The reason for the 'Easter in July' title is that I feel like I've been resurrected. After presenting at the conference in Utrecht, I completely fell off the doctoral research wagon. It wasn't until I scheduled my next trip to Exeter, at the end of August 2009 that I finally got back on the research wagon. I've now settled upon a really good project outline and have 'fragmented' my writing into about 55 different pieces (55 as of now). By fragmenting the work, I can now spend time during the week working on one and I realize the cumulative effect of my efforts. I'm quite excited about discovering that writing a PhD dissertation is really an exercise of writing 1500 word sections that are all linked together.
I continue to read in the area of theatre/performance/drama etc. I had the horror of reading Max Harris' Theater and Incarnation and thinking 'this is my dissertation' when he talked about a 'theatrical hermeneutic'. But it wasn't! It was close and, in fact, has become a wonderful resource. I continue to realize that my project does in fact 'fit within' an ongoing academic conversation AND it makes an original contribution (I hope).
I also stepped on the scale, the first time in years. Ouch! Since I've created a step by step plan for my dissertation, I have also created a step by step plan for losing weight (or blubber). I've been working on drinking unbelievable amounts of water, walking, not eating non-stop. So far...so good. My ultimate goal is to lose 90 pounds - get back to high school weight. We'll see, but so far I feel much better; it's good to be making progress.
Finally, I looked up what the PhD robes at Exeter look like and they are boring! A cool looking, funky robe is offered for a DD (Doctor of Divinity) but the requirements for that degree are lots of wonderfully published material in your field of expertise. As motivation I was trying to dangle the graduation carrot before my imagination - black robes didn't quite do it.
