A Postcard from the Edge...

Some of you have voiced concern that I have fallen off the face of the earth. Considering it has been over three months since my last post, I can't say I blame you! While I haven't disappeared over the verge (yet), I will admit to getting very close to the edge. In fact, these days I spend most of my time in the Sixteenth Century. If I want to be done with this PhD by June 2012, I need a draft of the whole thing done by Christmas. So it is time to kick it into high gear, put the pedal to the metal, the nose to the grindstone (insert your favourite 'work' cliché here). As a result my life has become excessively dull by the world's standards. Most of my days--including my Saturdays (like today) and even occasional Sundays--are spent here:

Over the course of the last three months the Four-Headed Thesis Dragon of Academic Dread has sprouted two more heads, bringing the total up to a shocking six. To date, three have been vanquished (although they will need some tweaking and considerable tidying) and another is in progress. One of those vanquished heads resulted from a wee section of another chapter...a mere 2,000 words... that suddenly and almost uncontrollably morphed into a 20,000-word stand-alone chapter. (Which, incidentally, El Supervisor said is the best thing I have written so far.)

Needless to say, The Six-Headed Thesis Dragon of Academic Dread has been eating my time for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And now, it appears, as a midnight snack, as well. That's right folks. The Thesis Dreams have begun. In earnest. I've had dreams about the thesis before...but usually about the process of writing the thesis. Example: Over the summer whilst I was working on a particularly frustrating chapter I dreamed that I was at a family birthday party. What made that a thesis-related dream, you ask? When my Scottish supervisor strolled into my brother and sister-in-law's backyard, that's what. He ambled up to me and said 'So, you have a chapter for me? It had better be good.' Then turned on his heel and strolled right out of the garden and the dream.

Then last night, for the first time ever, someone from my thesis showed up. This guy:

Sir David Lindsay of the Mount (who monopolises two of my chapters, including the one I am currently working on). Yes, he looked just like the two-dimensional woodcut you see above. Interestingly enough, most of his poems start out with the narrator falling asleep and dreaming the action of the poem... Hmmmm... Anyway, I don't remember what happened, except he was there. At least he's not chasing me and threatening me with disembowelment. I would remember that! One of the professors at Edinburgh University was telling me about his time as a postgrad at St Andrews working on his PhD. One night in his final year he had a dream that one of the 16th-Century Earls of Huntly (from his thesis) was chasing him down North Street. In full plate-armour. On horseback. Brandishing a broadsword over his head. Screaming at the postgrad-now-professor (who was attempting to run away on foot) 'If you get this wrong I will kill you!'

That being said, it hasn't been all books and creepy dreams.

I had a number of visitors this year--a total of twelve, most of whom came over the summer. At some point, when I have a spare few minutes (ha!) to edit the album, I'll post some photos from those visits.

There was also a ten-day sojourn to Paris in August, during which I was able to help my dear friends Heidi and Jason Sexton by taking care of their older kids--Charlie (9), Jane (7), and Kendra (5)--whilst their baby sister, Kara (15 months), was in hospital for emergency brain surgery and recovery. Those of you on Facebook will be aware of this and the miracle that I was blessed and honoured to witness. But that is a story for another post all its own...

And in other news, I also found out that I am going to be an Auntie! My brother Matt and my sister-in-law Jesse will be welcoming their first wee baby in January! I'm so excited! I'll be back in Scotland by the time the Wee One is born, which makes me very sad. But the sooner I slay The Six-Headed Thesis Dragon of Academic Dread, the sooner I get to head home for a Baby-Holding-and-Spoiling Visit! The Wee One is becoming a more potent and effective motivating force for finishing this Thesis than anything else has ever been!

But for now, it's back to the books and the Quest after the Six-Headed Thesis Dragon of Academic Dread. Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a while. No doubt my Thesis will only continue growing to fill my every waking AND sleeping moment...