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 . . .

News (used to be a plural)

News item #1: My panel got accepted to the RSA conference! Yay! Now I just have to convince my parents or brothers or close friends to travel with us to help out with child care. Oh, and write a paper.

News item #2: I turned in my prospectus draft. And boy, is it a draft. No citations. Bracketed notes to myself all over the place about what I still need to write. Each "chapter" section in a different form and style. But it's turned in. My next step is to put together a working bibliography by the end of the month.

News item #3: Next up, working on writing the RSA conference paper, which will get me started on the reading and research for my Faerie Queene chapter. I'd love to have a solid draft by the end of the sumer.

How's the summer shaping up for you?

Yet again . . .

I had an "I really, really feel like quitting" week last week, and tonight, my ideas for my prospectus (and its theoretical basis) came together quite nicely--at least in my head. I hope sleeping on it makes it even better.

Hope you two are having good endings to good semesters.

One step closer to Italy

I found out today that my paper proposal for RSA 2010 was accepted to the panel "Maternity and Renaissance Romance Narratives." Now I have to whittle down my 342 word abstract to 150 words and submit it directly to RSA. Evidently, RSA reviews our panel and gives a thumbs up or thumbs down on the entire thing. I'll likely hear back over the summer.

I Heart Cognitive Theory

I’ve been reading the introduction to Mary Thomas Crane’s Shakespeare’s Brain, and I love, love, love cognitive theory. It’s the first theory that feels right, or makes sense, or works in concert with the ways that I think, or however you want to say it. She does the complicated work of justifying the use of cognitive science as a means for describing/interpreting literature, situates it among all the big hitters--Foucault, Althusser, Derrida, Lacan, and others--and proposes specific ways to apply cognitive theory to literature. Here’s a shout out to Dr. Rubba for exposing me to linguistic analysis of literature in general, and cognitive theory in particular. (And for telling me that I should go get a PhD.)

I had a little bit of confirmation that I'm doing the right thing by working on a PhD: I stayed up reading literary theory until 1am BECAUSE I WANTED TO! I was so enthralled, I couldn't put it down.

What crazy things have you done that show you have that crazy-making, magical, mystical, brainiac relationship with your PhD subject?

GEW, I'm so happy for you! Convincing and original is really impressive. Can I have some of that?! Seriously though, you must feel very good about your work. I look forward to hearing more about it.

Sorry I didn't get back to your FB wall post. The conference went well, and it turned out to be an unexpectedly edifying experience. I look forward to attending more conferences.

The answer to the question regarding theory is unfortunately complex. I have a lot to think about this summer, and I hope I work hard at that thinking rather than indulging in the escapism I am longing for! I guess Foucault has had the biggest impact on me in terms of heuristic devices, but that has political implications and complications. I'm not sure what to do about it yet. Also, F. Jameson and Bourdieau have left deep impressions as well. More on that later.

Amstr, good call! I do remember the Summary/Analysis responses, and I have not tried it. I will. I think it would be incredibly helpful, and it's precisely the much-needed skill I may be lacking right now. I'm glad you called that one out.

Okay, good luck everyone!

Cloud Nine

I got a response from my supervisor (already!) about the 5,000 words that I sent to her, and she was very affirming. In fact, she said, "Overall, I thought this was very good indeed and not rough at all. You really are starting to get to grips with this and shape an argument which is convincing and original."

Yay. Yay. Yay. I am so excited and motivated.

Theory

Amstr, Is your dissertation going to be theory-heavy? Is there a certain theorist that's driving your work?

SafiaK, I'm guessing your paper will be fairly theory-heavy. In your studies over the past couple of years, what has been your favorite theory/theorist? The most interesting and the most useful for opening a text? is there a certain theorist whose work you'll rely on in your diss?

Summary-Responses

GEW, I know you took Keesey's class when I did. Did you, SafiaK? Do you remember all those summary-responses we had to write? That exercise made me a much faster at reading and assessing articles. I'm guessing that it would do me well to re-develop that skill, so I'm starting to write Summary-Responses for the articles I'm reading in connection with my dissertation. Have you tried this? Do you think it will be ultimately helpful?

It's in the Mail!

I sent the pages. They needed more proofreading, and I attached a full page of explanations, caveats, apologies, and disclaimers. But it's off. I was ready to stop. I know I should have proofread it again, but it's a draft, and I have tons of prep and papers to grade, and I need to get back to my real job. I think--I hope--the supervisor will be fine with that.

