Learning to be Advised

Yet again, I approached contacting my advisor with trepidation. Yet again, he had great wisdom and encouragement. My dissertation actually seems to be taking form, instead of looking like alphabet soup.

I had one of those insight moments last night where I realized that the work I've been doing fits in with the work I did for my areas, particularly my focus on female authority. Instead of looking at a broad range of female authorship and authority, I'm focusing on motherhood and queenship and how the two intertwine. The two preliminary topic proposals--one on QEI as "mother," the other on Anne Clifford's relationships with her mother and with her daughter--probably connect in some way and give me a good starting point. (This is Anne to the left.)

The big question I asked my advisor was how to approach non-literary texts from a literary perspective. He said that training as a literary scholar will naturally lead to literary questions (of genre, rhetoric, voice, (self-)representation, constructions of identity and authority, audience, etc.), but that my question now should really be how construct my work so that literary and non-literary texts interact. He cautioned against focusing solely on non-literary works (as he did; it makes the job market more difficult because one might be seen as too non-literary [this may be particularly true in Ren studies]), and encouraged me to focus on mother-queen images in Spenser, Shakespeare, and Sidney (again, making my areas work helpful), using non-literary texts to support and broaden my arguments.

In a week where I've felt more like quitting than like plugging along, this advisor response was a much needed and positive motivator. How did I manage to luck into the most awesome advisor (for me) ever?

On a sort of related note: I just found out that Anne Clifford had memorial for Edmund Spenser put up in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. Small world, that Renaissance aristocracy.
“HEARE LYES (EXPECTING THE SECOND COMMINGE OF OUR SAVIOVR CHRIST JESUS) THE BODY OF EDMOND SPENCER THE PRINCE OF POETS IN HIS TYME WHOSE DIVINE SPIRRIT NEEDS NOE OTHIR WITNESSE THEN THE WORKS WHICH HE LEFT BEHINDE HIM. HE WAS BORNE IN LONDON IN THE YEARE 1553 AND DIED IN THE YEARE 1598. Restored by private subscription 1778”.

Nota Bene

Well, I've downloaded the trial version of Nota Bene and will be working with it for the next few weeks to see what I think. It sounds great, but I must admit that I balk at the price and at the learning curve involved in using it. I tend to think, "Who needs it?" But then I realize that I might be underestimating the task ahead. But didn't people do dissertations for decades without even having a computer? Do I really need to spend such money to keep myself organized? Perhaps I do. I'm not sure. Do my fellow dissertanians have any of this ambivalence?

In truth, the most important part of the program might be its ability to change the format/style of a doc. This could be VERY helpful since I will be writing my thesis in MHRA style but might want to submit portions of it for publication in MLA style. Does that sound presumptuous?

Snippets (and addition?)

I’m still reading Elizabeth’s collected works. My goal is to be 3/4 of the way through this week, and to have a mini-topic proposal for my advisor by Friday. List of Shame addition: contact advisor by a week from today.

My newest strategy is to be okay with reading in small chunks. I tend to want a couple hours at a time to really get into the reading, but I don’t often have that much uninterrupted time. My new motto is: do not fear tiny amounts of work.

Question: I wondered what you guys would think of inviting another blog author in. GEW, you've seen Kevin's postings on UMass Disserters. He's aiming to finish the diss this spring, I think, and is a Ren. guy, but I think he'd be interested in joining in on some not-necessarily-topic-specific conversations (and our UMass blog is getting a slow start). What do you think?

Managing Notes, etc.

Amstr, I've been following the conversation on UMass Disserters about DevonThink and Bookends. Any recommendations for PC users such as moi?

Met With Supervisor!

So! I had a great week in Wales (I'm in London today and fly home tomorrow!). I met with my primary supervisor for quite a while on Wednesday (lunch, office time, book launch, dinner) and then for a couple of hours on Friday. Also, I was in theory modules Thursday and Friday. The theory modules were mostly review, but there was a great session on Semiotics and a great session on text editing. It was worthwhile just to be with some other PhD students and do some theory review.

My primary supervisor and I talked mostly about thesis (dissertation) direction and chapter organization, both of which seem to depend on whether I stay narrow (one author) or go more broad in the first half of the project and then focus in on Haywood in the second half. Some of my contextual research has been interesting, and it's tempting to include it in a way that would broaden the thesis, but for now I think I'm going to assume that it will stay narrow--focused on Haywood. That could change, I guess, when I start writing the contextual stuff in question, but we'll see. The chapter divisions will depend on these same issues.

I also talked to her about how my writing strategies are unfolding. It seems to me that I'm tending to lean in the direction of the following process:

1. read and research for a chapter
   
2. make an outline for a chapter
3. draft a skeleton chapter (about 1/3 the length of final draft)
4. repeat process for other chapters
5. revisit skeleton chapters to flesh them out

This strategy has its weaknesses, the primary one being that I'll have to do each chapter at least twice, and there may be a fair amount of time between the drafts, and I could forget stuff or misplace sources. It also has strengths: I get a chance to see how the arguments shape up on paper, and perhaps I'll see which ones aren't working so well. I get important citations on paper, and I start integrating them. I'll see where the holes are. I won't have to store a whole chapter's worth of thoughts in my head or wait until I've done so in order to start writing. I'll have more knowledge when I revisit the chapters, so I can strengthen them.

I'm sure there are other strengths and weaknesses to such a process; I just hope the former will outweigh the weaker. Regardless, I just think that's how it's going to unfold.

