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Ever since I opened up a Facebook account, I've had dozens of friends give birth. There seem to be babies popping out everywhere. Every other status update serves as a "Your Baby This Week" e-newsletter. I'm confronted with adorable ultrasound pictures, baby name surveys, and pictures of newborns swaddled tight in unstained clothing. In case I didn't remember how little and sweet they are, there are even videos -- Baby's first smiles, first coos, sit-ups (well, spit-ups), crawling, and walking. I'm nodding in sympathy at calls for help for the utter sleeplessness of it all. I'm cringing at pained messages about colic and reflux. But overall, I'm taking in all the luscious babyness that spreads across my home page on a near daily basis.

Melissa at Making Things Up recently linked to a really great essay, particularly for writers, from The Washington Post. Author Ann Patchett talks about the importance of treating writing as a job. She proposes taking the first 32 days of the year, and creating a real work day from which to write. And her advice makes plenty of sense.

While I can’t spend a whole “work day” writing, I did take steps back in January to make writing more a part of an actual "work day" for me: When the baby was ten months old, I hired a baby-sitter for four to six hours a week. On the occasional weekend day, I’d take my laptop on a date to a place with free wireless internet and write my butt off.