I am honor bound to report the results of the Winter Nights bardic competition yesterday. Sir Michael of York won the competition, and Lady Lorita de Sienna was chosen as Baronial Bard of Concordia for the coming year.
I am happy for her, and disappointed for myself. I wanted it, and I honestly had already counted the chicken and was planning out what I’d do with the eggs. The Baron said it was the toughest choice he’d had to make, and I’d made it harder by not making any mistakes.
I’ll post at some later point some of the learning I’m taking out of this. I didn’t make any mistakes…but I did make choices that were driven by wanting to win, that resulted in staying in my comfort zone with pretty much all my performances. I’m taking a look at that, and starting to see the blessing under the disguise.
Drake Oranwood 
3 replies on “Winter Nights 2013”
As someone who wanted the local ‘baronial’ bardic champion thing about 2 years ago, and then got it, well….I can tell you that while its great to win, actually doing the things your titular heads want is something else entirely. I found myself both with less time to do what needed to be done owing to life changes, and also having issues with the way the titular heads wanted things to be. Although I am glad to have won, I am equally glad I gave back the sash and the office before a new bard could be chosen (and considering my home group doesn’t have a convenient yearly event to change over, I had been local champion for nearly 2 years…)
I am so thrilled to see you stretching your bardic wings and creating some wonderful pieces. Keep going. Never forget how much we all love what you are doing!
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Thanks, Lillie. Useful insight as I redirect my energies. As Jess pointed out to me, if I’d ended up baronial bard this year, it greatly increased the odds I wouldn’t have the album done in time to bring to Pennsic. (No guarantees either way, but if I had to choose which of the two objectives matters to me more right now, there’s no question it’s the album.)
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[…] my introduction to the bardic community five years ago. Coming back to it the following year was a humbling experience, but it was there that I found my first teacher. Winning it two years back was one of the most […]
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