Preparing for NaNoWriMo

I'm starting to get excited about NaNoWriMo, but I'm also a little anxious. I know it's several months away, but I want this to be a real attempt at a first draft and not merely a writing exercise. I've more or less completed (and either discarded or simply shelved) 2 novels (one of 60k words and one of 80k) so I have some idea of what's in store.

I've mostly done short stories of late which has been both more satisfying and more frustrating. Satisfying, because there's an easily attainable goal. Frustrating, because the market for short stories, particularly heroic fantasy short stores, is nearly nil. That, and most of the stories I want to write just require more space.

In both cases, the novels failed to achieve their goals because I didn't have a clear outline. The first, especially, was a muddled mess and I decided after that, that I would have some sort of outline before I tried again.

So I've been working on an outline. It just makes sense that I'll be more productive if I don't have to stop and think what the next scene will be. Unfortunately that is easier said than done. I have a general idea of where I want the plot to go and several key scenes to include, but stitching it all together and working out the details--a lot of that only comes together in the process of writing.

Still, if I can just come up with a list of name for all the characters, that alone will save me tons of time. For some reason having to come up with a character name on the spot just stops me cold as I sit and debate what it should be.