle of the night. Computers died, lights went out, medicines couldn't be produced. Riots ensued. There was an entire generation born in civil war and they were born the old fashioned way, without anesthetic or antibiotics. Thousands died of diseases we used to prevent with a single injection. People killed people for food or shelter. There was no banding together for a common good, there was only fighting to live until the next sunrise. 

It was a dark time that those alive now refer to as the obliteration. I guess it's a bit extreme of a title but if you'd lived through it that's probably what it would have felt like. It was the end of the world and the end of the human race. 

But we humans are a stubborn lot. After decades of fighting factions began to form. People realised that to survive they needed each other. Communities were formed. Countries no longer existed and people didn't possess the technology to travel far so they settled near places that could support human life. We learned to grow food the old fashioned way, with no chemicals and good old-school sunshine. The people had to learn all over again the skills that would get them through their next meal. The rich white collar workers from before the obliteration were the ones that struggled the most. The only skills they had were people skills and the people they were skilled to deal with were no longer willing to give them control. You had to contribute to the community to be accepted.