Dissertation post #1

As of this week, I've officially started intensive work on my dissertation!

Ever since my proposal was accepted in January, I've been mainly doing very light research, and mostly just letting ideas marinate in my brain. But with my Japan visit coming up very soon (mid-August!) I thought that I should buckle down and get this done.

I'm actually on Day 4 of NBR (nothing but research), and perhaps 15% of the way through a first draft. Of course, that percentage is fairly arbitrary, because who knows how long this monster is going to take?! My goal is to have most of it done by the time I visit Satoh-san in Japan (again, just a rough draft!); that is, everything except the analyses of the two Japanese instrumental works, possibly. I haven't yet decided whether I'm MORE or LESS intimidated by this dissertation than a week ago. Either way, it's much more real!

Well, it's probably time to stop procrastinating and start writing. Wish me luck!