Personally, it took me a long time to find programs I liked, so I recommend starting to do research into which schools you want to apply to. Read about professors' research and read some of their papers. This may take a long time if you do it for an hour or two a day. I also e-mailed some professors I was interested in over the summer and tried to strike up a connection. For the most part, it didn't work, but I think it got my name in their heads. Also, there are some great books on applying to grad school: Donald Asher's "Graduate Admission Essays" and Robert L. Peters' "Getting What You Came For" are both very helpful books that I consulted during this process (I applied this Fall 2009).
You have to get down to the bottom of why you want to go to graduate school and why you want to go to a specific program. If you can pinpoint those facts and relay them to the admissions committee in your SoP, you will be in very good shape. I worked very hard on my SoP, and I think it paid off.
Good luck and don't let the bad days get you down!
-Matt