Contact me at lucyvictoriabrown@gmail.com because I'm always up for a natter about anything. Well, mostly.

Tuesday, 24 September 2013

To Do Before 2014

As you do when you can't sleep, I spent a good proportion of the early hours of this morning cataloguing what I need to do before this year's out and also the things I would like to do. None of these, amazingly, seem rooted in fun. The things I'd like to do are just extensions of the things I need to do. Funny that.

  • Final chapter of my thesis - Non-negotiable. This will be done and redrafted several times. 
  • Rewriting first chapter of my thesis - I'm pragmatic enough to realise the final work on this may end up being done in January. It's a hefty job and it all depends how long writing the final chapter takes me. More details on my thesis completion schedule can be found here.  
  • Research and write a Yates/Dickens article I've got in mind - Pie in the sky this one. I'll only have time to do it if the days are magically extended by fifty percent. 
  • Research an article on dead insects in a Yates novel - Don't ask. Also, see above. 
  • Corrections on Downton Abbey essay when these come back - Non-negotiable.

  • Finish sixth draft of 'Danni' - This is essentially a polishing exercise. I finished the fifth draft earlier this year and now I'm trying to make it perfect. 
  • Finish first draft of 'Izzy' - I last wrote about this here. I've been stopping and starting with this one all year and I know where it's going. Just need to get it finished. The first draft's about two-thirds done.
  • Finish first draft of 'Kathy' - This is less than 20k in at the moment but I would like to complete it before the year's out. 
  • Do NaNoWriMo - I'm determined to participate again, particularly because I have an excellent idea. The characters are roaming in my head and it's going to be set on a cruise ship - plenty of time for research when I go on my own cruise in a few weeks. 

These are only a fraction of the things I'd like to do but I'm trying to be realistic. I've got four other novel manuscripts in need of revision and I did say this would be a year for revision. But the most important thing at the moment is my PhD. It's much easier to write first drafts alongside my thesis because I don't have to worry about every individual word as I do with revisions. 

I feel a little like Eglantine... Anybody have a self-duplication spell?


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