Plot, plot, plot, plot, plot ...

I know that the book is called No Plot, No Problem, but really what you need to get through is lots and lots of plot. Too much really. Want to do a character driven story? Well good luck with that, but I think that a good chunk of the character work needs to be sketched out ahead of time (which is kinda-sorta, but not really cheating) or done during the competition, in which case you're hemorrhaging time that could have been spent writing.

The reason I finished the first year was because I had lots of plot (I ended on a cliffhanger). The reason I failed the second year was that I didn't really have a plot. I just had a loose conflagration of concepts (also I had just moved across Canada).

Also, action scenes. No better way to waste 3000 words than having two dudes swing swords at each other.