The Light at the End of the Tunnel Beckons

I am sitting here on this rainy Sunday morning….a little too early because the cat was sure she had to eat NOW… in a very good mood.  As I think I wrote last, I was in a panic over my thesis a little over a week ago.  I was working on my fifth chapter when I realized I might not be able to prove the ultimate argument of my whole thesis.  I tore my files apart looking for a list of just about ten names that were the clincher to everything…the clincher to several years of painstaking research, years of travel to Mississippi (not that the trips were painful in any way), years of analyzing data and reading every book I could lay my hands on published about yellow fever since the 1820s.  Yes, that is quite a few works.  They don’t call me the disease queen for nothing! 

Anyway… my dear friend who lives in Natchez took time out of her weekend to go to the Historic Natchez Foundation for me yesterday and get that ever important list of names.  I spent an hour or so last night perusing the Census records from 1850 and 1860 for these all important men.  In my excitement I found exactly what I was looking for. They all were exactly what I thought they were… Natchez merchants.  Just that small word made everything fall into place.  And so, this week will be spent crafting chapter five.  I still have to put together chapter two on the Natchez doctors, but that one will practically write itself.  I don’t know how to express how happy I am to have that light at the end of the tunnel shining a little brighter today. 

Now I can enjoy going to brunch and to the movies with my girls today knowing that tomorrow I can begin to really get closer to the end. 

On That Procrastination Train Again!! Someone Push Me Off Please!

I am so close to being done with my thesis, I can almost taste it.  Why then do I go through these periods of inactivity?  I can make a lot of excuses and try to convince you, dear reader, that I have just been too busy to put pen to paper in the last two weeks, but they would all be hollow excuses.  I have been busy, but not too busy to work.  I have to say that I have been sucked in to this election in a very bad way,  I find myself watching the new all afternoon and evening on some days…often yelling at the television like a crazy person!  I have got to pry myself away and get some work done.  Not only work on my thesis, but work on cleaning my house! The holidays are fast approaching and I just feel like I need to face them with a cleaner house.

Time management is the thing I need to work on most this week.  My goal is to get a little writing and a little cleaning done every day this week.  Then I can run off Saturday to the Civil War Reenactment in Moorpark and truly enjoy myself.  Whitnie and Maggie… I promise I will not drill the poor doctor at the medical tent about Civil War medicine and yellow fever this year!

So, back to work this week!  No excuses.  I have two chapters still left to write…probably between twenty and thirty pages.  This is not that difficult.  I just need to get up off my butt and get back to work.  In addition to that approximated thirty pages, I have to tackle my introduction and conclusion.  Both will be entirely contingent on what these two chapters actually end up being.  So, one thing at a time.  Plan for today… a few pages and a dent in the mess that is my kitchen.  Wish me luck!!