NaNoWriMo 2008

It's that time again and I am this close < > to freaking out. Yes, of course I am doing NaNoWriMo again and I don't have a clue what to write! Well actually that's not true- I've already decided I would bend the rules a bit and work on an idea I had that involved a series of short stories taking place in my country (mentioned in the previous year- book 5: BC). I've got titles and a general idea of what I want most of the stories to be about. One would think I'm well on my way to a successful NaNoWriMo but I simply don't know how I'm going to handle these stories. No idea of the characters, how I'll get the messages across...it just feels like a lot of half-baked ideas with a lot of potential, and I don't know how to make them live up to their potential.
Alternatively, I suppose I could follow the rules completely and write a full-length novel but I don't have an idea what I'd work on, no idea that has been sitting around for a while waiting for the opportunity for me to dedicate time to it; I've worked on all the novel ideas I had. That problem came about as a result of me working on two novel ideas I had last NaNoWriMo which turned out...okay I guess but I was spread all over the place because I worked on those two new ideas as well as on my two old 'completed' novels. I believe that happened as a result of me not having a solid plan/outline going in; I'd decided to kind of wing it, 'fly by the seat of my pants' in a way. I wanted to see what would happen if I did things with less planning as opposed to the previous (my first) NaNo where I went in with a good idea of where I wanted to go and had the first several chapters outlined. Once the challenge began and I wrote those chapters out, worked out/came up with more chapter ideas then tackled writing those out. It resulted in a successful NaNo. So it seems I am much more likely to be successful if I work out as much as I can, have a clearer outline in mind (and on paper).
Therefore, back to the original game plan (and the drawing board?); Nano's in 4 days...

ETA- Later in the night (wee hours of the morning of the next day that is) I got some ideas regarding characters and the situations I could use and each character's issues for book five. Once I started thinking about the people/places I knew best, I realized the answer was in front of me all along; there is one place I remained for a long time, saw folks come and go but a lot stayed. I got to know many people to some degree, and witnessed various episodes regarding them. It was like a family.
I still don't know if this is the idea I'm going to go with, but push come to shove...