Here's to November - Defining the Scribe

Here's to November!

Here's to November Journaling Month 2011!

Here's to November Novel Writing Month 2011!

November's the prime time for creativity!

I am not a November-born for nothing after all!

Like several others who share the love for creativity, I am a November Journaling Month veteran i.e. I have been participating in the creative writing endeavor since 2006. It started out as an exciting writing exercise and transformed into a means of soul-searching and learning more about myself.

In my interview for admission to a media school, I was asked a question:

Interviewer Lady: "What is your genre of writing?"

Myself (a 21 year old Gothic amateur writer): "I mostly write about death, depression, melancholy, and the struggle of an artist."

Interviewer Lady: "So that is all you write, or is that the best you write?"

Myself: "I am good at business writing, research paper, patriotic poetry, and the like, but yes, the best that I write is Gothic."

Interviewer Lady: "So you deal with space?"

Myself (clueless but confident still): "Sorry?"

Interviewer Lady (re-phrasing herself): "You deal with space ... emotions."

Myself (quite sure of my identity now): "Yes!"

That was the moment of definition for my works. The lady, who later taught me some very serious Writing Skills classes, had defined my genre of creative writing. I write about emotions. From the cheesy teen romance novel that I tried writing (ripped it to shreds each time because it was pathetic) to the tragic, traumatic tale of betrayal and disturbed relationships - love trying to pave its way into them, and all the way to the daily rants or good wit entries ... I have been dealing with emotions all along. They have been personal as well as impersonal. 

Each November I try to pen down (type down!) some very deep emotional entries that are my attempts to search my own soul and discover who I am. 

Dealing with emotional expression is no easy task. It is not anywhere near the likes of political/social satire, business essays, or formal reviews. It is a heavy duty engagement with one's self and a quest to discover the best words to explain the state of mind of one's own or the characters one is writing about.

November Plans
Planning is a favorite at Excalibur but I usually end up with more "circled" tasks on my planner which mark the stuff that hasn't been attended to. There shall be 30 entries in 30 days which means I shall be completing NoJoMo 2011. I am also planning to write most of the novella that's been in my head for a long time now. But, there are a couple of events and projects along the way that would keep me pre-occupied. Let's see how it all goes ... one November day at a time.