Goal for the weekend: To have Chapter One completely sketched out by Monday. Normally, I don't write this linearly--it would be more my speed to start in the middle and work my way back. But this time, I want to make sure the skeleton is in the works early on. I already know that Chapter One is going to have a HUGE hole in it, methodology, but the parts that I do know (literature, Rice, womanist perspective) I want to get down on paper. That way I can add to it, tweak it, and fill in the holes more easily as I go along. Oh and there is that deadline of July 27th that I gave myself to get Chapter One circulating...
Plan for the Weekend to Meet Goal Without Losing Sanity:
Friday:
- Look at a few of my favorite book introductions to get an idea of what elements I should include in Chapter One. I've already identified a few books that have introductions that read more like my Chapter Two, so mental note, don't get distracted by Chapter Two.
- Pull out the parts of my dissertation proposal that I'm actually going to use/expand on (Definition of Topic, Contributions of Study, Relevant Scholarly Conversation).
- Continue writing on Condoleezza Rice.
Saturday:
- Develop the literature review aspects of Chapter One. Clearly identify the bodies of literature that I'm contributing to/responding to. This will primarily involve further expansion on the dissertation proposal.
- Commit to paper a possible order of the remaining chapters, even knowing that it will likely change again. The order of my content chapters on the individual case studies changes from week to week, but based on the feedback of my committee, I need to start thinking more critically about how these cases might best blend together.
- If not exhausted and still needed, keep working on Condoleezza Rice.
Sunday:
- Deal with the methodology hole. Write about Womanism/Black Feminism as Methodological Perspective.
- Look at how other rhetorical scholars talk about their methodology for doing textual analysis work.
- Also look at feminist methodologies and write into Chapter One the intrinsic motivations for doing this work as well as the extrinsic. I want to be very honest in this study about my position as a young Black woman and what perspective that brings to the project.
- Is that Rice part finished yet??
Monday:
- Review what I've accomplished--set new goals as needed.
- Read for my VOICE.
I've always received compliments on my "voice" when it comes to writing. Faculty and peers generally enjoy reading my work, but the longer I've been in grad school, the more I feel like I don't have a voice. To some extent, I have lost that sense of knowing what makes my writing mine. I don't even have a style anymore--I've created this crazy collage of MLA and Chicago in recent months (I need to stop!) I know part of it is just fatigue--my writing has become very lazy (by my standards), but again, I think that is due to being out of a serious routine. There are serious downsides to finishing graduate coursework--one of the major ones being that there is no threat of looming seminar papers to keep you writing. And when you've been writing papers every year of your life, any respite from that work is much needed. So really, since December, I've been on a serious writing hiatus. While I was studying for comps, almost all of my writing involved texts on my reading lists--taking notes, summarizing arguments, playing texts against each other--but I wouldn't call that "writing." The whole comps study process for me was more like...typing, lots of typing. I did some work on revising papers and what not, but it wasn't a regular routine. I will say that when I sat for my comps and produced my answers, the feedback that I received from my committee was that my writing was very good. My advisor felt that I was really coming into my "voice," and gaining more confidence as a writier. But I just don't see/hear it right now...
Self diagnosis: Writer's laryngitis brought on by inactivity.
Prescription: Write more.
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