{"id":2143,"date":"2018-10-30T05:51:20","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T05:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/are-you-getting-your-writing-done-nana\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T11:19:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T05:49:40","slug":"are-you-getting-your-writing-done-nana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/are-you-getting-your-writing-done-nana","title":{"rendered":"Are you getting your writing done, Nana"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"f8f2\"><em><u><strong>Note<\/strong><\/u><strong>:<\/strong> This narrative originally appeared as a series of posts on Lorie\u2019s\u00a0blog\u00a0and has been republished here with her permission.<\/em><\/p>\n<p id=\"f8f2\">My own road to PhD proved circuitous, rocky, and unpredictable. At many times, I felt utterly alone.<\/p>\n<p id=\"88ea\">An atypical grad student, I entered the PhD program as a part-timer while working full-time for my state\u2019s K-12 education agency and teaching college English courses in the evenings. I hardly had the time, but the coursework would prove a worthy distraction from the often soul-sucking work of educational bureaucracy. Face-to-face contact with writing students fed my soul. Long divorced, my nest had finally emptied when my younger son took an apartment with a friend. \u201cWhy\u00a0<em>not<\/em>\u00a0get our PhDs?\u201d a younger colleague implored. Alright. Let\u2019s do this.<\/p>\n<p id=\"993e\">Eventually, I could take early retirement and become \u201cthe oldest living GRA\u201d (at age 54, and no\u2026 not the oldest) and make the deep dive into academia. Yet, this would not ensure an easy go for the rest of my PhD journey. I could isolate myself in my assigned office and while away hours, tending to my tasks for the grant program, making little to no progress on my dissertation. I lacked adequate advisor support and became increasingly discouraged.<\/p>\n<p id=\"80dc\">While wandering through a home goods store, my husband picked up three decorative freestanding letters, wooden with mosaic glass: P, H, D. Though I pooh-poohed the idea, he purchased them and placed them on the bookshelves above my desk in our home office. They became my focal point. Someday\u2026<\/p>\n<p id=\"80dc\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-element file-default\" style=\"width: 600px; height: 500px;\" title=\"Wooden letters P, H, D\" src=\"http:\/\/insights.cactusglobal.com\/sites\/default\/files\/PhD%20plaque.jpg\" alt=\"Wooden letters P, H, D\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"80dc\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-element file-default\" style=\"width: 600px; height: 600px;\" title=\"Frames for inspiration during a PhD\" src=\"http:\/\/insights.cactusglobal.com\/sites\/default\/files\/Frames%20to%20inspire.jpg\" alt=\"Frames for inspiration during a PhD\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"e31f\">There would be further setbacks (<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/your-research-your-life-your-story\/i-failed-my-dissertation-defense-but-i-am-not-a-failure-e7e9f174ff4d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/your-research-your-life-your-story\/i-failed-my-dissertation-defense-but-i-am-not-a-failure-e7e9f174ff4d\">including the failed defense<\/a>), but I determined to surround myself with inspiration and affirmation. My office d\u00e9cor also included greeting cards and other art that screaming positivity. I set my desktop background to a photo of my then 3-month old granddaughter captioned, \u201cAre you getting your writing done, Nana?\u201d I wanted to ensure that my personal universe shouted out to me \u201cYou CAN do this\u201d each and every day.<\/p>\n<p id=\"bdeb\">So, I did pass my second dissertation defense and currently work for three universities doing what I love: teaching writing, teaching undergrad and graduate literacy courses, coaching \u201cdissertating\u201d clients, and editing a refereed journal. A year after commencement, it occurred to me that I could encourage other \u201cdissertaters\u201d via Twitter, and @dissertating was born. I created the Twitter feed to be an affirmational presence in the lives of students pursuing their terminal degrees. It\u2019s an arduous task that begs constant support. I hope in some small way I can be that support.<\/p>\n<p id=\"45bf\">I love that my followers often report in my feed that their PhD journey is complete. Our @dissertating community rises up to congratulate them. We are surely #BetterTogether.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Note: This narrative originally appeared as a series of posts on Lorie\u2019s\u00a0blog\u00a0and has been republished here with her permission. My own road to PhD proved circuitous, rocky, and unpredictable. At many times, I felt utterly alone. An atypical grad student, I entered the PhD program as a part-timer while working full-time for my state\u2019s K-12 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":915,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2414],"tags":[2454,2671],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-researcher-stories","tag-researcher-stories","tag-stories-of-success"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Are you getting your writing done, Nana? | Editage Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lorie Owens, aka PhDiva talks about her difficult PhD journey and how she kept herself motivated.\" 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