I was named after the star Arcturus. Apparently this is one of the brightest stars in the night sky, so I'm quite honoured to share its name. When looking for a pen name, I was reluctant to let go of this starry association. Hence, Arcturiel: a (hopefully) suitably feminized version with a touch of Tolkien thrown in! I have no pretensions to that elven mystique, though, or even any real literary flair. 

I've been told that the urge to write was so strong in me right from childhood that even as a toddler with no knowledge of the alphabet, I would scribble metres and metres of pretend-text, bits of which strikingly resemble actual words. I'd like to think that I've come a long way since then. 

Most of my poetry (and there's not much of it to begin with) is spontaneous. As a die-hard night owl, I savour every moment of quiet and serenity that night offers and this sometimes leads to outpourings of poetry. Some good, some not so good. But I rarely ever go back and edit it afterwards. Part of the reason for this is that these poems become snapshots of my state of mind at that time and waking up around midday the next day, I often find myself unable to relate to that state of mind as clearly as the night before. So I might decide to let it be. More often I read and re-read until I'm sick of it and then delete it out of sheer embarrassment. 

Creating a profile here is part of an ongoing endeavour to learn to like my own work and hopefully improve it as I go along. So, here's looking forward to more nighttime poetry binges and morning-after cringes. :)