Pseudo-procrastination

It seems ironic to me that the moment I can see the end of the comps prep in sight and actually start thinking about writing them, a whole host of other things crop up to get in the way of actually finishing off the reading so I can write.

I think it's a subconscious thing, in part 'cause I'm scared shitless of writing them and flunking.

Some of it is inevitable family stuff, and other parts of it are inevitable fixing stuff kind of stuff, but I also seem to have found so many other worthwhile academic projects to do in the meantime. One of them is a conference paper I've been wanting to write for a long time now - the urbanization of the zombie film - I keep talking about it but haven't put any serious effort into writing even an abstract, though if I want to submit it to PCA next year, I'll need to do that real soon. It grows out of an interest in representations of the city in literature and film, which is of course one of the conference papers I presented last year.

My interest in urban literature was renewed on Friday because I went to see Neil Gaiman talk, and it was his Neverwhere that got me interested in the very specific ways that place functions in literature. He's a very amusing speaker, personable and articulate, with a fabulous reading voice. I could listen to him for hours - I think the next time he does one of his own audio books, I'll pick it up.

I did miss out on the Zadie Smith reading and signing today downtown. I had wanted to go, but I also needed to fix the car, and by the time I finished what I needed to do, I'd missed the time frame for doing what I wanted to do - too bad, I really like her work too.

I can't complain though - a lot of these distractions were very pleasant, like Book Club on Sunday night and dinner with some neighbors on Saturday night. Or like listening to Margaret Cho last night - what an irreverant woman - I loved it!

I'm hoping as October approaches, the pace of commitments to other things slows down enough for me to get back on track so that these things that keep delaying me - I don't want to say that I'm procrastinating, 'cause I'm not intentionally avoiding work, but they are delaying my progress. Wish me luck!