Halfway Through Round 2 Revisions and Required December Job Market Update

I just sent my director my revised chapter three which means that the first half of round 2 revisions on #DevilDiss2 are done.

Chapter three focuses on the personality and actions of the English folkloric devil. And one of the questions my director had was why so much of the chapter focused on women. This resulted in a lot of reading. A LOT.

And I admit, that the timing of this, with the end of the semester, and all the work to be done with that, was hard. I was a little behind my ideal schedule. But this week I was able to finish all the reading. And I found a way into answering my director's question.

For me the answer was that women represent the domestic space which stands in for the English nation. In part this is an outgrowth of hagiographies where female saints represented the Church, the domestic space of the Church, and were spiritual mothers. In both situations, the women represent the homefront, and this is why the devil attacks them.

This then provided a connecting throughline for talking about fairies, witches, hagiographies, and Jews as examples of how the devil acts against these figures.
This approach made the whole chapter come together.

 

So, once the reading was done, I went through and reread the chapter, making handwritten notes answering and addressing my director's notes/questions.

Then today I typed all the notes up. I also had to add all the reading to my Works Cited (I've been keeping these for each chapter, and once I have approved drafts I'll put them all into a master, end of dissertation bibliography). Because of the new computer, and hence new Office, re-adding all the Old and Middle English words and authors to spellcheck took a while. But even that was finally finished, I saved it, and sent it off to my director.
So that is officially the first half of round 2 revisions complete.
I also managed today to grade my freshmen portfolios, and post their grades (with only one hiccup, which frankly I'm praying is it, because as you know this semester SUCKED in many ways and I honestly can't take any more).

I have the notes for chapters four through six, so I'll start on them next.
While these chapters have notes to address (a couple of pages worth) I would characterize them more as tweaks than the substantive revisions chapters one through three had.

So tomorrow, I'll reorganize chapter four first. My director suggested organizing it along the lines of Shakespeare plays as internal and external threats. Then I'll return the massive stack of library books, and pick up the few I need for the Shakespeare chapter. I'll also take advantage of the campus time to print the newly organized chapter four, and scan the students' letter to future students so I can put them up on my teaching portfolio.

Then a trip to the post office to mail one of Dad's Christmas presents.

Then I'll come home, hopefully make light work of the reading I need to add (it's less than five books).
Tomorrow at midnight my final for my survey class closes, so I'll spend Friday grading those, and posting their grades.
Saturday is dedicated to working on my online Shakespeare course for the spring.
Sunday I am taking OFF.

Then next week I'll start on handwritten notes for chapter four, type those up, send it off, then rinse, repeat for chapters five and six.
I'd like to have the second half of round 2 revisions finished and off to my director by Christmas. Considering after Friday my semester teaching obligations are done, and all days become #DevilDiss days, I think this is doable.

It's not much of a break, but I'll be happier if all this is done by then, and as I've spoke of before, I don't know really what to do with time off. For the second year in a row I can't afford to go home, so might as well work, yeah?

Getting all this done too means that after Christmas, I DO get a break, other than just prepping my online Shakespeare class. I imagine it will probably be later in January before I get any round 2 notes back to start round 3 revisions, so that's a bit of a forced break. Being done before Christmas also means that if I DO get an MLA interview(s) the next couple of weeks the time between Christmas and MLA 7 January can be spent prepping for those interviews.

Required Job Market Update:
So here are the numbers: As of today I have applied for 47 jobs. They are all over the country. A lot are early modern. Some are medieval/early modern. Some are English Education. I'd be happy with all of them (or else I would not have applied). I've heard from 5 as definite NOs.
Yes, one is my dream job.
No, I'm not going to tell you what it is.

No, I have not heard about whether or not I have any interviews for MLA yet.
Yes, I understand it's now less than a month away.
Yes, I already have my hotel and flight booked in case I get last minute interview invites.
I'm still debating going if I don't get any interviews. I've been leaning towards no. Because I have four conferences this season. At around $1000 a piece (a couple will be less because I'm sharing a room) that's a lot of money, and while I'm applying for outside funding, it's never guaranteed. And not knowing if I have a job next year, that's a lot of debt.

No, I'm not worried.
No, I don't know what I'll be doing in six months.
"Where I want to end up" has nothing to do with anything.
No, I'm not freaking out.
No, I don't care what the academic wiki says.
No, I don't need your condescension.
And while I appreciate the sentiment, please don't tell me hang in there, or hugs.

It's a job. A family member isn't dying. My house didn't burn down. Nehi isn't hurt. I am healthy.

As I've said before- OF COURSE I want a job as a professor. It's what I've been working so hard for. But whether or not I get one has very little to do with me. I did everything I could to make myself a good candidate. I had lots of people look at my materials. I revised a lot. I went to a job seeker's workshop.  

And for the record- all that and I still found a single typo in my CV last week so *raspberry* to all that. And while I understand the logic of showing effort/professionalism in documents, it's CLEARLY a typo and if you're not going to hire me because of that, well, *raspberry.*

And my job has never defined me before, and it won't now.
Whether or not I get to "change my letterhead" or teach at the college level is not going to stop me from writing, publishing, sharing my ideas.

In fact, one of my To-Do items for Monday is to go get fingerprinted for NM, so I can send off my application to transfer my high school teaching license from NC to here. I'm a Nationally Board Certified Teacher, so it's a pretty simple process, although expensive ($125 to file). 

While back up plan A is to pick up teaching at UNM post-graduation, so is teaching high school here in New Mexico.

Back up plan B if those don't work out are applying for federal jobs.

And since both those plans won't require applying for jobs until March or April and by then I'll have a definite answer on whether or not I'm out of the job market this season, so that works out.

I know a lot of people are very stressed about the job market this year. And I hope things get better for you.

I haven't shared a lot of details about the job market, because frankly when I have it has resulted in Eeyores telling me "well I didn't make it either..." or in advice along the lines of "well you should..."

And while I appreciate people trying to help, none of that is helpful. And I'm not a fan of focusing on the negative. So, I think I will probably, for my own sanity and mental health, continue in this vein.

But don't worry about me guys, I'm fine.

Trucking along, happy with my progress, and starting to feel excited about graduating this year.

Of being able to turn my Twitter handle from "SoonToBeDrDevil" to "DrDevil."

Thanks, as always, for the support!