My prospectus is done

Yes, it has taken me months, and my high-productivity summer wasn't highly productive. But all is not lost, no friends, all is not lost.

Indeed, I have hurdled the final institutional hurdle between me and full-time dissertating and have successfully submitted my prospectus and have already put it out of my mind. It's like the dream that seemed so real while it lasted, but then dissipates before breakfast.

It's done, so perhaps the less said the better. It was a step of institutional necessity but not one that really provided me much value (to be frank) (maybe I'll change my opinion later, but I'm not banking on it), and I'm glad to be through with it.

But now I feel some (little) exhilaration that is giving me some temporary momentum. I wish I could say it was real momentum, but history has shown me that usually this kind of burst is short-lived. So with that realization, I'm going to do my best to translate as much of it as I can into something more substantial.

And I'm setting ambitious goals. My first goal is a little crazy: I'm going to have my first chapter organized and roughly written by the end of next week. It would be crazier if I hadn't been putting together notes and (rough rough rough) rough draft work for the past six months or so. It will be mostly the work of doing some organization (so I tell myself; we'll see how I feel in a couple of days).

Mostly I need to say welcome back to the blog. Welcome back, Anne; welcome back, Jeff. Now we're off to the races.