STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

One of my friends (P) and I have been getting pretty annoyed at another friend (M). We've known each other for 3 years now, and M was my roommate our first year together. M is a great person: loyal, trustworthy, generous, etc. But she's clingy: rather than figuring out what she wants to do, she'll find other people and tag along, even when it's, for example, to a party where she won't know anyone. Also, her personality is annoying: during a conversation, she'll start telling a story, seldom an interesting or relevant one, and insist on being listened to: she simply repeats the first sentence over and over. If someone glances at her, she'll focus in on them and talk to them, even if over another conversation.

We - P, myself and others friends - don't know what to do. She's remained part of our group, we think, because during the first year we knew each other, we all lived near each other (esp. me being her roommate) so she could tag along easily. Others have started avoiding her, not telling her what they're doing, but she knows P and me better, so she asks us what we're doing a lot. As a result, other friends are sometimes less willing to tell P and me what they're doing for fear M will come too.

I don't know what to do. Ideally, I'd stay friends with M but not spend as much time with her. But I feel guilty pushing her away, and as her closest friend here (her best friend, who had the same annoyance with her being clingy, is gone for the year) my doing so would leave her without a strong group of friends, as far as I can tell. I'd really appreciate any ideas of how to gain enough distance to appreciate her good qualities without hurting her!