NaNoWriMo Begins!

Well, it's November. For the second year in a row I opted to take part in the National Novel Writing Month's Challenge. Having this on top of work and school is going to be a hell of a challenge but I'm really hoping that I can pull this off.

Unlike last year, I didn't have any idea of what I wanted to write. Urban fantasy seemed a strong possibility but I had no idea what to do. I actually skipped the entire first day while trying to recover from the month of October, which was insane and hectic. Upon waking up this morning (on a day with an extra hour of sleep, no less. w00t!) I realized with a panic that I was ~already~ 1,667 words behind. I had no story ideas, I only had a title based on a minivan that had been driving ahead of us while we were out drinking on Halloween.
Then, per usual, the magic happened. I sat down this morning and began to describe an image I'd had in my head that had been waiting there without really telling me it was squatting and not paying rent. And then 4 pages later I had an interesting prologue.
After a bit more describing the alternate intersecting character, I had 7 pages. 2,266 words, to be precise. And then after taking a hike, having dinner, picking up the house, crocheting part of something and finishing watching the full DVR'ed 7 hours of Ghost Hunters Live that I missed Halloween Eve, I came back to finish off the allotted word count for the day.
I've had to stop myself from continuing, in fact. If i continue to type it'll take me MUCH further in to the evening than I would like to be awake. This story suddenly came together, all of the characters introduced themselves to me abruptly, and demanded I continue on with the tale immediately.
Oh me of little faith. I ~knew~ this would happen somewhere deep in the marrow of my bones but my logical mind (the one that has single-handedly murdered more literature and art than any other ANYTHING on this planet) screamed that I couldn't begin unless I had a proper plot synopsis, an agressor somewhere in the plot, and a definite idea of where the story was going to go. Guess what? NOT.
I didn't even know who the "bad guys" of this story were until we were going on a walk. I didn't even know one of the characters was going to be pregnant in it until the hike. I still don't know what's going on or why these guys are in danger, but I'm sure the story will let me know. Such is the way of literary endeavors. Really you're just fingers for typing and a mind for holding the data you're being fed. Fire in the head, indeed.
Anyway, here's the official statistics, whick I intend to update on as the month goes.

NaNoWrimo Challenge: 3,767 words, 11 pages.
Word goal for the day: 3,334.

Oh, and I officially ditched the GlaDos wallpaper today in favor of a lovely little number that tells me how many words I should have written by what day of the month, to keep me in line.
Really I expect to get very little in the way of other art done this month. My oil paintings will have to wait, I guess...and everything else.
It was good to get out and hike. I enjoyed the fall foliage and the sounds of the critters preparing for winter. There were very few people on the trail early this morning so for once we got to see the chipmunks, squirrels and birds running around doing their merry little thing. In the spaces between falling leaves we could also see more in the woods around the trail and realized there were several crumbled brick and stone structures. If I had more time I think it might be fun to research and see what was there before. Maybe in December.
PS - probably failing the database class. I just can't make myself to really understand the topic, so predictably perhaps I also don't give a damn in there. I'll do the groupwork so that they don't get a bad grade on account of me, but I just can't see pulling this one out.
The idea of switching to being a graphic artist appealed to me, until I realized I would have to buy a lot of rather expensive software (even with student discounts on it) just to complete the degree. I'm also worried about burning out on something I just love to do. So I guess for now we'll trundle along and pretend we reeeeeally want to have a future in computers. *sigh* I would so rather paint and write, but that logical mind of mine has an axe ready with the names of all my favorite things on it. Meh.
I'm sleepy. It's been a long 25 hours. Back to work and the real world again tomorrow.
Oh, and no ghosts this year really. That was rather nice but confusing. :)