@Hydrogen: Starting the outline early is a power move – respect. Five words last year is still five more than zero, so maybe this year’s the breakthrough. Do you see yourself actually sticking to the classic NaNoWriMo “write now, edit later” chaos, or would you still want the outline to feel polished before diving in? Also – what’s your gut telling you the theme will be this time around?
I need to feel good about the outline or I can't commit to it.
Every once in awhile I have an idea for something that might work.
In the way Michael Crichton wrote a story about dinosaur DNA being collected from prehistoric insects preserved in amber.
Sometimes, I write these ideas down and think they might make for a decent story.
Although maybe the world has too much content, data and information atm and my time would be better spent elsewhere.