Nanowrimo preperations

I know we're quite a ways away from Nanowrimo but it's been on my mind.

For those of you who don't know what Nanowrimo is, I'll enlighten you briefly. It stands for "National Novel Writing Month" and during the month of November, the goal is to write a minimum of 50k words of a novel. There are a bunch of rules and other information that you can peruse on the website if you want more details.

Last year I began The Blood of Renatus during Nano, although I didn't come up with the (current) title until chapter 13. I spent a painstaking amount of time in October planning for the novel only to have a majority of it change and go in an entirely different direction. I blame Rafe. He was too moody.

Anyway I'm having a bit of a conundrum here because I don't know what to do for Nano. You're supposed to write something brand new, and not continue on a current project. Meaning that if I want to play by the rules I won't write a word on BoR during November even though I'm sure more than 50k words left to write. Sarah, of course, would tell me to just finish BoR before November so that it isn't an issue. I could do it, i mean i wrote 50k words in one month last November but it's increasingly hard to find time especially when I am admittedly disenchanted with BoR.

So here's what I'm going to do, I have several ideas that I could start in November. I'm really not ever short of ideas and there are a few that consistently stick out in my head. So I'm going to give you a very brief synopsis of my ideas and let you choose what I work on come November.

Jack of all Trades and the Masters of One:
A series of 5 short stories that all connect together. It's an Earth-based fantasy in which a human (or several, i haven't decided) must go on a quest in each realm (sea, sky, underworld, land) in order to prevent the Apocalypse. An interesting premise, and it could be fun to write.

Flare
Another fantasy novel but not NEARLY as epic as BoR (I couldn't handle another epic fantasy right now). It begins with a feisty teenage girl named Flare trying to wake up her drunk father who has passed out in an alley. She mistakenly gets accused of being a thief and trying to steal from him and is thrown in jail with her accuser for starting a fight. While in jail mysterious assailants try to kill the man who accused her of being a thief and they escape together. The rest of the story ensues.

Open and Shut
A 3 part YA novel about people who have the power to either "open" or to "shut". They work in pairs known as Partners and there are very few in the world. A pair of Partners have known each other since childhood but do not get along and so choose to not work together. They are called in to figure out a way to open Sealed room that has been shut for hundreds of years. However, opening the room proves to be a huge mistake and dormant, evil forces are let loose to pray upon the unsuspecting population.

Something entirely different (no working title yet)
Not a fantasy! A coming of age story about a young woman just out of college working as a barista at a local coffee shop. She battles life lessons in learning how to deal with her two older sisters and through the deaths of several family members. Also includes girly romance.

Finish Blood of Renatus
If I focus like I did last November on BoR I'll be able to finish at least the first draft for sure. It would, however, be going against the rules of nanowrimo.

Part of the problem with starting something new is that I'm going to need to take several dedicated weeks to plan out whatever it is I write. It might be fun to start something new however taking on a full novel (which is generally much longer than the obligatory 50k of nano) might be more than what I want to take on. So what are your opinions on the matter? Please vote in the poll and I encourage you to comment!