If I really had to say, something good is on its way
Chapter 1 Draft: finished, printed, collated, paperclipped, and turned in, about 40 minutes ago. I feel completely triumphant.
I feel pretty good about this whole thing, actually. Granted, I was up until obscenely early in the morning, and only got a few hours' sleep on the floor of the T-Watch office. But I felt optimistic through almost all of the process, and misshepeshu and especially my beloved iheartpompey were there when I was worried yesterday afternoon.
And besides: this draft is so much better than the final version of my qual. It's coherent, it's clear, it presents a real argument despite its disparate pieces, and it's actually the length it's supposed to be. Not that my qual was bad-- for all its problems (such as the fact that it was really an entire thesis chopped down to 35 pages), it was pretty decent. But nothing makes me feel better about the remaining work to do than the improvements in my writing, and my writing process, since my qual.
This is going to be a kickass thesis.
Earlier this morning, I dropped by Jon's office to ask a couple of quick questions, which ended with this:
Me: "It's definitely going to be a draft, but it's a really solid draft. I feel good about this."
Jon: "Good. You should have a polished chapter by the end of the semester."
Me: "...is that 'should' in the sense of you better?"
Jon: [grins] "Well, you can take it that way if you want..."
And for now, I have a half hour left of CUS work, and then I get to take a nap (nap, nap, glorious nap) in front of the fire in the ETC, and then iheartpompey and I gallivant off to a celebratory meal at Tao of Tea.
And then I get back to work, but, whatever. Life is wonderful.
I can hear the bells, all ringing joyful and triumphant...
I feel pretty good about this whole thing, actually. Granted, I was up until obscenely early in the morning, and only got a few hours' sleep on the floor of the T-Watch office. But I felt optimistic through almost all of the process, and misshepeshu and especially my beloved iheartpompey were there when I was worried yesterday afternoon.
And besides: this draft is so much better than the final version of my qual. It's coherent, it's clear, it presents a real argument despite its disparate pieces, and it's actually the length it's supposed to be. Not that my qual was bad-- for all its problems (such as the fact that it was really an entire thesis chopped down to 35 pages), it was pretty decent. But nothing makes me feel better about the remaining work to do than the improvements in my writing, and my writing process, since my qual.
This is going to be a kickass thesis.
Earlier this morning, I dropped by Jon's office to ask a couple of quick questions, which ended with this:
Me: "It's definitely going to be a draft, but it's a really solid draft. I feel good about this."
Jon: "Good. You should have a polished chapter by the end of the semester."
Me: "...is that 'should' in the sense of you better?"
Jon: [grins] "Well, you can take it that way if you want..."
And for now, I have a half hour left of CUS work, and then I get to take a nap (nap, nap, glorious nap) in front of the fire in the ETC, and then iheartpompey and I gallivant off to a celebratory meal at Tao of Tea.
And then I get back to work, but, whatever. Life is wonderful.
I can hear the bells, all ringing joyful and triumphant...