October 22, 2022

Something I thought about:

• My colloque de thèse was this week, so the two main things on my mind were 1) getting courses prepped well in advance so that 2) I could review / prep / rest my brain for the private defense. I knew Thursday was going to be incredibly long and intense – I was scheduled to teach two seminars before the defense – so pacing was important. It was also the first of two school vacation weeks, which meant juggling the usual load with a child at home. I had less running around/commuting but more interruptions. Overall, less running around was good – fewer things to track plus physical rest – which definitely helped.

Something I did:

• Passed my colloque de thèse (private defense) with minor revisions!
• Scheduled my public defense for December.
• The usual teaching, grading, etc.

Something I read:

• Jami Attenberg had a lovely meditation on writing book endings in her newsletter. I liked it.

In other words, I could end things on a sad note, but it didn’t mean the book was sad. And if I did it right, if I built everything right leading up to it, the ending would serve as a highlight for all the other feelings I wanted to express. It could even take the reader somewhere brand new entirely, but it did not have to leave behind the world I had created.