Current Progress

Here’s where I am in this whole process:

I finished exams last December, on (1) Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Women Writers and Writing about Women, and (2) Female Communities in Spenser and Shakespeare. I took the spring off, eased through the summer with a bio of Elizabeth, and have started reading and writing for the dissertation this fall. Right now my topic is pretty nebulous, but I’m trying out ideas involving Spenser and women perhaps the concept of social networks (and perhaps some other writers--Shakespeare and Sidney maybe). My first “assignment” is to write on Elizabeth’s representations of herself and Spenser’s representations of her. I’m hoping it leads to something fruitful, but am open to the idea that it may reveal what I don’t want to pursue in the dissertation. My commitment this fall is to work Mon-Thurs evenings (and the occasional weekend day), and to write at least 15 minutes a day, just to get in the habit. (I’m also a full-time stay-at-home mom with two young kids, so I’m getting a slow start, but will ramp up when the kids start preschool and school.)

Where are you in the process?