Okay, I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo, starting November 1st.   For those who don't know what this is, it is National Novel Writing Month, an annual exercise in literary abandon.   The goal is to write a fifty-thousand word rough draft novel in 30 days or less.  Some write more, but believe me, 50,000 words is plenty.   That averages out to 1667 words a day.
You can find more information about this at www.nanowrimo.org.

I've been doing some general research for my novel, coming up with a few character profiles, and localizing some of the settings I'll be using.  Some people write by the seat of their pants -- they are called pantsers, and some people do a great deal of preparation and planning -- they are called planners.  I tend more toward the Pantser but I also see a bit of value in having at least some clue to a few details.  After all, the story itself has been lurking in my brain for quite a number of years.  To sit down and start hammering out 1667 words a day with absolutely no ideas in place, well, that is not realistic.
This is my third attempt to write a novel this way.   I have two rough drafts in the hopper ... both successes.  If you can call a rough draft a success.  It is just a step in the creative process.  Sure, it is a big step, but it is just a step.  Last year, I had a rough outline and didn't look at it for about a week.  Then I hit a wall, a block.  I decided to check my outline, even though when I jotted it out it was just a loose progression of BS.  I was surprised to see that I had actually been generally following it.  At the point where I was now, I think I had jotted down like a single word.  Conflict.  "Huh?" I thought to myself, "What does that mean?  What was I thinking?"   Suddenly several ideas popped into my head and I continued on.  This rough outline saved me again and again and kept my on track.
See, I consider the 50,000 word goal as part of the challenge.  You see people on the NaNoWriMo forums touting their plans to write 75, 100, 120, 150 thousand words.  All fine and good, I guess, but trying to fit a beginning, middle, and end into 50 thousand word suggested limit is part of the challenge.  As you write along it is part of the fun to wrap the story up and try to come to a logical and entertaining conclusion by the 50,000 word mark.