It feels like it was just a few weeks ago that I was finishing up midterms because, well, it was. But now the semester has just a month left (ack!) and I have to turn my attention to final projects. Plus side of this semester? No finals, meaning a far less stressful final week. Downside? Five final projects instead, which means the weeks leading up to the final week are going to be substantially more challenging. In no particular order:
My Literary Criticism final paper is definitely going to present the biggest challenge. If you love poring over dense essays of critics from the Victorian era, I applaud you! I can’t say I’m going to love it, personally. The 15-20 page limit is a little daunting. I’ve only written one or two academic pieces of that length before. Writing it piece by piece is my only option, I think–looking at individual critics, then their evolution, then how they intersect and contrast, then my own perspective.
My Short Narratives class will likely be the easiest, at least for me. We’re expected to turn in a portfolio of work that we’ve completed this semester. Polishing stuff I’ve already produced is substantially easier than coming up with something fresh. So long as I don’t review something I wrote at the beginning of the semester and just die of embarrassment, I should be fine.
My narrative psychology class will be time-consuming, but probably the most fun. I’m exploring adaptations of The Little Mermaid (it’s a looong story) which requires consuming an absolutely ridiculous number of versions of the fairy tale. Luckily, the inter-library loan system at Wellesley can get their hands on virtually anything, so that part hasn’t been a challenge. Going through the stack of young adult novels, poems, movies, and short stories that I’ve procured will be more of a struggle.
My stats class is making me a little nervous. We’re still in the “data collection” stage of our final project, which involves sending out a survey on the number of readings that students complete, based on different factors–field of study, job, class year, etc. It looks like we’re getting plenty of responses (256 as of writing!) but what exactly we’re going to do with this big pile of data is still a little hazy to me. Our stats prof promises we’re getting into that soon, so fingers crossed!
Finishing a body of work to turn in for my thesis should work out? I’m currently using a number of stories I started last spring semester, some of which I’d prefer to replace with something a bit more current. I’m barreling through my first longer-form story this semester, which will hopefully supplant some of the older stuff. This one is tricky because sometimes I just don’t have an avenue for making progress. With academic research projects, there’s always something to read or review. With creative writing, it’s possible to stare at a blank page for a loooong time.
Thanksgiving Break is next week, and I’m hoping to get a lot of this work properly started then. Outline the criticism paper, review my portfolio, read/watch a bunch of Little Mermaid adaptations, start coming through the data, and definitely finish another long-form short story. Maybe by writing that down here, it’ll help me commit! Wish me luck, everyone!