I approached January and February as a time to really get my dissertation research organized and plunge in energetically. But I’m stalled. That’s not like me. I write and research easily. Could be the time of year. I’ve always thought of the “Jan-Febs” as the most depressing time of year – that dark, cold time with seemingly so little to look forward to. Even here in Central Florida, January is our only really cold month (and truth be told, it has been unseasonably warm this year). And spring will begin to arrive in February, the season of the dreaded greenish-yellow pollen.
Being stalled on one’s dissertation is nothing new for PhD students. The trials and tribulations this ordeal are chronicled — the dissertation story told — in the blog Dissertation Hell, described as “a place to rant publicly but anonymously on the many tortures of writing a dissertation.”
Today, my school’s Institutional Research Board approved my research plan, so I can, in theory, move full speed ahead. Let’s hope….