Congratulations! You started and got to The End of the first draft of your novel. You started out with an outline, and you ended up being a pantster — you fly and write by the seat of your pants. So do I, it appears. I can do small planning sessions like you described, but I even veer from those plans. But they help. And yes! Lose track of your characters! I also edit novels and read a lot, and even in the finished versions the author has mixed up first names of two characters, or put one character in the wrong setting completely, and just forgotten about someone. I did it, too.

I came upon writing a novel (the first one) completely by accident. These two characters showed up in my journal one morning complete with first and last names, backstories and how the story took off. I felt like I was taking dictation. They kept returning and by day 3, I realized what a lot of fun I was having. NaNo helped me finish that first draft. I came up with another idea for a novel, did some backstory and environment setting, added conflict and finished that first draft, too. Both about 80,000 words each. The rewrites — are hell! But I’m plodding through. Keep going! And trust your gut — it works hard for you.