Thesis Update because apparently my wild Saturday Night is for talking about myself

[trouble]

(It... is Saturday in Canada, right?)

Attention thesis writers: When someone says "Your chapter will come together when you have a theory to frame it around", they are not kidding.

Oh, Chapter 2, you are the best chapter ever.

Also, semi-colons are defeating me. (No, please, don't explain. If I fret too much about it in drafting mode rather than polishing mode it becomes the bestest procrastination technique ever.)

Anyway, I have taken my original shitty draft 1 of Chapter 2, divided it up a bit better (and thus put a bunch of useless paragraphs into what will be Chapter 3), added an actual introduction that says what it's doing, rewritten a little bit of it, and although it is still a shitty draft, it is a much better shitty draft that I need to rework instead of throw out entirely. My brain is a bit tired so I'm going to be finishing up soon, but overall I am satisfied. There are more words. They are not all shite. I think the intro is good. If I smooth out this section and add in all the details I have noted to add in, this could be an excellent roughly 3/4s of Chapter 2. (I'm aiming for 5000 words, it's currently at 1,400 words, which is nothing close to 3/4s, but fixing the stuff up will add more words.)

I'm really pleased with this. I feel like I have something solid to build on now, rather than some crappy words thrown together in the hopes that they'll turn into something. I have some things I need to research (like when the VG opened. When did the VG open? "The Victoria General Hospital was established in 1887 by the City of Halifax and the provincial government when the former City and Provincial Hospital at Rockhead, on the Northwest Arm was renamed; the City and Provincial Hospital having been established in 1859.") (No, wait, "The City and Provincial Hospital opened in May 1867 and made possible the establishment of the Halifax Medical College") (Obviously the internet is not going to be helpful. Lucky I have "Century of Care" at home, which is an academic tome and thus Totally Reliable Really.)

Picture of the Victoria General Hospital in 1910)

Comments

[meloukhia]

Woo hoo! I'm so glad teh thesis is behaving itself so splendidly.

[trouble]

Yes, if my brain were not tired I'd be so editing like a happy person right now. I think I know what I'm doing! Yay!

[meloukhia]

My brain always makes the mistake of trying to edit when it's tired. I'm glad you have more self control!

[rainbow]

i am completely clueless about everything related to theses but i'm heartglad that it sounds like it's going well!

and *semicolon* vibes for when you need them.

<3

[trouble]

Yay semicolon vibes! :D

[comeroundsoon]

Ugh, you just murdered my brain. I like to think that I love non-fiction, and I tend to buy a lot of non-fic. books, thinking I'll read them -- always with good intentions. But slowly the facts start to numb me. I prefer memoirs and autobiographys, the contain a lot of facts, though in a way that's relevant. You know? Surprisingly I aced my history classes in college.

[trouble]

Yeah, I get that. I tend to just keep to the Interesting Bits when I talk about my thesis, because the theory is pretty dull. Plus, you know, I get to talk about people drinking 318 liters of rum. (I have a "dead people's diaries" tag about the rum stuff.)

[comeroundsoon]

Haha, I'll have to go look at that!! I think historical things from personal perspectives are neat, because with facts, you loose the empathy, and sometimes, the context. And I would imagine thesises to be dull; unless you were doing one for creative writing, but even then.

[silveradept]

*fistbump* It really does. I was floundering on an utterly crap draft until I found my thesis, and then I raised it into a slightly less crap draft that was longer, which then, after editing and further work, I was able to raise into a draft that was actually worth something, and then I made it into a thesis.

[trouble]

Yes! I wish I had understood what my adviser meant when she said that. :)

[silveradept]

I don't think I would have understood it if it had been said to me at that stage, either. But enlightenment always comes, especially when working with someone who's done it a time or five.