Ice cream deadlines

I really wanted to put a pun in the post title about "marching onward" or something clever, but my best self prevailed. You're welcome.

My goal was to have a chapter drafted by the end of February, and that didn't happen. But it is closer. I still want to have a solid-but-short version ready by the end of this week, which I might count as still part of February since the week started in February, and so that's still technically part of... no? All right, still, I'm hoping for Saturday to have something I can send to my committee and get their feedback about at least my general direction.

As per my last post, I have right now organized my chapter around two major questions. They're loosely tied together, and one of my big struggles is finding the overarching question that links them together and links them with the other chapters. But I haven't written the other chapters, so that glue isn't really connecting right now.

Now, I do know thematically how they're connected: it's the subject of my dissertation after all. But I don't have the Big Question solidly in mind. It's still just subjects and themes and mushy wibbly wobbly stuff. Any questions I write now feel like they're written in melting ice cream. Thus, the chapter I intend to give to my committee this Saturday will be two loosely connected questions and some ice-creamy question that binds them together. Which isn't much of a goal when I write it down that way, but it is a goal and boy howdy do I need someone cracking a whip over me regarding deadlines.

On Saturday I hope to look at my metaphorical whip-cracker and offer her a metaphorical dish of delicious ice cream and we'll smile and, for one evening, enjoy our (Jeni's, so long as I'm imagining I might as well imagine the best) ice cream together.