Blessed by the Potato

So NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month — is coming up, also known as November. I am not attempting to write a novel this year, just like I haven’t any other year, because that is just crazy balls.

I am trying to finish my thesis though, which is nearly as much writing (and harder writing at that, since it involves 4X as much reading for references, etc.).

It’s a daunting task, but today I seemed to pass through that psychological barrier where it goes from being this impossible wall to climb, this “oh my god, what did I get myself into, and how will I ever finish this?!” type thing, to being something that hey, I can do! There are still a lot of pieces to put together, but it’s starting to look like the pieces will go together in the end, so I will finish it.

…though I’m not going to get it done on time :( Once again I’m at risk of blowing through another deadline. My next milestone (or in the corporate parlance, “deliverable”) is set for this coming Monday, and I’m already 2 weeks behind, so somehow I’ve got to get 3 weeks worth of work done this week — and the planned timeline was a gruelling hellmarch pace to begin with! It makes me think it’s just not going to happen. Especially with Halloween festivities essentially making the prospect of any weekend productivity a non-starter.

And of course, one doesn’t get two weeks behind on the timeline without facing up to the realization that maybe the timeline was a little aggressive/optimistic in the first place.

As much as I’d love to get things squared away for this term (and save nearly $2700 in tuition), just seeing that there is an end in sight, that things are actually coming together, is a big relief, even if that end may still be half a year away yet.