Send The Sun

#25 by Nikki Lane

Last week’s song prompt, Vienna, by Billy Joel turned out to be one of the toughest to judge so far. I could have literally, just closed my eyes and picked a winner from the lot. They were all that good!

Week #24 Feature🏆

This week’s Feature goes to primalbeet for his essay titled, Vienna. I fell in love with this submission as soon as I read it! And obviously I wasn’t the only one, as it received twice as many Likes as the next closest contender(or three).

The last real conversation I had with my father took place in the living room of the house where I grew up, in western North Carolina.

It was just the two of us. My father was in his nineties by then—frail in the body, sharp everywhere else. Two weeks later, he would be gone, though neither of us knew that yet. At the time it felt like an ordinary visit. I was headed back to Atlanta soon. There was always somewhere to get to.

Vienna

“You know, son,” he said, “the world won’t reward you for effort. But God will reward you for living in love.”

Wanna read more Feature 🏆 Award Winners? I’ve created an Awards Page to serve as an index for all our Featured Stories!

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Here’s this week’s prompt, Send The Sun, by Nikki Lane!

Calling all Poets, Fiction, or Non-Fiction writers that love music — Share your prose of 1500 words or less, using the prompt, Send The Sun.

Remember:

• Each Tuesday I’ll publish a newsletter with that week’s song prompt — along with a featured writer’s submission from the previous week.

• Anyone is then free to run with it! Just add the link to your story or prose in the comments of this newsletter.

• Subscribers to Stories from the Jukebox, also have a chance to be featured in the following week’s newsletter. And I’ll do my best to give feedback and restack each submission.

There’s always rules:

1. All forms of prose are welcome, just keep it under 1500 words.

2. Submissions must be published by midnight on Monday.

3. Submissions must include a tag/link to this week’s Song Prompt Newsletter embedded within the post.

   While anyone is welcome to add their post in the comments at any time — all rules must be followed for a post to be eligible to be featured or shared.

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“Send The Sun” is a classic Americana country song—released on outlaw country singer and songwriter, Nikki Lane’s third studio album, Highway Queen.

“Becoming a songwriter is one of the most selfish things I’ve ever done,” Lane says plainly. In a 2017 interview with The Tennessean.

She describes writing her first song at age 25 like it was a necessary act of self-preservation after a devastating breakup. Many of her early songs, she said on Shame and Nothin’, were about the fleetingness of relationships she believed were permanent, she says.

Lane’s main line of work in those days was a fashion entrepreneur (she’s currently the owner of Nashville’s vintage clothing boutique High Class Hillbilly). It brought her to cities around the country, New York to Los Angeles to Nashville. And like a true wanderer, Lane’s sound crisscrosses musical genres with ease, while the lonesome romantic in her remains. Even a soft song like, “Send The Sun,” with its lilting downward strum, is flush with bittersweet emotion. (The Tennessean)

“Darling, we’re staring at the same moon,” Lane sings lovingly. “I used to say that to my ex,” she says with cheerful stoicism, “to try to brighten the long nights, stay positive.”

This week’s prompt was chosen by Jennifer N. Haddock, the Everyday Behaviorist — a place where behavior science meets real life. I am a big fan of Jennifer’s writing, and am so excited for this week’s prompt and Headliner!

Here’s this week’s Headliner, Send the Sun!

Have you ever sat in a boat, adrift at sea, and watched the sun set over the water?

Send the Sun

The song captures a longing desire to send light to someone experiencing darkness, when all she has are words.

My submission is a lyric essay piece about experiencing stages of darkness while adrift at sea, followed by a note of explanation. I don’t consider it finished, but MJ’s deadline does. Thanks so much for reading!

How would you like to pick our prompt? Find out how to join our revolving list of Headliners here.

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I’m so excited to see what y’all come up with this week!

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it and clicking that ❤ button, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Oh and if you’re an email reader, just hit reply — I want to hear from you too!

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