Thesis-Like Musings

I've been giving my thesis a lot of thought lately. I've read several more books, followed a few new leads, and have completely re-evaluated what I thought I was going to write about. I mean, it's still about 18th-century theatre, but I've shifted the focus in a way which I feel will be both more original and more analytical. This means that things have fallen into place a little. I know what I want my chapters to include, I think I know roughly how long I want each to be, and I just have a few more books to plough through before I can really start writing. I think I've finally figured out that I simply don't have time to read the nearly 100 books that I thought I would need to read in order to completely, fully, know my subject. Reading ten or twelve seminal books or chapters of books, a few newer studies and articles, plus going through the newspaper database will simply have to be enough. Everytime I read a book I check the bibliography for something useful, and usually I come up with five or six new books to read. But I just don't have time for that if I'm planning on actually writing anything. All of which is to say, I need a few more weeks of super intense reading, then a few weeks of super intense writing, and I think I'll have a thesis. Or at least a rough draft.

Easier said than done, probably, especially with starting a new job soon, but it's feasible. And it's all the more feasible after my breakthrough: I know what I want to actually write about. I feel slightly more excited now about thesis-ing than I have in a long while.

The thing now is, I'm trying to write a new introduction-- a new prospectus, really-- and I'm having difficulties getting it started. Which is why I'm procrastinating by writing a blogpost, I suppose. I keep wondering, Should I keep the opening two paragraphs of my old introduction? Should I change them? Should I move my former last paragraph to the front? Should I find a new opening anecdote? How do I write a history paper again? Where's the button to make a footnote? Ahh yes, I think it's really thesis time.