I'm feeling similarly about much of this! I've only done it in college, but this is my senior year and my fourth year of nano. I agree that it's about having fun, and writing, also. My theory is that anyone is a winner of nano if they have stretched themselves as a writer, and tried. This year I'm not really writing a novel? Instead I'm writing background stories for the more Serious Project that I've been accidentally working on since July. Yay!