Now I'm going to eat a peanut butter cookie before I go to bed and read a few pages of Breaking Dawn, the last in the Twilight series. Has anyone else read these books? The gender dynamics (along with much of the writing itself) are killing me. At this point, I'm just chugging along so I can see how it all ends, but I'm kind of annoyed at having to go through 700 more pages of the exact same plot moves and character conversations in order to get there. Why didn't I write some bestselling vampire books?

Working during the day

I got to work for 2 hours at Starbucks this afternoon. What a difference the day makes! I was so much more alert, motivated, and quick in my work. This evening, it's way harder to get started. I have a feeling my dissertation life will change drastically come September.

Almost . . . there . . . Stay on Target! Stay on Target!

I have the 5000 words for my supervisor. I've been planning to e-mail the work tomorrow, and I might make it. I've spent the last hour or so reading over the pages, and I need to make changes, and they will take at least two hours to do, if not more. It's about 19 pages, and I've learned a lot from writing them. The 19 pages are not unified, and they skip some parts. But there are a couple of pages in the middle that might be important. Either way, I think it will help me to have these things on paper, and I know it has helped me to write them. Theoretically, they could serve as part of Chapter One, but I think it's not really focused enough for a chapter. And I would have a lot more to add. It has some sections that are blank because I just skipped over them because I don't know enough yet. And there are plenty of parts about which, if I were grading the pages, I would say, "How does this fit in? What does this have to do with the main point?" or "What is the main point?" Much of the work is very contextual, and I haven't tied it all together very well. But, there it is. On the page.

Now, I think it's time to get more into primary texts so that I can get a better sense of how they actually fit into this context I've been spending so much time on.

But I do enjoy it. I can't wait for summer so that I can leave teaching behind for a little while--again. I love teaching my Brit lit class, but as for the others--not so much right now. I much prefer working on the research/writing of this dissertation.

I hope my supervisor is kind. It's very hard to send this out without a long list of caveats, disclaimers, and apologies.

An "interesting" proposal

I sent my paper proposal in last night, praying that I'd proofread it enough times to catch all my silly errors. This morning, I heard back from the professor making the decisions thanking me for my "interesting proposal." I really hope that's interesting-as-in-compelling and not "interesting [eyebrows raised, eyes ready to roll]."

Now I'm trying to plow through a ton of reading, and I'm starting to draft my prospectus. This weekend begins my commitment to Saturday work days. I'm hoping to start with 2 hours on Saturday afternoon, two times a month. Next week, I also get to go fill out preschool packets for the kids--I'm looking forward to the extra work time during the day.

My favorite new work tool: The Moleskine ruled reporter's notebook. In it I'm writing my list of small achievable goals for each day and any notes-to-self I need to keep track of. It's a bit pathetic how happy it makes me. (It kind of reminds me of impassioned conversations about grading pens.)

SafiaK, how did the conference go? GEW, how goes the writing? I'm eager for updates when you come up for air!

Wall of Shame contribution

Have a near-complete working draft of my prospectus by June 1. 

My goal really is to have the prospectus in such a state that I can leave it so I can start on a chapter and come back to mess with it later if I need to.

Safia K's Progress

1 / 100000 words. 0% done!

The Dark Night of the Scholar

I figured out this week that the times I feel most like quitting are the times that things are likely coming together. Wednesday night I was completely overwhelmed by the idea of proposing a conference paper. I was struggling with the format, feeling like my ideas were too simple, feeling like I’d never know the Faerie Queene well enough to write about it, etc. etc. etc. Then I did what always worked for me in classes: I talked about it (always the verbal processor). I actually started by telling my husband all the reasons I thought I should probably quit working on my PhD, and that turned into telling him my ideas, and that turned into feeling more confident and having a good outline for my conference paper proposal.

I’ve got a draft of my proposal (really an abstract, though I spent half an hour trying to figure out the difference between the two) that I’m sending off to my advisor tonight. I send in the actual proposal before April 18, and should hear back by May 2. This would be my first national conference, and I feel really lucky that my family is willing to be dragged along to Italy if I get in. Mostly, it feels good to know that other people are interested in questions I’m working on, and it doesn’t hurt that the conference paper would likely become a part of a chapter (or be expanded into a chapter). For all this cheeriness, though, I’m sure I’ll spend much of the next weeks anxious that my ideas and writing just aren’t good enough. Tonight, however, I think I’ll celebrate with beer and chocolate.

