Thesis – Peter M. Ball

Works in Progress

This Post in Bullet Points

Off to the Gold Coast again today, in order to learn how to be a PhD student. One might think that after so many years I’d have worked out how by now, but one would be mistaken (said without snark – there’s been a gear-shift in the process recently, and I’m the kind of driver who grinds gears until someone points out the various ways that’s a bad idea). Finally made it to the post-office during work hours yesterday, which meant I could pick up some of the packages of awesomeness waiting for me (a copy of Couch, courtesy of Ben Francisco, and copies of both Cory Doctrow’s Overclocked and a collection of Hugo award winners courtesy of Jason Fischer – thanks to both of you, for they were awesome things to discover). Reason my thesis leaves me a funk #29: I haven’t actually finished and submitted a *new* story (as opposed to resubmitting something that’s already been out) since

PeterMBall 26/03/2009

Works in Progress

The Thesis March, an update

Yesterday was the last full day I’d get to spend on the thesis for over a week, and by the time I collapsed into my bed in the wee hours of morning I remember feeling upset by how little I’d achieved. Today I feel pretty good about it; frustrated, to be sure, but object enough to recognise that yesterday’s wordcount was actually pretty good by my standards. The reason I stalled out around three AM is because I realised that while I could identify the function genre plays in the process of editing work, I wasn’t yet doing anything with the realisation except pointing out that it’s there – it’s an example in need of practical application and I’m not yet sure how to do so without actively editing a piece within the exegesis itself (and, I’ll be honest, I’ve already played that trick in the preface when addressing the genre of the exegesis). While I’m not quite at a

PeterMBall 25/02/2009

Works in Progress

Thesis Update

Just dropping in with the following reports: The official wordcount (aka words actually in draft documents, rather than random notes) just topped 10k. I have, for the first time since I started the damn thing, actually finished a chapter. I have, for the first time since I started the damn thing, actually got a plan for proceeding that seems workable. This, of course, just means I have to get 20,000 words written between now and Wednesday evening. That’s a far worse thing than it sounds, incidently; I could probably get 5000 words a day done in a pinch, but I’ll be utterly useless for anything else afterwards and that’s not a luxury I’m going to get anytime soon. I suspect there will be some measure of begging for mercy in my near future.

PeterMBall 23/02/2009

Works in Progress

The theory of relativity as it applies to writing

The difference between a good days work and a bad days work can depend entirely on how close you are to meeting a deadline. Or, in other words, 1500 words of thesis draftage today. A month ago this would have been cause for celebration; today it is met with the soul-crushing knowledge that I haven’t yet done enough to earn myself a few hours sleep 🙂

PeterMBall 17/02/2009

Works in Progress

28 Days of Thesis Updates: Day Ten

So, yesterday. Oh, god, let’s not talk about yesterday. It wasn’t fun. Six hundred words and some insomnia, plus some word-count related angst (goal for day ten: 11000 words; actual words written: 6101). I have that awful, loomy feeling of things piling up around me again – not just the mountain of thesis related work, but of everything else that needs doing that isn’t getting done. It was the kind of day for which tetris, mindsweeper and other procrastinator games were invented – fortunately I have neither on my computer, which spared me somewhat; I have a freakin’ black-belt when it comes to procrastination, so I do my best to remove empty temptations like the above. In lieu of actual content, I give you one of the best descriptions of the procrastination process ever, courtesy of Russel T. Davies: “How do I know when to start writing? I leave it till the last minute. And then I leave it some more.

PeterMBall 14/01/2009

Journal

It’s a shiny new year

So many things I planned to blog about today, that I even made little mental notes to blog about because I thought they were interesting, and instead I’m just kind of popping up to say “damn, not enough time” before launching into another salvo on the exegesis. I’m resisting the urge to do a year-in-review post at this point, simply because I’m in no position to look back at 2008 and see it in any kind of objective light. Despite the various good things I managed, both professional and personally, it remains a year characterized by all the things I didn’t get done rather than all the things I did. Today I unravel the sticky knot of what my exegesis is supposed to be doing. Tomorrow you get subjected to exegetical rumblings (which, really, isn’t that big a change from usual for me). Hope everyone is well and bounced back to acceptable levels after the New Year revelry

PeterMBall 02/01/2009

Works in Progress

Doctorate and stuff.

Just got my latest creative project draft from the associate supervisor (aka our gatekeeper, since he’s the one coming at the work fresh and without two years of living with the stories). It looks like I’m correcting formatting and doing some minor line-edits, with a few spots that need a little more clarity. The rest is largely a thumbs up and an “it’s all good and it’ll earn the degree; now finish your exegesis.” Plus the possibility of teaching work is back on the cards after a long absence, so I may be eating something other than two minute noodles come march. Now I’m going back to the to-do list from hell.

PeterMBall 17/12/2008

Tag: Thesis

This Post in Bullet Points

The Thesis March, an update

Thesis Update

The theory of relativity as it applies to writing

28 Days of Thesis Updates: Day Ten

It’s a shiny new year

Doctorate and stuff.

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