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As a full time neophyte postgraduate researcher and possible ‘academic’ (I say possibly, as I am self funded and the only paid work I have been able to secure was a couple of exam invigilations at Christmas), I have set myself a target of writing a minimum of 500 words a day…even if it is utter nonsense, knowing I can edit it later on. I have actually ‘rediscovered’ how much I love to write, and the challenge of writing an 80,000 word thesis sends delightful shivers of anticipation and not dread. I keep two diaries, one for notes on my research and the other a growing list of words and phrases, in English and Latin, which I then make every attempt to incorporate into my daily writing. Notice the word ‘neophyte’, doesn’t it sound so much more interesting than ‘beginner’ or’novice’? What about ‘tenet‘ instead of rule, or ‘postulate‘ instead of said….how delicious….I am revelling in my doctoral journey, not only because I love my research and being in charge of my learning journey for the next three years, but I didn’t realise, despite the intellectual demands, how much I would absolutely relish the opportunity to immerse myself in books, often exploring areas outside what I anticipated (I’m reading about evolution of scientific thought, which I hadn’t realised would be so rivetting). In addition, when reading and evaluating literature, trawling for snippets of evidence and theoretical perspectives to, as my supervisor said provide ‘intellectual justification’ for my work, I profess to feeling ‘deliciously naughty’ when I admit to voraciously scanning the same corpus of literature for any interesting words, or phrases I can incorporate into both my thesis and vocabulary. Especially in Latin.
madamepostpostmodernist 