Good news--a proposal I wrote has been accepted for an essay collection. I've had publications in a small in-house journal at my Masters institution, but this is will be my first "real" publication. It's not a journal, but, hey, it's something. And now I have to write the essay. It's not related to my dissertation but on an author of interest to me (not Flannery), and I have written an essay on this book before. So I'm not starting from nothing, but it will have to be a whole new essay. I felt really good about the proposal, though, and I'm excited. I am concerned about the distraction from my dissertation--I have already committed to a different project to complete my women's studies certificate and for which I recieved a small fellowship (yea!). That project is directly related to my diss, so that helps. There is a good chance that these extra projects will help keep me motivated toward my dissertation. I will have a sense of accomplisment as I complete projects, and I will also have to make an effort to make time for my diss work--I tend to be more efficient when I have more things to juggle.
There is one thing that worries me. My advisor and I have agreed (I think) that I should not try to rush into getting a diss proposal officially approved yet and to start writing as a way of coming to those ideas. Which is great for the way I work. But I want to apply for a fellowship this fall and I need a good proposal for that. So I really do want to push to get something out even though I would prefer to put it aside for a while. I am worried that I will not have the proposal I want to have by the time I need it. Then again, I could apply for the fellowship next year--but that implies that I will be working on my diss for three years. But let's face it. I will be. Might as well accept that now.
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Oh, that's great! Publications are always good, no matter where. As for the dissertation, well, it's good not to rush into things, but a proposal generally is not set in stone, so you could change things later if needed. 3 years to finish a dissertation sounds like such a short time for me - it's been, let's see... over 4 years since I passed my comps, then it took me 2 years to defend a proposal (it was called prospectus in my case) and it's going to take 3 years total from proposal to defense... (deep sigh).
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