3 January, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Happy New Year, kids! I hope 2012 is a fabulous year for all of you. Amidst all the doom and gloom in the world at the moment, I still think it’s possible to carve out some joy and success. Strength comes from adversity and all that. Yes, it’s true.

2012 is going to be a major year of transition for me. I’ll finish my PhD. And I’ve just started querying literary agents in NYC with my novel, so we’ll see how that goes. It’s finally happening!

I’m also applying for post-docs and scouring the academic job adverts in the US, UK and worldwide. I’m not going to MLA in Seattle this week — I couldn’t really afford it and I didn’t have time to prepare. To be honest, I have no idea what I’m doing in this job search. My university didn’t prepare me at all. I feel at a big disadvantage in the job market because of this. I think I need to pour all my energy into getting published. For me, a job is likely to come from that.

Anyway, I am feeling upbeat, despite having a huge question mark hovering over this year. None of us can predict the future, but I have no idea where I’ll even be living.  The US? The UK? Elsewhere? I’m just living out of a suitcase at the moment. If I think about that, and looming student loan repayment, and unemployment, it becomes too overwhelming, so I won’t think about it. I just need to finish this thesis first and then go from there.

Posting will be light around here (or possibly non-existent) until I submit my thesis, which I hope will be the week after next. You’ll know when I’m done — you’ll hear my screams of joy wherever you are in the world. Yes, it’ll be that loud.

4 Responses | | Comments Feed

1. 
   
   At 3:30 pm Dorothy said:

   Happy new year and good luck for the job-search. I’m in a similar condition at the moment, I’m job-searching too, I need one really stable job in order to be able to continue further studying with a worry-free brain Having unstable jobs and asking grandma for money doesn’t work out for me anymore, seems like I’m getting too old for that sort of life
2. 
   
   At 12:52 pm Anglofille said:

   Good luck with the job search! You’re going to continue studying? Oh dear! Once I finish this degree, I’m DONE!
3. 
   
   At 3:13 pm Dorothy said:

   Yes, you’ll be all done Horray !
   I actually *like* to continue studying, even more so when I have a real stable job, because then I won’t have any pressure anymore. I’ll just continue for pleasure then (and have my higher degrees a little later due to working).

   Believe it or not, but you actually *haven’t* discouraged me from going on to higher degrees
4. 
   
   At 2:51 pm Anglofille said:

   Believe it or not, but you actually *haven’t* discouraged me from going on to higher degrees

   LOL. Then I’ve failed!

   Just kidding. I don’t regret doing the PhD, despite the difficulties. Go for it!