Yeah, the thing about writing is that there's no set way that every single writer has to write. I've seen/read lectures that propose there's two camps of writers: pantsers/gardeners and plotters/architects. Pantsers write off the seat of their pants and jot down anything that comes down to their mind, with little or no planning ahead. Plotters take time to write down a detailed plotline and world-build like none other.

Both have their pros and cons--pantsers might get more done but they might be prone to plot-holes and so forth. Plotters have order and direction on their side but might spend so much time getting down the details that they don't get the story written or they become tired and frustrated.

Now I'm not saying that every writer is either a pantser or a plotter--it'd be more accurate to say that there's a range between the two. Some people do well with a little bit of both, and not everyone has the problems I listed ahead under any one style. I primarily used to write my stories just by whatever came to my head, but I kept finding it hard to stay focused and finish anything that I wrote. I still struggle with ending things, but now I've come to do a little bit of both. When I first get an idea in my head, I'll go ahead and "pants" it for a little while, and once I get a little sense in the direction I want to go I sit down and write a plotline--but I leave it very open and edit it frequently even as I continue writing the story. I do like exploring a lot of things when I write, so I let my plot line be very flexible.

Here's something I would suggest, Caite-Chan: stop rewriting. One of the things I've learned with NaNoWriMo is that sometimes you should press on and keep writing, no matter what the quality of the writing is. Editing should be something you do after you get all your writing out of your system. :)