My Dissertation Completion Plan

Here is my AMAZING dissertation completion plan. I'm not adhering to it perfectly, but it seems to be going well for the moment. I have designed it so that I should be able to finish a (very) rough draft of all five chapters of my dissertation by 31 December, which would give me an entire semester to edit and do any more research that might be necessary, allowing me the possibility of finishing in five years like you're supposed to. I'm hoping to get a sixth year as I would like more teaching experience before being on the job market, but either way, this plan sounds crazy but actually seems like it will work.

16 February:

This was the date of my presentation at La Sorbonne. I was invited to give a lecture for a class on the Oulipo, taught by Christelle Reggiani (a Perec expert whose new book I just reviewed a few months ago). I will write more about this in a different post, but the point is, I treated this talk as a "deadline" to finish a draft of my first chapter of my dissertation. The talk was on set theory as it pertains to the Oulipo, namely my first chapter. So, rather than spending months working on a presentation, I spent the time working on the chapter and then translated my work into a French presentation for the class. I then scheduled a vacation in Madrid to reward myself.

I didn't quite finish the chapter draft before leaving for Spain, but the presentation was a success and I don't have much left to write. It is a very rough draft, as I said, but at least I know that my ideas are there. What's more, forcing yourself to write makes you acutely aware of where your research is lacking. After having written these 50 pages, I now know exactly where I need to expand and what new books to read.

1 April:

This is an arbitrary deadline. I picked this date because I'd like to have my fourth chapter on algorithms drafted, and a reduced version in article form sent out to a journal that was interested in it. The article is half written as is, so the chapter writing should be quick and painless. The second half of the article will also be the topic I will discuss at the Séminaire Perec on 30 May. Reggiani invited me to present at that, and I figured it would, like the other presentations, force me to get a substantial part of my dissertation written.

28 May:

This is the date of my presentation on geometry, literature, and the table of contents at the Séminaire ALGORITM. I will be speaking about my fifth chapter, specifically Italo Calvino and Michèle Audin. To add to the pressure, Audin will be there and speaking as well. So, I'll get to see if she agrees with my interpretations of her work! This should allow me to have a draft of my fifth chapter and a productive conversation at this conference all at the same time.

1 August:

Arbitrary deadline by which I'd like to have my second chapter written.

31 December:

As I'll be teaching the first semester and since the third chapter is central to my dissertation (both in position and importance), I will want to give myself much more time with it. I think it should be doable.

So, the plan might seem crazy. But, I'm confident it will work! It's working so far!