I spoke to my secondary supervisor for about an hour-and-a-half. I think she was a little out of sorts that she and I didn't have more time to talk, but I hadn't scheduled that because I really didn't know if I was supposed to involve her at this point or not. The good news is that she is very interested in my project because I don't think she gets many advisees who share her philosophical bent. I think she's going to be very helpful. I told her that I was worried that I'll never know enough about philosophy to be an "expert" on any part of it, but she reminded me that my examiners will be English faculty not philosophy faculty, so I should be okay. Either way, she's a good measuring stick for me. If I can get past her, I think I can get past anyone (this notion was increased when I found out that she's kind of a hard "grader").

We didn't talk too much about conferences. My supervisor thinks I probably will be ready in about a year or so. I agree with her. I'm sure I could put something together before that if I really wanted to, but if I want to stay focused on the dissertation itself, some of that material should be conference-ready for next year. Each year, there is a grad student conference in Gregynog, Wales (see the photo?), and perhaps I will try to time a visit with that conference. I'll also keep my eye out for other conferences not too far from home. Plus, I'm not sure the husband or the kids will want me to go anywhere else for a while!

My next step is to write the skeleton version of Chapter One. I will try to get that done (or at least 5,000 words of it) by mid-January. I'd better get crackin'! But there's a hitch: I have to write my diss in MHRA style, which I haven't learned yet and which I didn't do for the previous writing submission. But for this one, I'd like to do it correctly. I don't want to get to the end and have to revise the formatting of 300 pages. Ack!

I've had a great week, but other than chatting with my advisors, I didn't get a lot of work done. I've watched TV in my hotel rooms and read novels on planes and trains. I am bad! I've treated it like a vacation, which it sort of is. But when I get home (tomorrow!) after I spend a couple of days inhaling the children, I'll get to work. It will be tough because of all of the holidays, but I tend to work faster when I'm writing than when I'm reading, so I'm optimistic!

BTW, Safiak, I came across John Clare's name at least twice this week!

Write or Die!

Another dissertation-writing friend passed this link along: Write or Die! You type in either a word count or a time required or both, and then you can set the settings of the program's responses to Gentle, Evil, Strict, etc. I did a test drive of 100 words, and after I finished, it played a fanfare. Sad to say, it felt great! and all I did was type nonsense. I suppose failing would produce something nearer the rack. It may come in handy when I'm stuck and just need to get words on paper (or screen).

Falling down and getting back up

I should know myself better. The second I have a goal that I'm pretty sure is too lofty, I freeze up and all my plans go down the crapper. My ambitious (for me) reading plan this last week proved to be one of those too lofty goals. I have made some progress, but not near as much as I'd like. And then I just kind of stopped reading. After the crash-and-burn, and a difficult weekend with the kids (made worse by the rain), we decided we needed a break. Luckily, my parents and brother had yesterday and today off, so we made a last minute trip to Carmel Valley. It was heavenly, and now I'm psyching myself up for a week of not-so-lofty goals, but regular and consistent work.

I'm moving back and forth between the collection of Elizabeth I's writing (it's chronological, and I'm currently reading speeches made around her ascension) and sections in Women in Early Modern England. I'll also probably squeeze in The Countess of Lincoln's Nursery (a treatise on breastfeeding) when I get bored of Elizabeth.

Here's to good progress, good books, and good wine.

In PhD Town!

Not many posts lately because first I was busy with in-laws, and then I was busy packing, and then I was busy traveling, the latter of which went quite smoothly! Now, I'm in PhD town. Tomorrow, I need to go by the Dean's Office to sign a form for the theory module I'll be attending Thursday and Friday. Then, I think I'll go to the library, and read some poems by A. Pope, among others. Oh, I have a GREAT article to read that's called, "Neoplatonism, Ficino, and the Problem of Sex." I'm eager to get to THAT one.

Tomorrow, I'm on my own, then I'll spend Wed. afternoon with my supervisor. Thurs and Fri, I'll be at the module, and Saturday afternoon, I take the train back to London-town! It goes quickly. But I hear little Roo is sad, and that makes me sad, so I'll be glad to see the kiddie-poos again!

But today, I enjoyed a late lunch at my favorite charcuterie/delicatessen. I started with a warm duck salad (little medallions of duck in greens with a great balsamic), then followed it with some kind of stew that had a chicken thigh, various cured meats, chick peas, carrots--it was amazing! And I got a glass of French Sauvignon and a cheese plate that came with the most amazing date-orange chutney. All for just 15 quid! Granted, that's an expensive lunch, but I knew with that lunch I wouldn't need dinner. So I stocked up my hotel room with two baguettes, some Beaufort cheese, a bag of apples, some peach-almond chutney, some Spanish wine, some dark chocolate, and some port. With free breakfasts, late lunches, and my hotel room stash, I won't be needing dinners! In the long run, that should save me some $$$.

I'll let you know how things go with my supervisor!

Shuffling Along

So my update for this week: I'm hoping to dig in to Elizabeth I's writings. I'd love to finish the collection before my next advisor check-in in 2 weeks, but I'm not sure that's possible. At least I'd like to have read enough that I can pitch a possible paper topic. This week is not looking good, with voting research tonight and the watch-and-wait tomorrow. I'm hoping I can negotiate some kid-free work time this weekend.

Last week I got through Clifford, started on Elizabeth, and got some research and writing done about representations of motherhood and actual motherhood in the Renaissance. It seems like there may be newly published relevant primary sources out there, and at first glance the secondary sources look interesting but not overwhelming in number (yet).

And my new favorite YouTube-ish video is Stephen Greenblatt on the Colbert Report comparing the candidates to Shakespearean characters.