Rain, Rain, Rain and Academic Writing

*Warning: This will be extra bland, as it's all about my procrastination and academic writing.

So it's raining profusely this morning. Which is a sign that I need to get my butt in gear and write that abstract. Rain is ideal for me when it comes to research and writing. And yet, I sit here on this blog, because academic writing is a little more taxing than just pouring out a stream of consciousness like I am right now. (whine, whine, whine). After doing all the necessary research, it gets difficult to come up with an original thought. But, I'm at the point in school where I need to start presenting papers at conferences and I'm letting it overwhelm me. To my detriment. People don't make it through much of anything by allowing themselves to be intimidated and this is really no different. It's so easy to say doctoral level work is intimidating, because, really it is. If it wasn't, everyone would have a PhD.

This conference is seeking papers that deal with the idea of "America" (there's a reason that's in quotes) in literature, drama, music, and several other areas. Basically, it's looking at how we use our conflicting ideas of what "America" (because there is no singular definition, it's always being contested, as well it should be) is to include, exclude, celebrate, chastiste, etc. Since I'm thinking about doing my dissertation on how rural folk are represented, excluded, derided, and just plain made invisible in American literature, drama, and pop culture*, this is definitely a conference I need to attend, it's just a happy coincidence that it's in Austin. But really I'm just sitting here whining and procrastinating and "poor little me, I'm intimidated by those big, bad scholars" and I just make it more difficult than it has to be.

Mostly this is just me talking myself into applying the seat of pants to the chair so I can write this damned abstract. Carry on.

*the popularity of "white trash" theme parties and references to trailer parks, mullets, and ironic Def Leppard T-shirts on VH1 do not count (at least not until I come up with a new word for the "ism" that that stuff most definitely is, because I am trying to come up with a vocabulary to describe what I call "the problem with no name")

*Oooh! Random thought: I sent an email today, catching up with a friend and actually got to say "we went to the coast this weekend." How cool am I? And yeah, it was lots of fun.