I look back and see that I haven't posted anything since February - but it seems that spirits were quite high, and, apart from the financial impact, there was the sense that 'progress' was being made with the writing. I can go a little further today: six and a half years after I began the doctorate, I have just completed my 'intention to submit' form.
That means that the clock is now ticking and I have just eight weeks left before submission. Eight weeks!
I wonder sometimes how I have got to this stage. I know that there have been many, many moments when I thought that I wouldn't.
But somehow, now, I have a thesis that is probably in its sixth draft, and I have passed the 80,000 word mark that seemed impossible even a few months ago. I am left reworking only the Conclusions chapter. Those 'original contributions to knowledge' are little beasts.
The plan (though there have been so many plans along the way that I'm reluctant to even call it that with any degree of confidence) but the plan is to submit before Christmas and give myself the Christmas holiday writing-free before the viva sometime next spring.
