I seem to be at the stage of writing where I need to surround myself with the appropriate accoutrements: carving out a space in the computer room amongst all of Jake’s stuff; using a Barnes & Noble gift card that I received for reviewing the Norton Anthology to buy a nice leather journal, a collection of Penguin mini notebooks, and a laptop lap desk; adding an appointment labeled “write” (in light purple), consisting of 3-hour blocks, twice a week to my Google Calendar; piling my issues of Poets & Writers on the filing cabinet nearby; reading the chapter “Shitty First Drafts” in Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird; circling, circling, circling, around the task of writing and hoping, hoping, hoping that the inspiration or motivation or something from someplace I can’t yet tap into comes to me and makes this whole thing happen. I hate to channel “Mad Men,” but there it is…after watching Don drink himself into oblivion yet again, Freddy tells him to just “do the work.” Next morning, Don’s back at Sterling Cooper & Partners. So, Becky, do the work!