Yet Another Blog About NaNoWriMo (Help me, please, veteran NaNo-ers?) - Comments

I don't know if you have decided yet but the first idea sounds like it would be amazing. I would definitely read that one. :)

October (and any month before really) is for planning and fleshing out your plot and characters (creating outlines, profiles and such). During November you pretty much write as much as you can in order to pass your goal. In order to be considered a "winner" on the Nano site you need to pass 50k. That doesn't mean it has to be your goal though. Some people just shoot for 25k, 150k, etc. Editing is supposed to be saved for December and/or any month after November so there's more time during Nano to write.

I like the first one. It sounds really interesting with the journals and pictures.

I haven't done Nanowrimo, but I would suggest doing an outline before then. Even just a basic one.