#docblr?

[seriousacademic]

I'M A DOCTORAL CANDIDATE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[seriousacademic]

quick personal/school update:

Y'all. I've officially formed my Dissertation Committee (with some absolute rock stars) AND I just sent my chair the draft of my first 3 chapters (the dissertation proposal)!!!

With any luck, I'll be a doctoral candidate in just over a month!

I still have tons to continue working on in the meantime, but I had to share the good news with someone. :)

[seriousacademic]

Y'allllllllllllll. I've submitted my doctoral portfolio for dissertation chair matching! In 6 weeks, I'll know who my dissertation chair is and in 8 weeks, my research kicks into high gear!

I kinda can't believe this milestone is already here. For a multitude of reasons. Alas, I have a new course starting up today, so I don't have time to dwell

[seriousacademic]

Starting back to work (and school) for the new Year with a sunrise that's showing off feels right.

[seriousacademic]

So. A lot has happened in the past month - and a lot is happening in the coming month.

I got a new job, which I started today! and it's something I've been working towards for over a decade now. I'm thrilled, but it's also surreal.

We will also be moving across the country in the next few weeks, which includes buying our first house!

And, in the middle of all that, I am defending my dissertation prospectus (proposal)!

So! Much! Is! Happening!

[seriousacademic]

Ok, I have a whole spate of tasks to accomplish for my dissertation concept proposal between tomorrow and my chair meeting on Tuesday morning. Thankfully, it's a combination of new, original writing and document housekeeping tasks, so I should be able to chip away at this list regardless of my cognitive capacity at any given time this weekend.

Here we go:

- methodological approaches

- write brief comparative overview

- write selection justification

- research methods

- write brief comparative overview

- write selection justification

- write/pull together research design summary

- write/pull together resilience summary

- review alignment of problem, purpose, & RQs

- definitions

- compile definitions list (alphabetized)

- clarify/format in-text definitions

- copy over high points of lit review

- resolve asterisks (my revision flags/placeholders)

- update in-text citations with Zotero plug-in (final step!)

It's a little daunting to look at this list all written out. But I ultimately need to get each of them done - not perfect - this week.

Once I can get past this week, I'll have plenty of time to tweak it before my prospectus defense in May!

[seriousacademic]

Posting this to get it out of my head and into an accountability sphere:

I'm sick.

I have a meeting with my chair/supervisor tomorrow morning and an upcoming deadline. I always feel the (self-imposed) pressure to produce on Mondays so I'm ready for the Tuesday a.m. check-in.

I recently had a setback/detour of maybe about a week when I discovered halfway through my literature review that there was an entire paradigm for my research that I had just discovered/hadn't read about. (Read: the paradigm is essentially the entire focus of my research. Woo. Everything prior had been adjacent) so I powered through dozens of articles while also juggling course assignments and a full-time job. And was understandably burnt out.

But then I shook it off, got back to writing, and wrote up a couple new sections for the lit review. I planned to repeat that level of productivity today, reasoning that I'd wrap up the final sections and revisions in time to submit my draft in a week.

Except I'm sick.

I've been wrestling with this all day. I can barely focus. I can barely hear myself think.

I've tried to come up with little productivity bits I can do to feel like I'm still making progress.

But what I need more is to rest.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about my progress and aim to have a draft ready for the following week, and see what she says.

The scary thing pounding through my head is, "what if you really actually need TWO weeks?"

And to that I say: then one Monday of not writing wasn't going to make much of a difference, then.

So now I'm curled up on the couch and am giving myself grace to rest and stop wrestling with the hustle.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[seriousacademic]

👏 PAPER 👏 IS 👏 DONE 👏

I wrote a few paragraphs this morning while drinking coffee on the patio with my dogs. Then I had my Sunday crochet session with my mom and grandma (we're teaching my mom to crochet!), where I got to talk through my panic attack and the assignment and how I was tackling it. It helped me realize a few holes I'd missed (no pun intended - crochet & holes 😜). So I came home, tackled those gaps, wrapped up the final paragraphs and a quick conclusion, ran it through Grammarly, and submitted that b*tch!

I've made peace with earning my first B in this program (after a year and a half of maintaining a 4.0), so now we wait. And sew. And rest. 🙌