During my writing process, I wrote little snippets of how I was feeling, or weird things I noticed. Here are my dissertation musings:
--------------------
I've hit 100 pages, and my word count is a little over
18,000. That seems pretty good. Then I do the math. I'm averaging less than 200 words per
page. Yes, this is a picture book. The page with the most words is probably in the
Table of Figures. (Also, my Table of
Figures is now 5 pages long.)
--------------------
So, I have a bunch of different playlists for my music. Today I started with my playlist of violin
solos. This evening, realized that I
have 14.5 hours worth of violin solos in that playlist . . . and I got through
all of them.
Actually with that playlist, I first realize how long I've
been working at the computer when I hear the sounds of Mozart's 3rd
Violin Concerto (which is highly distinctive) and realize that I've already
made it through 3 CDs of Mendelssohn's Violin Concertos.
--------------------
I had a dream about writing a huge document, and then
printing it off to edit it.
--------------------
"Words, words, words!
I'm so sick of words!"
Actually, it's just that I'm getting mixed up with the terms
"stiffness," "mass," and "damping," using one
word when I should be using another. You
may be thinking, "Those words sound nothing alike! And they don't have anything to do with one
another. How are you getting
confused?" Well, I'm using each of
them a lot within a small group of paragraphs, and they do have quite a bit to
do with one another . . . I just don't want to get into that right now.
--------------------
Normally, I always have my computer screen at the brightest
possible setting. As I've been writing
late into the evening, and early in the morning, I find myself using the full
range of my screen's brightness settings.
--------------------
As I type this, I realize that I'm totally sick of Times New
Roman. And the formatting requirements
of a thesis.
--------------------
If there is a large (as in number of megabytes in the file,
not as in visual size) image in the line below the one in which you are typing,
Word has to think a lot, and my typing is a word or two ahead of the
words showing up on the screen. But, if
you scroll up so that the image is just out of sight, Word has no problems.
--------------------
Last night I had a dream where I was working at a retail
store, like JCPenney. Is that a sign of
subconscious hopelessness?
--------------------
A few weeks ago, one of my lab mates asked me what my
minimum dissertation length was.
(There's no department-defined minimum, so it's a personal judgment
call.) I replied that I felt 80 pages
was the absolute minimum I could get away with.
Once I hit that mark, I was amazed at how much inner relief I felt. I wasn't even close to being done, but just
knowing I met some arbitrary benchmark I set for myself was freeing.
Speaking of arbitrary benchmarks, it's amazing how much more
pressure I felt to get writing done as I neared some of my arbitrary personal
deadlines for having my dissertation ready for my advisor to review and ready
to deliver to my committee for review. I
missed every single one, but I was really efficient under the pressure!
--------------------
After typing so much in my dissertation document, I opened
something else in Word, and a 1" margin on the left felt way too narrow!
--------------------
I would also like to share a comic that is very fitting:
Now, that's not quite what I did; I essentially wrote my dissertation in the last two months, not the last year.
In case you're wondering, the completed dissertation is 150 pages and just under 30,000 words.
Thanks for sharing your experiences! Perfect words! Now set yourself tuned to the frequency of relaxation :P
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Doctor!
ReplyDeleteWhat a marvellous feeling to have not only completed your work, but more importantly, to have passed!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your lovely comment on my blog.
:)
Karen