Update on the meeting

The meeting with my advisor went well. I am so lucky to have such a supportive mentor. He always reminds me to have reasonable expectations of myself, and he encouraged me to take it easy while dealing with the early pregnancy symptoms (how does he know??? it is impossible to be discreet in my department). We talked about the other work that I have been doing, acknowledging that I have, indeed, been working...just not so much on the diss. And he said I'm not allowed to send out proposals for anything anymore. Good advice. I should probably just ignore all CFPs.

As for the diss, I have a long way to go to even get a good start. I have direction. I know what I need to do, but this project is still in a very early stage. I am still not even sure what it is really about yet. I am going to rework the proposal--I think that it is necessary for me to have a really good one before I proceed, but I am working on some separate projects right now that will contribute directly to chapters later. I forsee the proposal being a work in progress for a long time, maybe stretching into the spring, but when I am done and feel good about it I will have set up the chapters to fall into place nicely. I know that this is not the way that everyone works, but I think that it is the best way for me. I am not feeling so discouraged today. And I may have a blog treat for you later.