Sunday, August 10, 2008

'sleigh bells ring'

I finally have my conference (and paper) behind me and not a deadline until March. (The conference was brief but great for me; I got to hear SJ give a wonderful paper!)

I can see the months stretch out in front of me and I've mapped out the next deadlines. On our way to Montana, we stopped in TrackTown where we had the rare treat of seeing people that we get to see not often enough. I also met with Adviser - so I could check in on that last chapter I gave her (ahem, the first chapter). Anyway, I came away a bit crest-fallen. My plan of draft, revise, defend, and graduate by June is a brilliant scheme that she doesn't share. She advised me to shoot for next June to have the full draft in and then spend the next year revising. (Math calculator: That is a finish date of June 2010 - or 20010, for that matter.) I was also advised that the process will take three or four rounds of revisions - three or four rounds! Instead of crazy busy for the next ten months, I saw crazy busy for twenty-two. Ugh.

So, I've decided to see what I can do to speed things up. My goal: full draft by Christmas. That would be the best Christmas present I have ever given myself. Do you hear the Christmas music? Me neither, which is fine by me because I need all the time I can get.

2 comments:

the rambler said...

ugh! The "year of revisions!" I just got wind of that one a month ago myself. I think they wait and throw it at you after ABD status so that you don't get demoralized beforehand. I am deeply depressed about the prospect of adding another year onto this already epic process.

Dolce Vita said...

So, Adviser isn't the only one who subscribes to this theory of dissertating. My conversations with people at other institutions (who were surprised by the revision plan) made me think that she was perhaps exaggerating this process. The prospect of an additional year for revising is disheartening. On the other hand, adviser said it will "better position me on the job market." So, I should just think of it as my pre-post-doc year (during which I continue to pay tuition - blech!).