The unmentionable has become an actual ‘thing’ in my life

Yes, that’s right….I have finally embarked upon the road to PhD.. at the age of 50. I know, right?   RIDICULOUS!  I’ve been very resistant to the whole concept of  writing for a PhD for a VERY LONG TIME. Mostly because, with multiple additional learning needs, my  scholarly experiences have been arduous. So it’s been much easier to simply avoid the whole PhD concept.  However, a PhD has now become a ‘must do’, so… I am doing it… on a part time basis over five years. If you’re still awake at this point and want more on this subject then you’ll be delighted to know that I plan to blog my way through the PhD process by posting weekly progress lists. Week 1 of 36 allocated (part time) PhD weeks (Day 1 of 180): Publishable PhD words written – minus 1500 PhD suitable papers published – none Cups of tea drunk – eleventymillion Miles run – 11.5 Cakes baked – none Books read for pleasure – If I Die Before I Wake (see 2017 reading page for link to book review) Books read for PhD – one chapter of Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks Blogs read for PhD – Dr Helen Kara Research undertaken – 27 of 46 students have completed the first survey Meetings with PhD supervisors – two scheduled for Nov Meetings with ALN support – one scheduled for Nov Average level of guilt felt when squeezing PhD days in work diary – moderate Overall average stress level – tolerable Average success rate – pretty much as expected Plan for next week:

• meet with one supervisor
• remind research students to complete survey
• decide focus group date
• choose journals for possible publication of two articles
•  write 1st draft of one article
•  exercise more
•  bake more