fate and the writing process

I really wanted to write tonight, and was stuck. I asked BB2, who happened to be sitting beside me, for a prompt, but he just shrugged. So I checked my inbox for the prompt that arrived this week - a prompt to write about 'fate.' But, still, it seemed ... nothing. 

So I twitter-whined about having nothing left to say. And I got twitter-encouraged. And I drove BB2 to meet a friend. 

And on the way back, I heard this ... an anthem. A challenge. A reminder. A way forward. Fate, pulling me forward through the magic of FM radio with a steady reassuring beat. 

Listen as your day unfolds

Challenge what the future holds

Try and keep your head up to the sky

Some neglected part of my mind, the part that needed anthems and female power ballads to get through 1999, struggled to remember the next lines. 

Lovers, they may cause you tears

Go ahead release your fears

Stand up and be counted

Don't be shamed to cry

Oh yes ... 1999 ... and shame ... and tears and lost-ness. And that message that always worked for me

You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser

You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger

You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together

All I know, all I know, love will save the day

It's a great song. More lasting than those other songs that got me through that year. Less cheesy and over-done than the throw-back I Will Survive. Less angry than Alanis and her ode to bitches. More direct than a Fast Car. And less dangerous than the only thing guaranteed to make me smile, and laugh, and live la Vida Loca. 

Herald what your mother said

Read the books your father read

Try to solve the puzzles in your own sweet time

Some may have more cash than you

Others take a different view

Don't ask no questions, it goes on without you

Leaving you behind if you can't stand the pace

The world keeps on spinning

You can't stop it, if you try to

This time it's danger staring you in the face

I am wiser. And stronger than I knew I was. I am cool, though not often calm. And for the most part, I've given up solving the puzzles and made peace with not knowing. 

But still in the end, 

All I know, all I know, love will save the day.

And fate wins out, when you listen for it. 

___________________________

Write on Edge Prompt: 

Even the most staunch advocates of free will may find themselves looking into the night sky and wondering if there isn’t some sort of cosmic order to the events unfolding in their lives. There’s something about certain moments that make the role of fate seem a little closer, moments where events seem to be led by something or someone we can’t see. 

This week, write a fiction or creative non-fiction piece where fate plays a prominent role. You can write from the position of a complete belief or absolute disbelief in the role of fate in our lives or the lives of our characters. You have 400 words to play with; come back Friday to link-up!