Wall of Shame Post

I think this is my first Wall of Shame Item:

• Finish 5000-word piece by April 18th for my supervisor.

It must be done.

Coming Up for Air

Congratulations on getting that check-in email out, Amstr! I totally relate to the neat and pretty packaging dilemma; it contributes more to delays that I usually remember. Hurray for free-writing! Lately, I've taken to sitting in the metaphorical seat of one of my students to get my own ass in gear when it comes to putting words on a page. I really like what you said about starting again with blank page instead of tinkering with old ones. I still have my conference paper on my wall of shame because I've been tinkering too long, and the count down is on. Just days before the conference, and I'm wondering "how long should this be?" And I should be asking you guys, how long should it be? I know, 8-10 pages. Argh.

I loved your motivation list too. Although I'm a ways away from the dissertation, here's my list of why I'm gonna finish this PhD:

1. I'm been wanting to do this forEver.
2. I'll be fulfilling a dream.
3. I love the idea of being "Dr. B!"
4. It opens up possibilities for work and research.
5. I can feel responsible without feeling trapped in a "quiet life of desperation."
6. Small liberal arts college here I come! (We hope).
7. It motivates me to keep questioning, learning, and reaching further shores of understanding ... and more questioning (myself, the world, others, etc.).
8. All this constant exposure to new ideas makes me feel more alive.
9. It helps me feel connected to a world of text and art in a way that reminds me that I don't just want but need to discard convention (including that of academia! ;)).

I hope you're getting more done GEW. It was great to chat the other day, and thanks for the input and insights. I've got all kinds of new ideas on the subject of science as a result -- and a much better understanding. Gads, to work with me. I'll be able to check in more often over the next couple of months, and I'll be adding much to my wall of shame. (Including the non-PhD driven idea for that book I was talking about in December).

Good luck everyone!

More Prospectusing (and some wall of shame contributions)

I finally, finally sent my March check-in email to my advisor. It was only three days later than my goal due date, but it sure was stressing me out. It wasn't that I didn't have much to report--I've actually accomplished a lot in the time I've had the past month. It was that I want everything to be neatly packaged and pretty when I send it. (I'm not one to enjoy inviting someone to come in and look at my messy closet.) I got stressed out most by my prospectus progress section.

Last month, I got confirmation of prospectus stuff from the advisor: yes, the prospectus should be useful to me; no, it shouldn't take up more time than is valuable; it will probably not be a complete map of where the dissertation will go; it might, for me, include the basic questions I'm asking, the texts I'm planning to include (maybe even specific scene references), and my theoretical/critical approach (perhaps through what secondary sources I've found useful in my work so far); and it shouldn't probably be more than 8-10 pages.

Easier said than done.

I had hoped to send a rough outline as a starting point for drafting the prospectus, and it ended up looking rather sickly. I finally ended up freewriting "this is what I want to say to you about my prospectus," and I ended up with a decent description of what I've been thinking.* On a week when I've taken two work nights off and felt rather unmotivated to work the other nights, I'm counting the sent email as a triumph.

On the horizon:

1) reading Sidney's New Arcadia (I can't say I'm excited for the expanded version of the already long Old Arcadia, and though Sidney's thigh-wound infection death at age 31 is tragic, I'm not-so-secretly glad that he couldn't finish New)

2) finishing Helen Hackett's Women and Romance Fiction in the English Renaissance

3) taking notes on lots of things (I've had trouble getting in the groove with notetaking--GEW, I'd love to hear more about how notetaking/responding worked for your first writing project)

4) writing an abstract to submit for the "Maternity and Romance Narratives in the Renaissance" session for RSA 2010 (in Venice, Italy). deadline: mid-April. draft deadline: end of the month. I think I'm writing on FQ.

5) continuing to explore my theoretical/critical approach. My current strategy is writing a conversation between me and my advisor. Let me tell you, FakeAdvisor is an excellent Socratic questioner. Any suggestions on how to develop this section of my prospectus?

6) unpack the book boxes that are still piled in the bedroom--I need to uncover the Spenser Encyclopedia, the essay collection Dissing Elizabeth, Mary Thomas Crane's Shakespeare's Brain, and Faerie Queene.

*This exercise has been a good reminder that often I need to refine my thinking through multiple drafts, and not just by tinkering with old drafts, but by actually starting again with a blank page.

