Fencing Off the Black Hole

Abstract

My doctoral thesis was a black hole into which years of my life and millions of words of writing disappeared. I took the long route to doctoral status. That had never been my plan, but then little of my time as a PhD student went to plan: I struggled with the shift from a highly structured masters degree to the blank page of my PhD; a lot happened in my personal life, none of which aided thesis completion; and eventually I had to return to full-time work. While I continued to chip away at my doctoral thesis it never seemed to get closer to finishing – until, finally, I had to bite the bullet and just do it.