When I'm at home working nine times out of ten, my writing ecosystem comprises of a film playing in the background on low or music. The times I've gained story ideas or just inspiration from this kind of auditory stimulus, makes me believe it is useful to my writing process. I don't question it, just go with the flow. I stumbled across this reggae track  Life Goes On by artist Spanner Banner. A tune I hadn't  heard for such a long time. It obviously brought back memories of growing up in Jamaica.  The video quality is poor but the lyrics are deep. It immediately got me thinking about how we've been taught to view adversity and the challenges of life. Spanner Banner's lyrics speak of his approach to the vagaries of existence but not in a negative way because the song is filled with optimism and a kind of acceptance of the obstacles in life.

If I knew then what I know now I wouldn't have struggled with adversity and given it the kind of power over me as I did.  I would have realised that disasters and trials are the tools we are given for growth. Failure has more lessons to teach us than mere success. Not that you're searching out failure but what I'm saying is most of us only learn from disaster, disappointment and failure. If we are striving to be the best we can be then the meaning we give to these challenges must be an empowering enough to keep us on the path.

69 is my futuristic erotic thriller which is available to the Urban Fantastic family for free from the good guys at Instafreebie. I hope you enjoy it.