The Little Things

I love your list Amstr. I'll think about mine. I'm pretty sure it will be almost the same as yours, so I might just plagiarize yours.

In other news, I read an article on Sunday. Woohoo! Pitiful, I know. But it felt great to me.

Motivation

I'm given to bursts of motivation and much time when I'm not motivated at all to work on my dissertation. All the dissertation-writing books, common sense, and past dissertation writers I've known say that in order to finish, one must be consistently motivated. For a while I've had my "write first" rule in place, along with my "write for 15 minutes a day" rule. I'm getting better at the 15 minutes a day, but if I don't manage to write at the beginning of naptime (my first opportunity), I often get stalled until it's almost time for bed--many hours of work time spent on things other than work.

So here's my new plan. I have my Google Calendar email me twice a day (right before my work times should start) with an 'event' that is really a list of reasons I want to work on and finish my dissertation. So far it seems to be helping. I've been more productive this week than I have in a while. Of course, the test will be if it's still working in a few months.

Here's my list:

-I'll be following my vocation.

-I'll feel as if I've accomplished something important.

-I won't be a quitter.

-I'll learn a ton and be an expert in my field.

-I'll be proud of writing a book-length work.

-I'll be able to have an idea of how to move ahead with writing--either revising the dissertation or doing other writing.

-I'll be qualified to get a job teaching at a small liberal arts college. [my dream job]

-I'll have a degree that makes me even more employable, if I needed or wanted to be employed. [This one is certainly arguable, but a PhD would at least give me a higher pay rate at most jobs I'd want.]

-I'll have a chance every day to do something that I love to do (that's not directly related to kids). [currently, my most motivating reason]

-I'll be able to really tell my kids that dedication and hard work can pay off.

-No one can ever take a PhD away from me. [OK, there might be someone, but it's just not very likely.]

-I'll be fulfilling a dream.

-I'll be able to write "Dr." in front of my name or "PhD" behind it. And even both at once, if I'm feeling like flouting convention.

What's your list?

How on Earth?

Dude. How am I ever going to get this done? Must I stop sleeping or something? Or, God forbid, give up television? I am not getting anything done.

My Progress and Questions for Safiak

So, I had started feeling a bit panicked about my lack of progress. Mostly, I was nervous about how distant I was feeling from my topic, and I was starting to worry that I'd have a hard time starting the engines again or that I would have lost a lot of ground (sorry for the mixed metaphors).

But yesterday, I spent a couple of hours writing and editing, and I wasn't quite as rusty as I thought. I think a lot of my ideas and some of my research is still in my brain. Yes, I will have to go back over sources and re-read, but I've only fallen one of two steps back. This experience does make me realize that I need to do more note-taking, free-writing after each article/chapter that I read. I did that for the first piece I wrote last June, and it really helped. This fall, I was reading a lot of books, and I think I was overwhelmed by all of the info, so I didn't take many notes. Well, to clarify, I wrote down a lot of quotations, but I didn't write much about my own reactions to the texts and quotations. I need to get back to doing that since those notes can really turn into valuable text.

But so yesterday I wrote about 1000 words and was very happy. They aren't all good words, and they are a bit quote heavy, but it's progress.

So, SafiaK, how are things going with all of your deadlines? How is the conference stuff shaping up? What's the title of your paper?

Prospectus, Here I Come!

I've been puzzling over my dissertation topic lately, and I've been trying to write through possibilities and ideas I've got rumbling around in my head. I think I finally got to something close to what I want to do (even though it needs a clearer focus and the wording needs to be much, much more precise). Here's an excerpt from my freewriting today:

In thinking about a ‘so what?’ I need to remember my audience. I’m primarily writing for Renaissance scholars, and maybe for others with literary interests and training. My ‘so what’ doesn’t have to make the work totally relevant to today’s youth, for instance. I don’t have to make those kinds of stretches. I think my ‘so what’ will actually show up in response to other works.  For instance, “I’m considering the topic of women’s authority because I want to show that women had special authorities that worked synergistically to enable the category of women rulers so that people can understand that female autonomy was not fully limited nor defined by men, but exceeded the social definitions.” That actually sounds pretty good (even though it's not what I'm really trying to say). I think I’m at my best in responding to others or situating my work in a context (once I find what that context is). I do think I’ll have a section called “The Christian Woman,” “The Political Woman,” “The Domestic Woman.”  I’ll look at how social networks, and controlling those social networks enabled women to have a particularized power/authority/autonomy that took her out of the prescribed role as functioning only in the non-public sphere. And how the power granted in each particular case could translate through metaphors into the other spheres, culminating in the image of Elizabeth as “Mother of England, Christian Prince.”

