I Don't Want To Do This Any More (But I Will)

Image by Katarina K Many aspiring writers leap into an extensive project with enthusiasm, talking about it to everyone within earshot and then some. Then days and weeks go by, months pass and one day, a well-meaning acquaintance enquires about it and you’ll find yourself grasping for a non descript answer. As you walk away, rosy-cheeked and uneasy, you ask yourself why on earth you can never keep your mouth shut. There is more than that though, as the feeling that was already creeping on you, on and off, is here to stay: you really don’t want to do this any more. This despondency, compounded by a deep sense of loneliness, is part of the writing life, as much a rite of passage as the hysterics reserved for the publisher who announces yet another draft and yet another delay. I realise even too well that these words are unlikely to be of comfort to you; if truth be told, they are not of comfort to me either. I am not writing a novel but I have written a PhD and for all writing purposes, and at over 80,000 words, I can certainly define a PhD as an extensive writing project. I put it to sleep late last summer and now it has returned from the dead, as many PhDs do, requiring revisions. And I don't want to do these revisions. I am not the first, nor am I going to be the last, student who is faced with the prospect... Read more →