Fear of ABD

Filed under Work

I’ve been so incredibly busy recently, with my head spinning around, that I decided I need a place to simply write a little about what I’ve been up to. Since our move to the North-East life has been a constant whirl of getting settled, buying a house, unpacking, painting, decorating… oh yeah, and trying to get something written at last.

As most of you know, I’m now officially ABD — All But Dissertation, for the uninitiated — and all I need to do know to finish my PhD is to write my dissertation. All, he shrugs hopelessly. Well, hopefully not completely hopelessly, but it sure is proving something of a challenge.

I’ve been studying in a controlled and organized environment for so long now that it’s really a stretch to try and order my day to really get cracking on the research and writing I have to do. It’s one thing to be organized when you have to get a paper ready for a class, or grade quizzes for your section … but with an empty schedule, a blank screen, and a full library in front of me, I’m finding it surprisingly hard to get words on paper.

The subject I’m writing about really is still quite interesting to me, but I don’t know that I have the necessary interest  to plow through a year (or two God forbid) of research and writing about it. But having seen some of my friends who have spent years ABD and still haven’t moved into the kind of work they really want to do, I do have a strong incentive to keep moving forward.

Not a good day, hopefully I’ll fell a bit more positive next time I werite.

Randy