Tag Archives: #phdchat

Lecce, Italy – a writing day

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Napoli Arch and Obelisk, Lecce

When we planned our trip to Europe I knew I would need to do some research and writing. I was quite looking forward to it. When we’d been away in 2015 I had used the early mornings and afternoon siesta time to write and that was in winter.

This time it’s summer and its hot and humid making the afternoons not that pleasant. As a result, it hasn’t been hard to spend many of our afternoons reading and writing while we have been travelling. My PhD supervisor will be pleased!

One task I have over and above my PhD research is to write a chapter for an academic book due for release next year. My contribution is due about a month after we get back and has been the main focus of my attention while we have been travelling. The topic is aligned to my PhD research which was why I pitched the idea in the first place.

With breakfast done, the day set to be hot and humid and a disappointing but not unexpected loss to my beloved Adelaide Crows out of the way, I sat down to write.

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Lots of writing and genuine progress

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In early January I wrote the time for “just writing” was over and that I needed to get back to my PhD and that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing.

View from my study at our beach house. Much better view than my desk at home or at Uni!

More than 10,000 words written. My third of six or possibly seven case studies about family wine businesses now largely written, and the chapter on the first stage of my research completed, even in the eyes of my Supervisors!

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The time for just writing is over it’s back to my PhD

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In the last few weeks, I have just been writing for fun. Four published blog posts and a couple of drafts for future reference.

It’s been nice to just free write after spending most of the last year working on my PhD thesis. Over the last twelve months, pretty much every time I have thought about just writing, I have had a sense of guilt that I should be working my thesis. However, across the Christmas New Year period, I made the decision to put the thesis away and have a break. Continue reading →

Well into my fourth year of “What’s Next”

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A recent conversation with my daughter-in-law and the birth of our first grandchild provided a point of reflection on where I am at in “What’s Next”. Perhaps my impending 60th birthday was an added impetus?

It’s been over three and a half years since my last day in the office. While I didn’t formally retire until 30 June 2015, I effectively retired from my firm at the end of March in that year.

So here’s my report card.

I haven’t missed the office for even one day! Continue reading →

A weekend in the data!

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A brilliant Spring Adelaide day

I am in the middle of my second annual review for my PhD program. The upshot is I’m going well but I have a lot to do!

So knuckling down across a long weekend I was faced with a pile of data to analyse and a dilemma of what to listen too while I got into it. Through a few hours of Ireland’s RTE – Gold ( I discovered RTE Gold last year when we were in Dublin) I moved onto Spotify and quickly onto my own playlists and within a couple of hours to my 60s and 70s playlist.

My 60s and 70s has hundreds of songs and provide good background as well as an opportunity to pause from my analysis, listen and reflect. These are all songs that I found in the 70s my high school and Uni days (that’s the first time around Uni!).

I thought I’d jot down a few thoughts about some of the songs I paused on Continue reading →