Wednesday, July 2, 2008

A Project Just Up and Smacked Me Across the Face, Demanding Attention

I've been reading Julie and Julia by Julie Powell, and I absolutely love it. I'll write a bit of a review in a couple of days when I finish it, but I bring it up now because part of her experience in her book is her first blog. Not only is the blog centered around one aspect of her life, it is focused on a single project.

How brilliant! What a surefire way to beat writer's block! Also, you'd have something to update the folks about besides, "Buster decided to eat his own poop today...." 

I find myself toying with the idea of making this blog more focused and carefully crafted around a particular theme, but then I remember why I started this site to begin with. I started throwing poorly written posts out into The Internet to keep in touch with old friends and quit shoving My Thesis Whining in their protesting in-boxes. I thought then they could check in on my progress, rather than be force feeding it to them. There was the intention of a bit of a focus, a category of posts, I suppose. But rules never said anything about forbidding ridiculous posts about the dogs and my fear of the treadmill. So, I am not going to filter my posts based on some category in my life. At least, not for now.

So! Worry not, you will still be regaled with tales of the life with dogs, the fish that got away, life with A., attempts to break my neck at the gym, as well as some occasional musings about the landscape I call home. It is a mutt of a blog, and it will stay that way.

However, I am still struck with the desire to have a project that defines a part of my life. In the book, Julie decides to prepare all 500+ recipes from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. What a wonderful idea!

Then it hit me, as much as I'd been trying to avoid it (even just a few paragraphs earlier!). In the gut. Hard. I have such a project: The Thesis.

So, I will be writing more about my progress (or utter lack of) on The Thesis Front here at S&S. While I am certain these posts will be positively riveting, I'll include something in the titles so you can easily skip or skim those posts, if it suits your fancy.

Carry on.

6 comments:

  1. I was actually wondering what was going on with the thesis. I think the first post I read of yours was about your angst over not liking your (former) advisor. I'll be reading!

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  2. YAY! I, uh, still don't really get what your thesis is about (it's ME! Not YOU!), so I look forward to this!

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  3. I thought that, too, when I read Julie and Julia: what a COOL idea for a blog!(slash BOOK) Although one of the things that made the book/blog (I never read the blog, but I sorta assumed it was like the book) so great was how it wasn't ALL about cooking--there was stuff in there about her job, her marriage, etc. (my favorite line in the book: "I felt like chicken in aspic.") Also stuff about the cooking projects that didn't work so well. I mean, if every one had turned out perfectly, the book would have been BOOOORING, and also annoying as hell.

    So, thesis update posts alongside dog, fishing, & fitness stories fit right in!

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  4. i actually got ANXIETY over thinking about someone else doing all 500+ recipes in a year. it's too much for me to even live vicariously through. how sad is that?

    bring on the thesis!

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  5. It's funny that you didn't even think about your thesis being a project until a bit later. I'm excited to hear about your progress, but I'm with Tessie and am unsure exactly what it's about. Maybe you should start with My Thesis 101 for the thick-headed visitors like myself.

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  6. YAY! I adore your blog and I'm glad you're not changing it anytime soon. I find it - frankly - inspirational. (You might be thinking, oh poor girl, her life must be crap. But, you'd be wrong!) I love, love, love that you have no censor and I do indeed read it to feel in some small way connected to your life. Keep it up! :)

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