I would apologise for largely abandoning this blog for the entire duration of my two-year MA, but honestly, I only had so much writing time and energy to go around, and all of it ended up going into my essays. But! The MA is now complete (I should find out how I did towards the end of the year), and just this week I’ve started my PhD!
As well as writing NINETY THOUSAND words about seventeenth century witches, as portrayed in herbals, almanacs, and husbandry manuals, one of my goals for the six-ish year duration of the PhD is to build up some skills in presenting my work to the public.
It takes a certain amount of effort to manage my chronic anxiety and extremely distractible brain at the best of times, and the thought of public speaking fills me with terror. But I do need to be able to present my work, and I will (eventually) need to survive my PhD viva, so I figured that it’s never too early to start practicing. Speaking to people I can’t see feels like a good place to start!
So far I don’t have a plan for this, I don’t have an upload schedule… nothing so organised. At some point I may well develop those things, but I’m not far enough into the research yet to really know how my time is going to balance out. I’m still working at the Cole Museum of Zoology and volunteering at the Herbarium, so even though my PhD is part time, I still need to be careful not to over-commit myself. (She says, as though that isn’t a lifelong habit that needs crushing into the ground.)
The first week of term has largely consisted of Admin Shenanigans, which I think are almost sorted out now. Fingers crossed. I’ve had a meeting with my supervisors, I’ve been to a couple of seminars, and I’ve only managed to triple-book myself for one very busy Thursday later in the term. What I haven’t done yet is ANY WORK, so Monday will be my first day of sitting down with my notes and having a Good Hard Think. I can’t wait!