Dissertation

So, I am 36 days away from having to hand in my MA dissertation, and 29 days away from the date I want to actually be finished by (so that I can have it printed and bound.)

Currently I have written 1994 words, my word-limit is 17,500 but I'm not going to push myself to hit it, I'm going to aim for 16,500-17,000 and think myself damn accomplished however many words I actually write. My plan for this week is to write around 1000 words a day (fitting this around shifts at work and bits of research I'm able to do), then regroup on Sunday and examine how far I've come and if I have reached 8994 words by then I will be so pleased. I'll have written over 50% of the whole thing and I can look down the mountainside rather than up at the sheer climb ahead of me.

I knew when I started my MA that the dissertation would be the hardest part for me to cope with. I disliked the entire process of my undergraduate dissertation - I had a very disinterested supervisor, and it put me off ever doing a dissertation again. I don't think I've been in contact with my supervisor enough this time around either, but a big part of that is because I'm an idiot who doesn't want to be seen to be bugging people all the time (even though I know that's what supervisors are for.)

All I really want for this piece of work is to be something I can be proud of and something I can pass my MA with. I don't know whether I should really be aiming for some lofty scholarly ideal with it as well, but at the moment all I really want to do is pass!