Happy New Year, Happy New Researching

2013. Doesn't look quite right yet, does it? I personally think that it looks like it has more get-up-and-go then 2012, but there is no good reason behind this, apart from a slight tendency towards synaesthesia (the number 5 is pink and fluffy, don'tcha know? Though it looks a lot scarier when attached on the end of 2015, where it signals THE END OF MY STUDENT CAREER. Hopefully.)

Ahem. In any case, if there's a bit of energy (perceived or otherwise) knocking around, I am determined to make the most of it. The end of last term left me on the ropes, the blurry and half-formed face of my Quasimodo thesis staring down at me from a great height and just about ready to put the boot in, before Father Christmas scooped me up, up and away (at least as far as Chester). I am not at all delirious, but merely cognisant of the ever-changing, glowering beast that the PhD experience can seem to be, which differs so greatly from the in-yer-face and away-you-go whirlwind MA year. I have so far learnt:

• Literature reviews are blimmin' hard to start, when you're trying to coherently group the 21 sources you have so far pored through in great detail
• Even 1st year exam marking has its charms, when there's another chapter that needs reading
• There is no perfect starting point. Every answer throws up at least three more questions
• Fixed deadlines are beautiful, rare jewels that I never appreciated when I had them, and which I greatly miss now
• Teaching is awesome and will keep you sane, even if it continues to induce stomach churning and unnecessary sweating every other Wednesday morning

The view at my desk...a bit post-it note heavy, but it works!
Also very pleasant to be able to survey the wildlife from time to time.

There's just a few pearls of wisdom (read:garbage) for you on the back of one term's PhDing. It seems that the main themes running through this are the need to avoid isolating yourself, and knowing how to make massive jobs into itty-bitty-manageable ones. Here's my plans for dealing with these issues:

Avoid isolating yourself

• Ensure that daily lunches with lovely linguists (happily no syntacticians, so no fear of chatting shop) continue this term
• Continue to revel in teaching, without using it as a distraction tactic
• Keep finding fellow syntacticians and semanticists to bounce off, even if κύριε καθηγητά is off doing exciting things in Boston 

Breaking down massive tasks

• Post-it notes. As anyone who has seen my desk knows, it's ALL about the post-it notes. And they genuinely do help
• Don't expect to get things perfect (e.g. the literature review in the perfect order, or the ideal abstract structure) first time. Drafts are not only OK, they're a blimmin' good idea
• ...following on from the point above, getting words onto paper (real or digital) is GOOD. My head just won't hold all this information on its own, no matter how hard I try...so why am I trying?
• Reading must be punctuated by thinking. Otherwise it won't go in, and I won't get anything original out of it anyway. GET AWAY FROM THE LAPTOP MORE FREQUENTLY!
• Creating deadlines for myself. Be it a supervisor meeting, a postgrad conference abstract submission to get me motivated about a bigger conference's deadline, I need motivation, and this is the most effective way for me to get it

I don't think that all these things are possible all of the time, and I'll find other ways and means of dealing as the year goes on. But as I am fortunate enough to have good people around me, and little gems of projects showing up from time to time, I think I'll be OK. And that will do for the meantime.