Dear Team,

Here we are, a third of the way through. Our apartments are disgusting, our friends are annoyed, and our bosses have started casting suspicious, sidelong glances at our monitors as they walk by our cubicles. If you are like most people, you are behind on your word count. And, like most people, you are entering the dreaded Week of Fatigue.

The Week of Fatigue is the low point of National Novel Writing Month. It's the dastardly seven-day period when the kick-off adrenaline wanes, workloads increase, and downtime becomes a sweet and distant memory.

And on top of that, you've hit a fork in your novel. You've wrapped up the exposition and introduced all the characters. And now something book-like has to happen. Someone needs to fall in love. Or get amnesia. Or go on a road trip. But who? And how? And what ever happened to that soft and luscious thing called sleep? We remember sleep. Sleep was our friend.

We liked it a lot.

All these forces conjoin to create some serious crankiness and general unhappiness. Which is why you need to go ahead and plunder all those treats you stockpiled in the Nano "training" period. Call in sick and sleep late. Demand backrubs from significant others. Whine until friends take you out to dinner. You are writing a novel for god's sake---it's the least they can do.

And know that, if you keep on writing, the Week of Fatigue will end. Your novel will start being kind of fun. You'll find time to sleep again. And, accidentally, through no fault of your own, you may end up with something resembling an actual story. The kind you might let somebody read someday.

But that's getting a little ahead. For now: Treats. Luxuries. Whining.

Next week: Easier.

Three weeks from now: Champagne.

Keep up the great work,

Chris