Hard Week

This was a hard week for me, and I didn't make it to my writing sessions. I workshopped my draft of chapter 1 on Friday and attended the workshops of others in my group on Wednesday and Thursday at 3:15, so I couldn't make it to the afternoon Write-On sessions. Late nights made it hard to get to the morning sessions, and by Friday I was just feeling a bit demoralized and done.

On Wednesday I worked at home from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.--reminding myself that home is a place of distraction for me. I didn't get to the desk at 8 and didn't stay until 10:30.

I wanted to write 15 pages this week, but only got 6.

My workshop on Friday was useful. We came up with an outline, so now I feel like I can write a paragraph or so on each item and then evaluate the draft from there.

The last week of the program will be hectic again as I have my last dissertation writing workshop class on Thursday, so to get three sessions in I will have to go to two 8 a.m. sessions--not my favorite. I hope I can dig down for a last week push!

What Week Is This? Where Am I? And Where Did the Summer Go . . . .

Well, Friday was the first time that I just totally didn't show up. Fatigue and old habits are kicking in. I need help, people! I did turn in a draft of chapter 2 to my adviser last week, and he promptly sent me a pic of himself with the very author I was writing about--I think the pic is from 1969!
My goals for this week:

Write 9 pages on Monday--Lord, help me!

I have to turn in a draft of chapter 1 for my dissertation writing workshop on July 30, so I hope I have a productive writing week.

I plan to attend sessions on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning this week.

I have a short story on the Iowa Writes site.

Happy writing this week, all!

Week 3

My goals for this week:

1. Finish Cesaire write up (Wednesday)

2. Finish Senghor write up (Thursday)

3. Read Ngugi section (Friday)

Same as last week. I did basically finish the Cesaire section. I would like to read it over and make any immediate additions or revisions that I can as I am starting to understand my ideas here better with some distance and time to stew/mull over the content. I think in a couple of weeks I will be even more able to do this.

I am meeting with a professor to ask about being on my committee, and he is available Wednesday at 3, so my days this week will be

Wed: 8 a.m.

Thursday: 3 p.m.

Friday: 9 a.m.

If I can't motivate to get up early on Wednesday, I will have to go twice on Thursday.

Week 2

I was feeling very excited last week. This week, not so much. My goals are pretty much the same as last week. I am in the a summer writing workshop and had to workshop a piece on Wednesday and couldn't motivate to get up Wednesday morning, so my days for this week are

Thursday--8

Thursday--3

Friday--9

My goals for the week are to

*finish Cesaire write up,

*write up Senghor,

*finish reading section of Wizard of the Crow, and

*begin writing close reading of Wizard of the Crow--this may happen next week.

I workshopped my draft in the my summer course, and the recommendation was to stop writing about the other figures and move to my close reading. This is probably the best idea, but I have to finish the write-up of the key figures. Perhaps just as a self-sabotaging move to postpone working on what I should be working on. I just think getting a sense of what these thinkers are saying will help me pin point Ngugi's main thrust and central difference. Even if I end up excising all this from the chapter, I think it is important for me to get a sense of this for myself.

Write-On Introduction

In spite of all the enormous challenges of daily living, is the thriving, astoundingly creative artistic-imaginative landscape of Africa today. African literature, I repeat, is doing well. --Tejumola Olaniyan June 3, 2014

I am ending the 8th year of my PhD program in English Literary Studies. My research interests are postcolonial theory, African literatures in English, and 20th- and 21st-century literatures.

I am working on a dissertation that examines how whiteness is used in a range of postcolonial African literatures. I examine literatures from the late colonial period to contemporary post-apartheid literature in South Africa and look at how whiteness is used in representations of African identity and subjecthood.

My summer writing goal is to complete chapter 3 of my dissertation, revise chapters 1-3, and write the introduction and conclusion.