dissertation digest #8

ummm....i think i am currently stuck in terms of what comes next in this chapter of the dissertation.  i've been sitting here for an hour trying to write something, but the only thing i've written down is the time that the game starts tonight.  4.57.  those aren't even words.  so i have been staring at a blank page, twirling my pen in my hand, unable to figure out how to begin.  is this because i made the attempt to write first thing in the morning rather than in the evening?  could this be the reason that i'm so blocked?  here's the thing: i know i'm not going to work tonight. it's game one of the world series and texas is playing and cliff lee is pitching against tim lincecum.  yeah.  i'm so not working tonight.  so i thought i would try to be good and do my dissertation writing in the morning, then try to grade some papers later, and then it would be okay if i didn't work tonight because i would have already gotten my 500 words written for the day.  but nothing.  i'm dressed and sitting at the coffee shop.  i'm drinking the day's first cup of coffee.  i even have makeup on.  seriously.  in terms of personal appearance, this morning has been a home run.  in terms of productivity on the dissertation, though, nada.  here's another thing:  i realize that i know absolutely nothing about child narrators.  this is what i think the next section of the chapter should be about--how the author has given us a child narrator and what that means in terms of how we "see" the story.  the 'title' for this section is 'seeing through the eyes of a child'.  this title won't really appear in the dissertation, i'm just using it right now to help keep me focused on what the topic of this particular section is supposed to be.  and yet, i keep thinking to myself that i don't know enough about narrative theory to talk about this child narrator.  ugh.  honestly.  i could fill ten thousand libraries with stuff i don't know.  but still, i feel like i need to know something in order to get started writing.  i haven't been blocked like this in a while.  i was actually expecting it to not be difficult to sit down and write today.  i wrote yesterday, and usually when i try to write on consecutive days, it gets easier and easier because i'm immersed.  but i didn't even have any ideas about what to write pop into my mind this morning when i was walking downtown, and that's pretty unusual.  usually before a writing session my mind is thinking about what i'm going to write.  but not this morning.  more evidence of my blocked status.  hmmm...so what to do now?  when i started working on the chapter on ASCH, i made a list of quotes from the text that i might use, and that seemed to get me started in terms of how to do the close-reading and analysis, so maybe i should try that? i also ordered a book on narrative theory from summit yesterday so hopefully that will be here soon.  i am already using the first chapter of that book but hopefully the author has also written a chapter on child narrators.  guess we'll see. okay, so a list of direct quotes from the novel.  let's try that and see where that gets me.