A Review of 2009

It's been a full year since I started down the PhD road and at times it doesn't feel like I've gotten very far at all. To be honest, I've only been officially on the MPhil/PhD programme since mid-October. The preceding ten months were spent on University of Chichester's Probationer's Scheme, a sort of feeder road leading to the PhD highway, filling out applications, applying for funding, applying for more funding, building my 'writing profile', attending conferences and doing preliminary research into my subject. Lordy, I've filled out a lot of forms this year...


Here's a list of what I've actually done this past year:
  • completed a 7,000-word Literature Review of fiction, historical texts and theoretical works pertaining to my research;
  • finalised my research proposal;
  • applied for funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (a three-month long process which was highly stressful yet ultimately unsuccessful);
  • attended three conferences (The Uncanny, Playful Paradox and NAWE);
  • presented at two conferences (Playful Paradox and NAWE);
  • attended the Small Wonder Short Story Festival;
  • applied to the University of Chichester and was accepted as an MPhil/PhD student;
  • started this blog;
  • completed outline of novel;
  • wrote 8,000 words of novel since beginning of December;
  • applied for Studentship at University of Chichester;
  • was shortlisted and interviewed for above;
  • submitted work to 29 journals/magazines/competitions;
  • published 4 travel articles, 4 book reviews, 2 short stories;
  • had 8 short stories shortlisted for prizes.
  • Oh yeah - I also spent 2 months riding my bicycle from Alaska to Idaho (by far the easiest part of the year).
I'm assured by my supervisor that I'm on track, but I'm still prone to periods of serious self-doubt in which I wonder if I'm really meant to be doing any of this.

Comments

kate leader said…
I wish you all the best for the New Year and hope that you will be able to meet all your targets. I haven't read all of the work you have posted, but look forward to it.
I will try and leave a comment for each one.
Well done. You have produced a very interesting and worthwhile blog. Have linked it with my email to follow your progress.
31/12/09 21:00
Sarah Hegarty said…
Thanks for a really interesting read - your research is fascinating, and I enjoyed browsing through the links. I shall follow your progress closely and take inspiration from it! You've already inspired me to set my own writing goals for 2010 - good luck with yours!
2/1/10 12:04
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