Yeah, it’s August. Whatever. 
I’m planning to pre-cook / pre-prepare frozen meals for myself in October, so I spend less time on food preparation. Any little bit helps!
I didn’t NaNo last year, and I really missed it.
-janra
I am kind of feeling the same way this year. I also skipped '07 on the basis that I have never gone back and actually used anything I wrote in past contests, but now a year later I feel as though I skipped out on an old friend. Hmm, and now that I think about it, I’ve always been more into process than product anyway. I think '07 just needed a lame excuse.
Coffee jitters, malnutrition, and bad hair, here I come!
I’ve been aware of NaNo for several years, but never tried it. I’d like to this year. In my experience, quick writing has a focus and immediacy that labored-over lacks.
I did Nano successfully in '06 and '07, but this year…I don’t know. I was able to complete a lot of it because of extensive work travel during the last two Novembers. Writing in airports, on planes, in hotels, etc.
But this year there’s not so much travel planned, and grad school is going to be a bear this fall…and so is work.
I will probably take a pass this year and return in '09.
I strongly encourage everyone to give it a shot. Hit that daily count and you’ll be golden.
B1225
That and by the end of it, you have a novel!
I was aware of it for a couple of years before I did it the first time (2003).
I recommend setting goals for yourself outside of the basic 50,000/30. The first year I did it, it was a dual goal of 50,000 words and a completed story. I have since set different goals each year to add on to what I now consider my basic 50,000 + “THE END”.
Keeps it interesting 8)
(I don’t add a goal every year, it’s my basic pair plus one other thing which changes year to year.)
I’ve done a few nanos (only won one) but not for the last two years or so. November seems the month where everything comes falling down on me, not very suited for writing a novel
This year however I wanted to get back into it and ordered the book on aug 1st, thinking I could also do a novel in August! So far, I have completely failed because I went to Copenhagen for a week and have done nothing but enjoying myself. I feel good about it though
Perhaps I should focus on stocking up the fridge for November.
Tanja
Having “won” twice in prior years, I am feeling up to a secondary goal as well. Considering that in both of those wins, I was only around 75% done with the story, I think writing for an ending might be a good target. I have yet to actually produce a cohesive story, and I think that might be part of what had me down on it all last year.
50,000 + The End sounds very nice indeed, and definitely would be more challenging than simply foaming at the fingertips for a month, hitting 1,667 per day.
And what is with that! I have the same problem with Novembers, though oddly it is odd-year Novembers that tend to be the worst. Some major, “life-changing” events have happened and they all happened in November 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2007. I had a nice little break in 2003—the rest was clockwork. Well, at least it is an even year. I have chance of not writing 50,000 words of angry, depressive bile!
I haven’t tried it before, but I think I might give it a crack this year, just for a different approach.
Of course, in Australia November is late Spring, so I might have to do some of it outside if I can find a nice park.
Now I just need to get that timeline app beta done by then so I actually have the time to do it!
Tch! tch! Off-topicking 
Some people never learn!!
Fluff
I could just admit you caught me in some ruthless cross-promotion.
But…
On the contrary, I think having no time for writing is very much on theme with NaNoWriMo, given it is the very reason such a thing exists at all.
Matt 
Wow!! A superlative example of mendacious quick-witted, ‘On the Fly’ rebuttal!!
Wicked !! Wicked!! 
Ooh, do like KB did and put your public beta on the NaNo boards, that will be one heck of a stress test. Only don’t read the bug reports until December or you’ll never actually get to your NaNo. 
Yeah, producing 50,000 words of drivel and free-writing didn’t appeal to me. That’s a large part of the reason that I set myself the dual goal right at the start. Then I’d have a story, instead of yet another half-finished attempt.
Another advantage to getting 50,000 + The End is then it feels right to take Lulu up on their offer of one free copy of your NaNovel… (I gone '06 done that way, then paid for '03 and '05 this spring.)
I’m in. It’s my first year and I’m looking forward to it.
I’ve been trying to organise my life (and annual leave) around it so with a bit of luck and a lot of work…
I think I’ll do it, too, but this time I aim to finish the story and not just churn out the wordcount. Last year I exceeded 50k but left out a major scene and couldn’t think of a decent ending.
I’ve just started learning to use the Dvorak keyboard in preparation, so I hope I’ll be up to speed by then (trying new key layout as part of a wishful-thinking strategy to try to reduce or minimise problems with arthritic fingers, especially in the long term). I have read that it can be faster – eventually – but that is not my prime motivation. So far, Dvorak is s-l-o-w but I am only on my second day (doing “ABCD: a basic course in Dvorak”, at gigliwood.com/abcd/abcd.html), and as yet I can only touch-type AOEUIDHTNSPG. For all other letters, I have to look up Keyboard Viewer because I’m still using a QWERTY keyboard.
You can’t imagine how long it is taking to write this. Painful! I hadn’t realised how much I took instinctive and relatively speedy typing for granted. This had better be worth it in the long run! 
May I recommend: learn.aoeu.nl/ ?
It uses ‘real words’ to help you learn to type.
Also, it takes a few weeks, and then you get comfortable again 
I switched a few years ago due to arthritis and have never looked back. For me it helps.
Good luck!
Tanja
Thank you for the link. Extremely useful. It appears I have a long way to go… lesson 1 was 100 words in 16 minutes (although I didn’t know it was timing me, so wasn’t very focused), and only 85.6% accuracy!
It’s good to know the keyboard layout works for you, and helps your arthritis. Everyone I know says I’m mad for trying!
I’m in. This will be my third NaNo. I “won” in 2006 and 2007. I have a very sketchy idea for the start of this year’s novel. I’ll do some planning between now and Nov 1, and also work on revising my 2006 novel, which currently has a deliberately stupid ending that I stole from Monty Python. The Spanish Inquisition arrives (a moment too late).
Dale
I didn’t expect that.
Meanwhile, I did Nano (successfully) in '06 and '07 as well. I was going to take a break this November, but this morning was pondering doing it again anyway. I’ll probably dive in with no planning and complain about it for 26 days and - I hope - come out the other side with 50k to 60k words. It’s…cathartic.
b1225
The NaNo website is up again, ready for this year’s round of literary insanity.
Go sign up! 8)
Hi!
I’m psyched for Nano! I downloaded Scivener specifically to help me this year. It’ll be my second and I want to produce something that actually makes sense!
So far, I’m loving it. I’ve got an outline, a list of characters with some backgrounds and I’m working on location sketches.
Last year I whipped up a word storm that ended up in a bunch of puddles. Exciting, yes. But I would really like to get to “The End” this time.
So, if anybody wants to chime in on how they are preparing - btw, cooking up meals ahead of time is awesome! - I’d love to share!
md