FairWind's Life Soundtrack

I carpool with my brother-in-law to school, which means that we sometimes have to wait for each other's classes to get out before we can head home. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, it's my turn to wait, and I have about an hour and a half to kill before it's time to leave. 

This most recent Tuesday, I was sitting in a lovely, grassy spot on the UVU campus beneath a tree, feeling stressed about life. As it happens, I didn't bring enough homework with me to keep me busy, and I was too on edge to get anything productive done anyway. What I really needed was a distraction. Normally when that happens, I go hide in my room and dispel, but that's not exactly an option at school. So, I pulled out my iPod and did the next best thing - just listened to music. 

It didn't work. I was looking for a distraction, but music by itself was too easy to set aside as background noise. Fortunately, Dragon Masters came to my rescue, as it very often does. 

I've been listening to a few songs recently that have reminded me of FairWind's childhood. Music is a pretty big part of fey culture too, so the idea of FairWind actually singing the songs I was listening to wasn't entirely ludicrous. In that moment when I was lying beneath a tree, desperately searching for some way to escape my tension, I thought it could be fun to build up a soundtrack specifically for FairWind. I've been wanting to do it awhile for Dragon Masters in general, but I thought it could be fun to put together a group of songs that are unique to FairWind. I've separated them into two groups: Her youth, and the years of her Dragon Master training. Here is what I came up with:

Youth

• The Orphan (Jane Eyre Musical)
• Exemplifies how she felt in her few moments of childhood. Especially shows the beginning of her yearning for freedom and acknowledgement from her father. Also introduces her passion. FairWind, like Jane Eyre, is a very passionate girl, but she keeps it hidden deep within.
• Nobody's on Nobody's Side (Chess)
• This is the first time she starts to realize that everything she's doing to please her father may not be enough and the start of her wondering if its even what she wants. Her frustration to the world when she's nearing the end of her training.
• Anthem (Chess)
• The beginning of her doubt. The idea of running away is first planted in her heart. This is her clinging to the last hope that she belongs in the place she considers home.
• This is the Moment (Jekyll and Hyde)
• The moment before her final test where she will become the youngest master in the twisted arts and officially a part of her father's elite warriors (or assassins, not sure which yet). Exemplifies her unfailing hope that everything will be better when she succeeds. It's her trying to forget her doubts and cling to her dreams.
• Nothing Left by Beth Crowley
• FairWind's feelings after the test, when she realizes she's chosen the wrong path. Her looking back on why she left her home and how she feels about her father.

Dragon Mastery Years

• Pretend it's Home by Beth Crowley
• FairWind's warrior side taking over after her memories are blocked. She recognizes that she has always been an outcast, but she's going to continue anyway. This is like her preaching to TigerClaw and BurningFeather about what she does and why.
• Open Your Eyes by Bea Miller
• The moment when FairWind chooses to leave her forgotten memories behind her and decides who she's going to be and how she's going to live. The second verse could allude to her brother when they meet again.
• Lost in Paradise by Evanescence
• The moment when even FairWind's stubbornness couldn't save her. Her darkest hour and moment of truth.
• 2007 by Beth Crowley
• Listen to the song. Enough said.
• Undefeated by Daughtry
• The moment when she becomes a Dragon Master
• Where No One Goes (How to Train Your Dragon 2)
• Come on, can't you picture FairWind flying around in triumph to this song? If this were a movie, this would be the song that would end the prologue and transition into the story where you see FairWind as an adult and fully fledged Dragon Master Warrior.

Ode to April

Guess what! I did it! And what's more, I'm not the only one! I think all of my friends who took on the Poetry Month Challenge made it through the whole month. None of us missed a day - how cool is that? Especially for everyone else who managed it, I mean, it was probably much harder for my friends than for me. They all wrote full poems - one a day - and they had school and jobs to balance on top of that! Seriously, I'm sending you all virtual air-fives right now. What you managed to accomplish is amazing. I'm so proud of each of you!

So, other than feeling really cool at the end of the month, what is the point of the Poetry Month challenge? Honestly, I think my friends and I started it just for the sake of the challenge. We were in Jr. High, we didn't care about learning stuff back then. But now, there is a reason we keep trying to do it, despite our hectic adult schedules. Put simply, we do it because it's hard, and none of us are very good at poetry. Well, maybe we are now, but you know . . .

As a writer, there's a lot to be said for poetry. Forcing yourself to work within a certain rhythm, or constrain yourself to words that rhyme, or try to tell a story or evoke an image in a limited number of lines - let's face it, that's hard to do! It's these limits that forces us to stretch our creativity and build new ways of thinking for ourselves. And doing it everyday for a month - you'll be hard pressed to lose what you've gained.

And let's face it, writing one poem a day for a month - that's hard to do. It's almost worth doing just for the bragging rights.

Though, truth be told, I feel I went a little easy on myself this month. Limiting myself to a one haiku a day - though it had its challenges - seemed almost too easy sometimes. After all, they're only three lines. I did have days where I considered dropping the haiku idea and just writing whatever type of poetry I wanted, but I stuck with it anyway. You know why? Because it was different. I'm terrible at poetry! I can't work with rhythms and meters - and let's not even get started on rhyming. So, I may have skipped the rhyming thing, but I wanted to challenge myself to work in meters anyway, and let me tell you, it was hard. The meter of haikus is 5-7-5, but apparently all of my thoughts come out in even numbered syllables, so I was always wanting to do 4-6-4. Finding new ways to phrase my thoughts within the meter was just the kind of creative challenge I needed. It was hard sometimes - even a little frustrating. But I'm glad I did it.

I can't say that I'm a better poet now than I was at the beginning of the month. Indeed, I think one of the biggest things I've learned is that I'm terrible at haikus. And I think I could do better at evoking imagery. I didn't know that before. Now that I do, I can work on it - I can fix it and become a better writer. It's so nice to be able to pinpoint a fault in your writing. It makes bettering it so much simpler. Oddly, it also makes me excited for next April. I wonder what I'll do then . . . Should I try forcing myself to rhyme everyday? Oooo, scary.

Congratulations to all those who made it through this challenge! Even if you didn't - you tried, and that's amazing. This is the first time I've made it through the whole month without missing a day. I think it's the first time for a few of my friends too. What a cool month! Best of luck on all your future writing endeavors. :)

Day 30 - The Grand Finale!

I did it! I did it!
I really, really did it!
No more poems now.

Day 29

Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip.
Water tumbles from rooftops
to the ground, now mud.

Day 28

Waiting is the worst.
With no visible end seen -
like an endless storm.

Day 27

When speaking with fools;
Words, they will not understand,
for their eyes lead them.

Day 26

They say the wind bites,
but they're wrong. It's teeth are dull.
No, I say it burns.