Good Luck, SafiaK! (and a not so surprising reflection on reading)

SafiaK, good luck with all those upcoming deadlines. I imagine you feverishly working on your conference paper and application. You'll do fabulously.

I rediscovered again last night (I rediscover this often) that I really, really love to read. I'm trying to blaze through Sidney's Old Arcadia, and it's difficult to read quickly because it's just so fascinating. When I'm not actually reading and not actually writing, I forget how much I love it. I think I may institute a 5-pages-a-day reading quota (along with my 15-min.-a-day writing quota) just to keep the activity of scholarship consistent, to remind myself daily how much I (can) love what I do. (And maybe, just possibly, to keep the fear at bay.)

Dear Supervisor

Here is part of the message I just sent to my supervisor. I copied it here to share with you:

Dear Supervisor,

I’ve been intimidated by this next bit of writing I need to do, and I’m afraid I’m going to writing something that’s not very good and that I’ll embarrass myself and that you’ll think I’m stupid. It might be of tremendous help to me if you could give me “permission” to write something that might not be very good—just so I can get some things on paper—and if you could reassure me that you’ll try not to think I’m stupid. I keep feeling as if I need to read more, to know more, before I write, but that feeling might go on for ever, so I need to just do it. This means I will certainly have holes in my knowledge base.

Would that be okay? If I give you something that might be mediocre or even bad? Then I can revise and move forward as necessary.

Sincerely,
Good (Enough) Student

Getting Rolling.

Getting back in the groove of dissertation work is slow and daunting. I finally made a list of things I must do if I plan to finish, and things I must do before June to get my prospectus done.

My question(s) of the week: How did you know your prospectus was done? How did you know you were ready to start your first chapter? How much "pre-work" had you done before you started that first chapter? What form did your prospectus take?

As far as this week goes, I'm diving in to Sidney's Old Arcadia (which I'm hoping to blaze through), working more on taking notes (I think I have DevonTHINK and Bookends up and running), and gearing up for my February check in.

Getting Back in Gear

Hope all is well with everyone. I'm not sure if it's reassuring or just plain hilarious that we all seemed to stall around the same time. I'm back in New York and trying to get a head start on my reading. As a junior member of the club (still working on my orals and all), my list of impending shame items are as follows:

• Register for the conference at which I'm supposed to present in March (by Monday).
  
• Write the conference paper (by 2/15)!
• Reserve a room by 3/1!
• Apply for two fellowships: One for the conference (by 2/1) and one for the Center for Politics and Culture (by 2/15).
• Finish the INCL I took this semester by 3/1.
• Finish compiling two of my three orals lists by 6/1.

I'm sure there's more, but I'll have to wait on it! Right now, I've got two books and about 500 pages of secondary texts to read by next week! Ack! Shriek! Well, not so bad!!!!

Yes, invite your friend Amstr! I was thinking about inviting a former Cal Poly comrade who is working on the last stages of his dissertation right now. Whad'ya think? ;)

Update in Brief

Very Brief: Finished a book this week, read two articles, wrote 500 words, and started back teaching full time. Soon, I'll give a more detailed update, ask some questions, and post a to do list. On another note, I just watched the Lost premiere, brutha!

Adding more blood, sweat, and tears to the mix? (someone else's)

Hi fellow scholars,

I've another friend who's doing her dissertation work from a distance--Oregon to Cornell. She's an awesome medievalist and is starting her first chapter. (And has a kindergartener to boot.)

Mind if I send her an invite?

So is EVERYONE stalled?

I sure am.  Sheesh.

I'm running out of excuses for not working.  I got my fancy new laptop, I've got demos of organization and bibliography programs, I've got more than enough books to read.  But, I like to think, I still have unpacking to do, I don't have my computer totally set up yet, and I still need to get the kids settled into a routine after all the traveling and moving.

So in the spirit of avoiding public embarrassment as motivation, here are my Shame contributions: 1) email advisor by 12:01am Tuesday (I skipped my December check in), and 2) start working Monday night, no excuses or movie watching.

My goals for next week: 

-choose a bibliography program and enter book information from the fall

-type up notes from one book

-start reading Sidney's Old Arcadia

What are you guys up to?