I have felt stressed at different points during this process. Of course I have. The hardest part was probably towards the end of the first year with the extensive revisions that needed to be made to my proposal in a short time frame - and then the nerves brought on by the proposal presentation and the mini viva.
Going part time was a good move. For most of the last eighteen months I have felt that the workload was manageable and there was slow, but relatively steady progress. The downside of being part time and relinquishing my head of department role has been financial. We took quite a hit, exacerbated when my husband decided to change jobs, too.
To the point where it has no longer become financially possible to do this. And so now going part time seems like not such a good idea. I have, sadly, begun the process of intermitting. For three months, initially, to see if I can try and get funds together for the start of next term.
Of course I can keep reading and writing all the while but it is the supervision that is so important. That is the bit that has been keeping me going.
But times are tough and just getting tougher, as the Boss once said.
I have 15,000 words of the 80,000 written.
