Shhh…. I have a secret

It amazes me how fast time is moving now. It really seems like it was just a few days ago that it was New Years Eve, or the day we moved into our house (Which, for the record was Dec. 31st 2019). I mean, I have heard people say that time moves faster the older you get, but seriously? This is getting ridiculous!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, (whew), it is time to move onto other things. Specifically, writing my dissertation.

Yeah, that time is finally here. I am done with the classes leading up to the writing itself- basically how to research and write a dissertation. 17 classes in total. And now, I am doing the writing itself.

A dissertation is a very daunting task. Usually 100+ pages of opinions that aren’t necessarily yours, all reworded and cited, of course. Analysis, experimentation or case study, and more analysis. Summary and then a conclusion.

Sounds easy, right? Certainly not 100+ worth of writing.

Certainly, nothing estimated to take a year to three years to complete.

I started this in March of 2021. That was almost four years ago. There have been several times in there that I have wondered if it is really worth all of this effort. Then I realized that each class has put me almost $4000 more in debt and I have already put $xxx and time into it that I really need to see it through. And each class, each new $4000 just digs it deeper into the ‘need to finish’ category.

Right now, I am in the ABD stage- All But Dissertation.

This is the point where they say things start getting intense and tough. In all honesty, things have been intense and tough for a while.

I am a good student. I have been all of my life. As a general rule, I write well. I am able to make myself understood in a manner that is clear, and for the most part, entertaining, I hope.

But a dissertation is not really entertainment. It is a (usually) dry paper written to inform/explain a phenomenon so that fellow academics can nod sagely and either agree with my take on the matter, or disagree.

It’s not the type of thing most people write for fun.

However, I have actually written a book, which I was ready to publish. Then I started working on its prologue. It made sense for the story to start there rather than part way in. Although, to be fair, this is the prologue to the prologue of the book I was originally working on. I have: half of the first book, a whole book, and half of the third, ideas for the fourth and fifth, and another third of a book that ties into the other series. Oh, and an outline for a book that has been rattling around in my head for years.

I have actually published none of it.

It’s like buying a lottery ticket. Until it is checked, it could be a winner.

I actually had my original book, (well, second one, I guess) edited and ready to go. Well, I did until I started messing with the background information. Now I am trying to make everything track correctly.

It is amazing how something as little as where one lived when one was small matters when writing about a few decades later.

Yep, it trips you up when you discuss towns that are close together in one book and then describe them as totally different in another.

It would also help if I could work on those more without feeling guilty about not working on my dissertation.

Although technically, one could pat for the other in the future….

And it is interesting that 100+ pages of fiction is easier to write, and less daunting than 100+ pages of dry academia.

Well, maybe it’s not that difficult to believe.