Learning at the lake...Writing in the wilderness...

There’s no excuse for my extremely tardy post (three weeks!?) but the good news is that I have been productive.  Chapter Two, ““Thackeray and India: Poking Holes in the English Narrative of her Indian Empire” is completed and submitted and Chapter Three (on Thackeray and America) is well-underway.  At the latest, I want to submit Chapter Three by the first week in June.  Also, my adviser, a fellow Victorian grad student, and two other Binghamton professors (who are coincidentally my readers!) are coming over for lunch tomorrow! Afterwards, I'm having tea with my adviser where we’ll discuss Chapters 1 & 2.

           So where exactly am I these days? The family cottage in northern  PA which is fortuitously located 40 minutes down the road from Binghamton University.  I've been to the library twice, loaded up on books, and reconnected with friends and professors.  But most of the time you can find me here, lakeside, 15 miles off the highway, down three dirt roads, and surrounded by farms and forest. Craig is here four days a week; and when he is back in Philly for his various sports leagues and summer classes, I’m happily isolated with limited cell reception.  Understandably, my progress has never been so prolific!  In between working, Blue and I walk take long walks on dirt roads 2-3 times a day and occasionally take out the rowboat.  However, we’ve done this more rarely after he leaped from the boat before take-off-, panicked as I drifted a few yards away, swam out to me and then jumped not only in the boat, but on my lap leaving us both soaked and muddy...

          Not much else to report, save the next few weekends will be manic, meaning I’ll have to be guarded about my writing/reading time.  This weekend is the Valley Forge graduation, so I’ll be in Philly watching a family friend give the commencement speech and then shaking the hands of my students.  The following weekend, two wonderful friends marry in Buffalo, (and my brother and his enchanting fiancé will come visit the cottage before returning to California!), and the first weekend in June a friend from grad school marries a great guy to whom I introduced her, good stuff!

          So am I as far as I thought I’d be after a semester solely dedicated to writing? Of course not. Sometimes I lay up at night reprimanding myself, but Craig reminds me that this does no good.  I’m starting to chart my hours at the computer and restrain myself from taking those winding roads of unnecessary research and instead hopefully fixate on my tentative defense date of September 30…