So I'd like to hear where you all are in your process. I don't expect pages and pages. Just tell me and the rest of us what you're working on at this moment and what your short term goal is. Maybe something like: I'm working on my proposal, and my goal is to get 3 pages written by Friday.
I'm sending you reading and writing vibes!
DDO
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I turned in my proposal (or at least the first version) to Dr. Jacobs. As I wait for comments on it I have been transcribing the text that I am working with. I had started a few months ago to transcribe a modern spelling version but Dr. Jacobs said I should retain the original spelling (and point out the modern spelling in the notes) so I have started over again. The printing is 1602, I am working from a photographic facsimile that was done in 1913--luckily I found a copy of that edition for sale online.
Scott
Nice, Scott. Good luck on the transcribing. I know that's a dull process.
DDO
Well...I've been writing...stuff. Namely "stuff" like what I posted on ClassJump...notes, specific quotes, unraveling specific quotes...my "deep" thoughts about the "why" question. So far, I have approximately 20-30pgs for two "chapters". At this point my problem has turned into...how do I turn these notes into "chapters"? I know the "answer" is probably something that I've said a million times to my students while teaching comp classes...
I'm re-reading some articles on tricksters, medicine men/women, and the Midewiwin (powerful society of medicine men/women). I plan to use some of the info in these articles in my chapter on spirits. My character of focus crosses many types of borders. The spiritual border crossings(including visiting the world of the dead and morphing into scary or talking animals) initiate a sort of local globalization (a microcosm, perhaps)--healing in the borderlands. I'm working on two very important projects right now (the diss is one, of course), so I'm not getting as much done as I'd like to. Trying to be realistic, my goal is to finish the spirit chapter by August 7th.
To Irisnicole--I had the same struggle, and I, too, was sure I subconsciously knew what to do. I finally figured out that I was not using "my" writing process. It's difficult for me not to start at the beginning (introduction). So to give myself a push, I wrote an introductory passage that included my thesis statement and led into my chapter. Only then was I able to organize all those notes--all that stuff--as support for what I wanted to say. It was one ugly rough draft. The content was was definitely drunk and disorderly, very discouraging. But the revisions (several of them before seeing the one I could live with), which I had to force myself to deal with, were encouraging. Hang in there!
Wilma
Wilma gives some good advice here. Iris, it's been a long time, but I remember using my committee to bounce drafts off of. That's what we're here for. And the sooner we get involved, the sooner you can start getting some ideas about directions to take.
This is also a place for a writing group. My group skimmed chapters for me, and I did the same for them. They could help me see places to expand (since I've always been a constricted writer) and I could show them where they were heading off in tangents.
So maybe you could trade drafts with someone via email?????
Am I being too pushy here?
Donna
Iris - I am nowhere near as far into the process as you are, so take this for what it may or may not be worth...
you say you have "notes" and "stuff" that needs to be turned into chapters -
the one thing that Hunter has said to me over and over is to keep in mind my "story line" or "narrative" for the dissertation - and I don't know if that kind of thing works for you or not, but if it does, look at the notes you have for each chapter and see how they fit or fill in gaps along that narrative thread for what you are saying overall....that's probably way too simple, but it's like that stuff we tell the first year writers - tie things together so that your reader doesn't drop your main thought in midstream. What do you need to say that will tie that together into the cohesive "so what" you are answering here?
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