And submit it.
It felt hopelessly inadequate.
I have read, read, read since last July, so it represented six months of my life. I have had so many thoughts, ideas, responses; eureka moments and moments where I feel like I am groping around in the dark, about to reach something.
And I was supposed to condense that in to less than 3000 words of a literature review for my proposal. Before research questions have been fully formed, even. It was clumsy, inarticulate prose bolted together with a few quotations.
It has made me value the power of 'free writing' even more; in comparison to what felt like stilted, pseudo-academic nonsense - that I always seem to spout when I use a computer and have the cloud of a deadline hanging over me. And it makes a good argument for the handwritten reflective journal - which can always be turned into academic writing once the thought has been expressed and the point made.
But, reader, I submitted it.
And breathe.
And wait.
The way ahead is long, and will no doubt get a little hillier - mountainous, even; certainly much rougher terrain. But there it is. Mile 1. (Or 3000 words of the 80,000? The first mile of the marathon.)
