The Inner Editor

Now, if you are a participant in NaNoWriMo, then you know all about the inner editor. The inner editor is that horrible, lurking, creeping feeling in the back of your mind that everything that you're writing is wrong and needs to be fixed, and godammit it needs to bee fixed now. NaNoWriMo has always preached (for as long as I have participated, so since last year at least) that this is a bad thing, that your inner editor needs to be shut away, under lock and key, not to see the light of day for a month.
If this works for you, and you fully intend to keep using this method of doing things, then by all means, close this window, read no further. You're obviously managing perfectly well without my help.
However, if you feel like trying something different, read on.
The way I see it, there are two ways of going about NaNoWriMo. The first is what I did last year. I came up with a lose plot, had an idea of the characters I wanted to write as well as the storyline. On the 1st of November, I promptly put my head down, wrote fiercely for a month and only came up for air once I had reached my 50 000. I did win NaNoWriMo, then took the advised one month break away from my story to clear my head. When I went back to it, I realized that what I had written was the biggest, steaming mass of bullshit that had ever graced the earth and have since refused to look at it. Maybe I will go back to it eventually. Maybe.
This year, I'm trying a different tactic. I've planned my story extensively. I' a control freak, so this works for me, but even if you choose not to plan things to minute detail, I'd suggest having a place to keep your thoughts (you could check out my last post if you need a suggestion of what to do for that). I like my notebook, as I mentioned, but you can write wherever you like. The idea is that, when you have a thought, whether it's something you want to include later on in your story, or something that you want to keep in mind while you're writing, or - God forbid - an edit that you want to remember for your next draft, you put it in this place, so you can always come back to it later. Writing 50 000 words in a month is a stressful thing. Hell, writing in general is a stressful thing, and I've found personally that this relieves a lot of stress when I'm writing to have somewhere to keep my thoughts.
To be fair, the first method is a tried and true method of winning NaNoWriMo, at least for me. The second method, while untested, I believe will help me win, as well as leave me with something I can work with when December rolls around.
What do you plan for NaNoWriMo, or your own writing endeavors? Let me know in the comments!
Yours always,
Layla Ann