The X Files - Twenty Years On

The abstract for the above journal has been revised and sent! Just got to keep all my fingers crossed that it gets accepted, and that I can get ethics committee approval from uni for it (I'm planning on questioning/interviewing fans under the age of 16 so I need to put a good proposal forward to the committee). I am a little worried that I'm going to take on too much if it does get accepted, but the stuff I'd be looking at for the paper links directly to the research I'm doing on my lit review, and first drafts don't need to be in til January next year, which gives me plenty of time to work on it. Plus, I'm doing a PhD on The X Files. I can't pass up an opportunity to submit something to a journal that's doing a special edition on that very topic!

In other news, the slash book chapter I'm writing seems to be going well. I've had lots of thinky-thoughts on it, which have translated into about 6000 words of notes, and that's without any quotes from my interviewees or their fic in there! One thing I do need to find though, are femslash writers in the Twilight fandom. It's a long shot, I know, but do any of you happen to know anyone who'd be interested in being interviewed?

Supervision Meeting

But I'm not making a post like the last one I made *g* I was actually a little bit worried about the meeting, but that's because after much umming and aahing I decided it would be better for me if I could do the PhD part time. I was very naïve (stupid?) when I first applied and thought that I'd be able to work full time and study full time (after all, I did it for the last half of my MA) but I hadn't realised the sheer amount of work I'd need to do. Reading about fan fiction and The X Files alone just isn't enough-there are so many other areas to read around and theories to learn, and coming at this from the academic background I have means I'm playong catch up while studying. So I decided that doing the PhD part time would be better because I'd be putting the same amount of work in but would have much longer to write everything up. I'd emailed Matt to ask if we could discuss it and the response was positive but I was still a bit nervous.

Anyway, come today it actually went well. We talked about the fact I have to work because at the moment I have a £20 a week budget and that has to cover food, train travel and all other odds and sods. £20 is what I have left after my bills, etc have gone out, and I get my pay and help from my parents for those. So Matt's suggested I email our department head to ask about the possibility of teaching hours in the next academic year to supplement my income. He asked how much I was working, and I must have pulled a face because he said he wouldn't be pissed off if it was full time, he just needed to know. So I told him it is full time, and I work late every night to make up for the time I lose on a Wednesday morning (because work wouldn't grant me study leave). He said that it's impossible to work and study for a PhD and if I keep doing it I'll only get more stressed and harm my candidacy because there's no way I'll be able to complete to a high standard in 3 years. Which I agree with. So I'm going to email the department head, explain my situation and see what he says. Matt can't see any problem with me going part time; the only issue may be that I might have to pay back some or all of the grant I was given by the university, but we'll cross that when we come to it. So I'm going to send the email when I get home and go from there. I do feel like a weight has been lifted since making that decision though, and I'm glad today's meeting went well.

In other news, I can't believe a week ago I was on a train home after New York! I don't know where the time goes.

I'm presenting a paper at the Fangbangers conference next week and am freaking out about it! I haven't actually written the paper yet, and I don't want to go anymore! Except I have to so I will.

Oh, and it looks like my writing therapy article is going to be published as they've asked for a bio, and I've had an article on tattoos accepted for a new literary tattoo magazine, which makes me happy.

It's Worrying How Time Flies

I now have only two months to finish my MA portfolio of 10000. I swear 5 minutes ago I had four months.

I've had my marks back for my teaching essay and portfolio one - 76 for the essay and my tutor's told me to submit it to some journals, and 68 for the portfolio. I was really hoping I'd get more, and I debated contesting it, but in the end I decided not to bother. I did, however, email a couple of journals for the teaching essay (which was on writing therapy and client safety) and one has come back to say yes, please submit. I've also emailed Henry Jenkins about the fan activism issue of the Journal of Transformative Works and Cultures he's guest editing, and had a reply today to say that they're interested in the paper I've proposed and would like me to submit. They can't guarantee publication as it has to go through peer review, but the fact that they're interested when it's not an area I've studied and I haven't even started my PhD yet really pleased me. I know what I'm going to write about, and I've approached some people I want to do case studies with, so just waiting for their permission and then I can start the research and drawing up my questions.