This is a my special intervention plea to Scott Woods, on behalf of Scott Woods, who as sure as rain falls from the sky, is growing more and more frustrated at his falling farther and farther behind in Nanowrimo, or whatever it is.

Leave that girl.

Not out of failure, not out of thinking you can't do it, because you can, you've done it before, so there is no challenge in accomplishing the task yet again. Let her go, she is a tramp- she is here for 30 days and gone, leaving you with a mess of crazy nonsensical pages and a whole lotta relationships with friends and family to repair.

Know that I say this because I am your friend, and I am thinking of what is best for you, and your characters, who deserve better... If God really did create the world in seven days- dude, seriously, look at it- do you think he would have done much better in 30? I think not, we'd be hearing some frustration on LJ at day twenty about continents and how he doesn't want them to look like inappropriate body parts and some such nonsense.

In a few days, your posts will gain urgency, your eyes and demeaner at work will start to change- your harem will notice your discontent, and start to avoid you, like you have a big H1N1 written on your forehead and your handing out samples. Writing does not have to be a lonely endeavor, it's just sold that way because guy writers have been unable to get girls to take their clothes to the sound of keyboards or typewriters, as opposed to Guitars. It doesn't mean that people do not want to share the experience with you.

A few days after that, your LJ posts will be simply "can't post, gotta write". Then we'll have to call your wife and make sure that you're still alive- and she won't really know because you've been in the basement for a week and haven't asked for any food, or water. Concerned, she will grab a flashlight and come down looking for you, only to find a gollom-esque figure hunched over a keyboard in the dark stroking the monitor in loving fashion jabbering some nonsense about your "precious" when really all you are typing is "all work and no play makes Scott a dull boy." It doesn't end well at that point...

Do you see where I am going here? She's not worth it, let her go.

hit this instead: http://community.livejournal.com/novel_in_90/

Now this, this... is a woman. This is a loving experience where you can build and share and reach new heights with your writing, all without losing your hair, friends, job, wife, car, or melatonin. This is where your characters can stretch out, spend time telling you who they are, and get moving the way you intended to. Oh, she wants to develop the relationship, and she forces you to move forward, but she comes with friends that cheer you on when you do well, or remind you how valuable she is when you do not.

She is not a writing prostitute, who does not care what it is on the page, just that some vomited english proves that for 30 days, you can type fast and furious- yeah, does that not at all sound like the slam poetry of the novel world? Is that really who you are?

I think not.

Scotty, as your friend, let's step away from all this- together, let's do Novel in 90, and write something that doesn't turn into an accidentally deleted file at the next hard drive crash... and let's keep the people we love doing it....