dissertation digest #1

well, it's the friday before fall semester starts.  i have good news to report: i have completed the course prep for the class i am teaching this fall--the twentieth century novel--which means i can now focus most of my attention on my dissertation.  even more good news, my committee chair says it's okay for me to switch out one of the novels i had planned to use in my dissertation.  so rather than having chapter 5 be on jennifer johnston's shadows on our skin, it'll now be on seamus deane's reading in the dark.  a change i must admit i am rather excited about and it's a chapter that i cannot wait to dive into.  i think i am going to work on it after i finish drafting the chapter 3 which is on roddy doyle's a star called henry, mostly because i think it will be easier for me to move from one irish author to the next rather than going back and forth between irish writer, indian writer. i must admit, i am feeling a lot of excitement over the idea of finally being able to re-focus my attention on my dissertation.  i hope i can sustain that excitement and see it translating into some good writing over the next couple of weeks (dare i hope for months?).

but right now the focus is on chapter 3 and a star called henry.  i did do some reading today in terms of critical scholarship on the novel, not nearly as much as i would have liked to have gotten through, but that's okay.  i might finish off this last book chapter tonight before going to bed.  as far as keeping to my stated schedule, well, i didn't do very well.  i slept an extra ten minutes (which, really, that's just fine) and got up and made coffee and read e-mail and checked in on my twitter peeps.  but then i didn't go to the gym like i was supposed to.  instead i went to campus and made a trip to the library and dropped off and picked some things up from my office.  but then, i did have lunch when i was supposed to, and i did do some work afterward like i was supposed to, and i have attended to chores in such like i was supposed to.  so, it's not all bad news.  plus, it's friday night, which means no work in the office for me.  instead i get to treat myself to new episodes of eureka, haven, and the glades.

goals for tomorrow? re-read as much of a star called henry as possible. in fact, if i could read about 225 pages tomorrow that would be fantastic.  yes, i know, one goal sounds lame, but hey, it's a 350 page book, so getting that much of the book read would be an accomplishment.