More dreaming...

I decided to do NaNoWriMo this year. The first time I did it was in 2007. I had just gotten divorced and I needed to do something to prove to myself and the world (and my ex) that I could create anything I set my mind to. To write a novel length story in a month means you have to write 1,667 words or more a day to hit at least 50,000 words - anything shorter is a novella or something.
The first day went really well, as did the rest of the first week. The second week however was crazy hard and I had days where it felt like a chore to pop out 500 words. I hated my characters and my plot and everything about my story that week but I kept plugging away. A couple of 5,000 word days at the end of the month meant I won that year, on the very last day barely a hundred words over the 50,000 word goal.
It was a creative kick. I did more art after that and while I've shelved the story to finish at a later date, I still haven't killed it.
The following year I'd just started art school and had five classes. I tried nano anyway, and hit 13,000 words before I quit somewhere in week two.
The year after was the same story. Art school was taking all of my creativity and drive, but I made the honors society so it wasn't all bad.
Somewhere in there though the writing bug bit me and I had a feeling I wasn't done telling stories.
Since I finished art school last December and had only one job at the start of November I though I'd try it again this year. I was already used to carving lots of time out while working one full time job, so I was sure I could do it again... Only there was one problem. I had no plot whatsoever.
Most of my stories have had their roots in dreams. Every now and again I'll get some cool character or setting thrown at me, and it'll take root and I'll just have to write. Somewhat rarely I'll have an entire plot thrown my way by my subconscious, which is really cool.
So when I started to write this year I had nothing but an old woman walking up a hill. A few days into the month I had a seven thousand word outline. Seven. Thousand. And let me tell you it's a good thing I didn't go more in depth with it. As I've gone along my characters have taken on a life of their own and are telling their own stories more often than I'm making them up, which is incredibly snazzy.
In short I've written at least 2,000 words a day and won as of yesterday. I have a bunch of momentum going though and now I plan to finish the story.
It seems weird having graduated art school and all, but I think I could be a writer. I'm sure some of my writing is terrible. I know that there are whole hordes of commas that were rounded up and abused throughout this draft, but at the end of the day... I will have written the first draft of a novel, and that's more than most people can say.
I'm also inspired enough to want to edit and finish the first one, which has waited a long time now.
On the days I'm afraid I can't create my way out of a paper bag, I'll have this living thing that I've made, that perhaps I can hammer into the shape of a novel other people will want to read. That's one of the best feelings in the world. Take that, artistic self-loathing!