Sanity Inducer

I recently re-discovered the dissertation database (ProQuest at our library) where one can look at full and partial dissertations. Why, you ask? For inspiration. My husband's cure for dissertation blues was to read the worst dissertations that his department had passed in the last few years. He was pretty sure he could do better than that. Since I'm working on the chapter synopsis section of my prospectus, I found it really helpful to take a look at a bunch of different Tables of Contents to get an idea of what people actually cover in real dissertations that get people their degrees. I'm also keeping my eye out for some "worst of" dissertations to keep me going later.

Reply to Amstr by GEW (with an update)

Thanks for the update, Amster. I, too, blew off the dissertation way too much during the summer. It's very hard not to do that, especially since the hubby and kids are on vacation, too. But in the future, when summer isn't followed by a sabbatical, I will need to really work.

As for my progress, I got a little bit done in August. Basically, I started working up some preliminary notes and arguments for what might turn out to be Chapter Four of the dissertation. Some of it is probably silly, but some of it will be productive.

And today I had my first meeting with my supervisor, which was great. We talked a bit about my notes (regarding Chapter Four), and we discussed my overall plan and the central driving questions of the thesis. We'll meet again tomorrow to talk more.

As for my studies, right I'm looking at primary sources and I'm review some Bakhtin. I think Bakhtin might turn out to be useful! But I'm pretty rusty on theory, so I've got a lot of work to do.

So, Amstr, are you enjoying working during the daytime? How are the September goals going? I really like the "Really see it" project, and I'll be working on that soon.

My Summer Vacation, by Me

Welcome to Fall, my fellow dissertationers. What did you do over summer vacation?

My work stalled out for the last half of June and all of July. I had hoped to get a draft of my RSA conference paper done this summer, but alas, I have nothing. August ended up being a month of easing back into dissertation work. I read a modest amount, finished a paragraph-by-paragraph summary of Crane’s difficult introduction to Shakespeare’s Brain, got back in the rhythm of working, and prayed for September. Why the praying, you ask? Preschool.

Yesterday, both kids spent 2.5 hours with their teachers and other kids while I haunted a table at a Starbucks housed in a 70s strip mall, looking out over a shiny new Shell station. And I got a ton of writing done. I managed to re-write half of the methods section of my prospectus, and I toyed around with possible structures for my RSA paper. I actually came up with a clever idea for my conclusion, too. I hope I can keep up the momentum. Working during daylight hours is really pretty amazing.

So my plan for September:

-draft RSA paper

-read bunch of relevant articles and write Summary-Critiques of them

-revise my prospectus

-finish prospectus bibliography

-re-read FQ Book 3 (and relevant parts of Books 4 and 5)

-finish as much of Sidney’s New Arcadia as I possibly can

My other dissertation-y project is one I found here (scroll down to the "REALLY see it" section). I’m making a mock-up of my dissertation in a 3-ring binder. I’ll put in a title page, table of contents, sections for each chapter, etc. The hope is that it can help me work on small chunks without being overwhelmed by the dissertation as a whole. I may even cover it with “I heart Shakespeare” stickers, just for the encouragement.

Hope you’ve had good summers, and I’m eager for updates!

Pre-Vacation Organizing

Okay. Well, I haven't gotten a lot of work done, but yesterday I DID take some of the advice from that last link. I pulled a little file cabinet out of the playroom closet. Emptied it of many strange things, put it next to the desk, moved the printer onto it (which had been taking up desk space), and cleaned the desk and the rest of the office/playroom. So now I just need some file folders, and I will use the cabinet for all of the scholarly articles I have in giant piles. And the desk is ready for work when I get back, which is good because I won't get back until the middle of August, and I'll have about 2.5 weeks to crank out a bunch of work before I go back to Wales in September.

Anybody want to go with me to Wales in September? I think I'm going to fly out around the 3rd, get back around the 12th.

:)

Post-Vacation Working

I'm definitely having trouble getting back in the groove after a couple weeks of vacation. I've done very little since I turned in my prospectus draft, and I have a lot I want to accomplish this summer. I ran across these articles and thought I'd pass them along:

How to Re-start Your Dissertation after a Vacation, Part I

How to Re-start Your Dissertation after a Vacation, Part II

I'm supposed to be writing a full draft of my conference paper this summer, but it's been years since I wrote a paper (specifically 4.5 years, excluding area exams). I'm having trouble getting started. Any suggestions? Any surefire strategies you use?

Summer Madness

Hey folks. Hope to catch up soon, but I've been crazy busy moving into a new apartment working on a story and my orals lists. Also, check out the site which is keeping me busy building away: shoecellar.com Hopefully, I'll be resurfacing soon-ly!

Scraps

Thanks for sending the prospectus to me, Amstr! Everything has been crazy with parties, family visits, etc., so I haven't read it yet. I'll read it when I get back from the cruise. I'm eager to read it because I had a just a couple of hours on Wednesday to do a bit of diss work, and I found myself re-thinking the chapter organization. I'll be running my thoughts by my fellow Dissertanians when we get back from the cruise!

Back soon . . .