Thesis Day 22.5: Try to run, try to hide, break on through to the other side?
The last eureka moment I had did not bring about the revitalization of the thesis project as I had hoped. Certainly, it was a brick in the wall I’m struggling to build.
But I think I just mixed up the grout.
I’ve gone about this the wrong way. Being paranoid about hitting word count is hogwash. I am a seasoned last-second writer, and with the good grades that hasty, wine-fueled night-before method has gotten me, I don’t know why I decided to try and plod things out so gamely. With the blinders of “good work ethic” firmly attached, I managed to walk myself and my cart right into a ditch. I can bung out 3,000 words in a night easily – so that might make pretty much scrapping 80% of the clumsy prose I’ve taken down so far a more palatable move.
The reason?
After glutting myself on Korean convenience store food tonight, I had an epiphany which led to the construction of a road map. *GASP* You mean…I actually plotted the course my thesis should take? Why I didn’t do this before I do not know, save for the slight chance that I hadn’t yet assimilated enough of my readings to feel comfortable routing myself in such a way. It hadn’t all “come together,” and far from being a waste of time, the writing process up to this point was a vital part of that, I think. If you’ve watched an artist draw, you’ve probably seen them doodle a bit before setting in to make the good line art. These last 22 days were the critical textual doodles I needed to wrap my head around everything I’d read and need to do.
So now I have an outline. A list, rather, of my thesis ‘Parts’ and a point-by-point summary of what I need to say in each to make my argument convincing and to ensure overall flow. At last, I think I see how it all fits. I’m still going to make that trip to the Theses Of Ages Past on Monday, because I have a suspicion yet I may get dinged for not being ‘critical’ or ‘focused’ enough and I’d like to see how much pathfinding and how much explaining some of the other theses did in their prose.
But in general, I’m going to sleep well on this one. My new working title? “The Final Century of Bloodletting: Lowering the Lancet in Nineteenth Century Britain.”
Early rise, work tomorrow, then I’m back in the saddle.
YEEHAW.
And to tempt myself a little more and get the vim n’ vinegar in my blood, I’ve concocted a bribe for myself. If I finish this and receive at least an A on it (not an A-, mind you, but an A), I could countenance commemorating the occasion with a tattoo. Maybe the triple spiral of a leechbite, or a constellation of them?
Hmmm…
