I have no idea what I am going to do. Not much one can do with a humanities PhD. I have a 9 month grace period from Sept when I will part-time lecture. After that I have to hope that the experience will lead to another academic job. But I am not sure if chasing temp jobs for ever will be good for my sanity. I will try and publish my thesis as a book but that won't bring in any money. I don't want to work in sales or finance. I was trying to develop a career in museums before my PhD but that went nowhere (got an MA and applied for numerous jobs) - it is every bit as competitive as academia to get jobs with them. Sigh. I just don't know.

Thanks! :-) I find it encouraging to see people on here who have already finished and gone on to other things :)

Today I will be preparing a section of my thesis for publication, prior to getting down to thesis corrections on Monday. this will be the last of the publications from the thesis.

I got feedback on my thesis. The supervisors think I will be good to submit in c.1 month. I got some good encouragement on sections of the thesis, but the current problem is that certain sections of clumsy text ruin some of the best "brilliant" (yay!) parts of the thesis. So I need to re-write these sections, including the introduction, conclusion, and parts of two chapters. My proofing and formatting is also currently very loose and there are a few sloppy thought explosions on pages that need qualifiyng and clearing up. I need to have a good think about what I have done and use that to sort out the introduction.

With c.one month to go (I will set a definate date next week) I will chart my progress on this thread.

So close to handing it to the examiners! Just need to keep it together for 4 more weeks!!

Roll on 12 hour writing days!! (sprout)

I was declined AHRC doctoral funding in my first year and put on a departmental waiting list. My lucky number did not come up fully, but I still qualified for the reserve list for "departmental doctoral fees scholarship" i..e my fees were paid. In the second year I got the AHRC funding council research.

So it can happen. Maybe work out a way you could work part-time in the first year should you be offered a university fees only scholarship. this is how I got thorugh the first year of my full time thesis.

Good luck!

I lost weight in the first and second year - and in this third year lost a lot. Recently I have gained enough to make me sightly larger than when I began, but in a healthy way. No need for new clothes etc so not an extreme gain.

I also live alone for half-the week, and only talking to myself is keeping me awake.

With the aid of strong cups of tea, I will stay up as long as I can...

A funeral appropriate colour.

Urgh, tmrw morning I will be wearing black.

I hope the Green Party get some seats out of this election.

Well, I have completed my first magazine article, now to go to bed and see what the editor thinks, hope he likes it!!!

Still here, another hour to go and then done! (up)

Good luck finding a way home for him! (up)

I am writing a article due tmrw, up on the night train. Anyone else? (sprout)