Sobriquet 53.4

Well, now that I have returned from my brief visit to the Twin Cities, I find myself struggling to keep my shoulder to the wheel. Although I did continue reviewing Disgrace as well as my notes on the novel while I travelled, I cannot help but feel as if I have been slacking off. Now, I do realize that one must take breaks here and there when engaged in something as large as a dissertation and, naturally, there will be stretches of time during which one's productivity may flag, but I have really been having a rough time of it lately. I mean, I have already written forty pages of the chapter, so I really cannot claim to have gotten myself stuck. Nevertheless, as has been the case with every single stage of the Disgrace chapter from reading the criticism to the pre-writing phase, the writing of this chapter is taking me much longer than either of the first two chapters did. And I'm tired. I want to be done with this whole thing and, of course, the only way to be done with it is to finish it. You know, precisely what I do not feel like doing. In other words, I feel precisely the same feeling that prompted my hastily-arranged (though thoroughly enjoyable) vacation in the first place.

It.

Just.

Takes.

So.

Damn.

Long.

At any rate, to try to fend off the feelings of stagnation, I decided to write a bit today and, pleasantly, the result was, even when filtered through my own jaded eyes, a solidly-written beginning to the section. Now, while I am satisfied with what I have written this afternoon, I still feel as if I need to prepare a better outline for the segment, which is what I intend to do tomorrow. Once that's done, I reckon, I'll be a lot more comfortable with things.

For tomorrow: Pre-write for the current section of the chapter.