Freaking out over NaNoWriMo? Me too!

I keep saying to myself, “Kell, today you’re going to seriously start planning for NaNo.”
I’m not.
I should.
I need to.
If I don’t, I’m going to get to November 1st and stare at a blank sheet of paper for hours.
Isn’t that going to be fun? I intend to set my Word Count Goal for 40,000 this year, too. So I’ll be writing approximately 1,333 words a day of … what?
Allow me to summarize what I have done so far:
-I’ve got a basic, undeveloped idea.
-I’ve got some old characters who need to keep their personalities while being put in a new book.
-I’ve got some ideas for new characters that need a ton of developing.
-I’ve got a bunch of WILD plot twists.
-I’ve got no main plot.
I know, I know! You think I’m a psycho who needs to take a chill pill. “It’s nearly two months until November!”
OK. Maybe I’m freaking out over nothing, but there are a couple projects I want to complete before NaNo and I feel that if I get planning for it out of the way I can finish those projects and have plenty of time to refine my outlines for the book and characters before the dread month November sneak up on me like it did last year.
Last year when I wrote The Dressmaker’s Secret for National Novel Writing Month, I had a basic idea of how the story was going to start, proceed, and end. I had some idea about who the characters were … but the beginning lacked background, the middle was dull, pointless, full of fillers, the end corny and rushed, as I wanted to not only reach my goal word-wise, but actually finish the book.
I am seriously tempted now to let you read the first draft (with all of its grammar, punctuation, and overly awfulness intact) and let you see how your hopeless first draft can become, well, not to brag, but a mediocre novel! 🙂
Would you like to read it?
~Kellyn Roth