Thesis revisions have not been going well this past month. Not only was I super busy and didn’t spend near as much time as I should have on my book, one of my revision tasks threw me for a total loop. I needed to add tenderness to a relationship, because if the reader doesn’t see why the relationship would exist in the first place, you can’t expect them to care if it lasts or not. The problem is that my main female character has a bit of a temper, and I didn’t want to sacrifice her character (as I see it) for plot conventions.

That said, yes, I can see that these revisions needed to be done, and what’s been taking me so long was working these in. I knew, theoretically, that I could accomplish what I needed by adding bits here and there (without, in other words, adding an entire new scene), but my first few tries ended up feeling either really forced or no different than the original. By my calculations I’ve got between eight and ten weeks to finish my thesis, and so the stall that was early- to mid-March really had me panicked. But I am moving again, finally.

My goal for break is to add between fifteen and twenty-five new pages—and that’s in addition to the revisions. It’s going to be a lot of work, and it means I won’t get to relax as much as I’d like, but if I can add twenty-five pages I’ll have the required eighty for the thesis and then will be able to go back to revisions again. That route gives me a more polished thesis but leaves me with more to be written once I graduate. On the other hand, I can aim for a total of forty-five-ish new pages, which would probably get me through the first quarter or so of what will be my final book.

Other than writing, I also want to get through at least two more thesis books. I still need to finish The Sound and the Fury (which I may ultimately leave off my list because I’ve struggled so much with it), and I’ve also started on Amy Hempel’s complete works (through two of her four collections).

So yeah, that’s what’s on my plate right now. Busy busy!

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