thesis! (yes, really!)

I know you're all sick of me saying "when I start my thesis," and "I'm going to start my thesis soon." Well, now I really am - today is officially day 1.

I've looked at the syllabus for the thesis work, and it's already got me quaking in my red Mary Janes. There are three parts to it - the first is the thesis itself, which in my case is a novel. The second part is guided reading - 10 to 20 works chosen in conjunction with your advisor to inform, inspire, and challenge your own writing, to be read during the four-month thesis-writing period. Third is a 5- to 10-page writer's statement, which is a lot like an artist's statement and discusses how you approach writing, how your thesis evolved, your ideas on writing, and commentary on your guided reading.

We also have to have bound copies made of the final thesis - one for the university library and one for the department. (And I'll probably get an additional one for myself.)

I'm trying not to make myself sick by dwelling on how much work I have ahead of me through the end of the year. I'm supposed to have a conversation with my advisor sometime this week, so I shall ask him for advice on pacing myself so as not to lose my mind and/or burn out and/or end up hating writing.

On the bright side, this means I am tantilizingly close to a finished, polished, ready-to-be-sent-to-publishers novel. Next year will be my submission year in which I send my baby out to make her way in the world and see what publishers think of her while I start working on the next baby, and there's another one waiting in the wings behind baby #2.

For those who are interested, my thesis is a modern gothic novel. It takes place in an old house that is a composite of two houses from my past - one is a house I used to drive past when I went to visit my mom (this is for exterior scenes). The other is a house I stayed in for two weeks the summer before I entered high school (for interior scenes). Both are just asking to be settings for a juicy ghost story. Letters and journal entries comprise some of the story as well.

The story is told through several points of view of characters who lived in the house, which could get tricky, and is probably what I need the most help with. The other thing I need help with is pacing the storytelling so as not to give away too much too soon. I will be pestering my advisor with many questions about these things.

I'm happy with the two chapters I worked on (and worked on and worked on) in the workshop courses. I have a substantial (but REALLY rough) draft of the rest of the novel. There are definitely gaps and things out of order.

I suspect that the next four months are going to teach me a lot about what it takes to have an independent writing life. If I can get through it, which I'm fairly certain I can despite the quaking and the full-time job, however I feel about writing and producing a substantial work for publication at the end of the year will have a lot of influence on my career direction (and future writing, for that matter).

I don't know how much I'll be blogging (or crocheting) during the rest of the year. I hope to at least check in weekly so you know I'm still alive.

In the meantime, I leave you with this virtual philosophy Web site that is well worth perusing.