I may complain and moan and threaten to do various things, but I have never thought about quitting Nano when I have started. Here are some "tips" that I have figured out myself. This will by no means work for everyone; most people have temperaments that are very different from my own and will probably think my advice is stupid.
* Plan ahead. If I don't plan ahead--which goes for most things--I tend to wait until the last minute to do things. Being unprepared doesn't work for writing an entire novel, especially if you're typically more staid than spontaneous. If you know about Nano ahead of time, start thinking of ideas and keep them in a notebook. Do research, world building, and outlining as necessary.
* Set aside time. Maybe you can write during the morning or during your lunch break or right before bed. The important thing is to make some time which you can sit down, get your thoughts in order, and just write. Try not to waste your time doing something unnecessary. This year, my schedule was basically: wake up, go to lab, come back home to write on average 1000 words, and go to sleep. On weekends, I scrapped anything that might have been fun and either went to lab or binge wrote.
* Write something. On the days that you plan to write, write something, anything. If you can't force anything other than one word, don't beat yourself over it--the next day will be better. I had originally planned to not write during my birthday, but I wrote anyway because I was feeling better than the previous day which I had only eked out one sentence.
* Reverse psychology. Believe it or not, I found the "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" forum on the Nano site one of the few lounges I read with any frequency. It's all about purging all these negative feelings and doubts and once all of that is gone, you can sit down with a fresh mind and write. All the smugness and self-congratulatory tone of the "This is Working Far Better Than I Had Hoped" forum completely backfired on me.
* Competition. Idealistically, one should always write for oneself first and foremost. But it also helps to have a little competition. I didn't find an "enemy" to do Nano with (it's very hard to gauge the pacing and dedication of a stranger) but I did often compare my word count with others in my state.
Well, that's basically what I did this year. Oh, and don't forget the many, many cans of Mountain Dew.
(Another note: I got a Nano sticker in the mail today. I was expecting four instead of one since I donated, but whatever. Maybe I'm feeling too nice today.)
