Onward and backward?

My dissertation chair has the first complete draft of my dissertation. Most of it has been revised according to his feedback, so I’m feeling good about it. I think we’re both hoping that whole thing will be done this semester.

That means I can start working on other things. Like going back to my master’s thesis and reworking it into a book manuscript! Yeah, I’m going to take a break from theater and metaculture and Hamilton. I don’t know exactly where all of that is leading for me right now. But the X-Men and Deaf culture connections have been in the back of my mind since finishing the thesis.

As much as I want to dive into the research and start there, I am starting with reading From Dissertation to Book by William Germano. It was recommended by an editor at McFarland Press years ago at a conference panel I attended.

Yesterday I took the thesis and put it back into Scrivener so each paragraph is a separate piece I can look at by itself. It was a good process because it gave me a good overall view of the work, reminding me of things I had forgot I wrote. I figure if I’m going to read this book about turning something like a thesis into a book manuscript, I should have the thesis in a position that I can work with it.

I’ve also set a bit of a deadline for myself. I’ve submitted to a conference in the fall that is about the first chapter. Well, not necessarily the first chapter, but the first chapter that deals directly with the X-Men and Deaf culture. I’m figuring, if nothing else, I’ll have a good starting point, be honest about the fact that I’m at that point, and go from there.

Once I’m officially done with the dissertation, I might be able to pull a couple of articles from it, but I doubt it’s going to get the “revise into a book manuscript” process. Not all dissertations do, and that’s fine. The point of the dissertation is the culmination of my PhD. The point isn’t to write a book, despite being long enough to be one.

I’m really looking forward to this process, revisiting and revising this work, refining it into what I want it to be now that I have a whole PhD behind me.