It has been a few weeks since my last update. As I proclaimed in my last post, the talking had to stop and the writing had to begin. Well, I have had a good few weeks with little to distract me from that particular job in hand and am pleased to report progress. I have two of the three substantive sections of the chapter drafted. The introduction needs doing with a lot of tricky stuff about missions and budget data to throw in, but other than that I should get it done in the next couple of weeks. I shall do my utmost to adhere to my 1st April deadline! Like I said, not much to distract me and it’s been good to get into the swing of writing again. I can even say that on one particular morning I nailed a couple of hundred words before even going down for breakfast!

Obviously devoting any considerable length of your time to writing up chapters requires concentration. And while, for the most part, the process of writing is a conscious one, I have discovered that my subconscious has also been busy helping me along.

I gave some thought to what I’ll be doing over the summer, namely reworking my theoretical framework. I remembered that a good book was ‘The Culture of National Security’ which I got out the library in my first year. Now, I realise that I am drafting my chapter on Portuguese security policy and that a book with such a title could obviously be of potential use. But I’m not quite sure what prompted me to get that book out of the library this week. Remember, I’m not going to be addressing my theoretical framework until the summer. I sat at my desk and picked this book up thinking why did I get this out, I don’t need it yet?! And I thumbed through it and realised that the chapter on NATO was exactly what I need for the section I was literally just about to write!

Now, I did read through this book some years ago but I don’t think I looked at this particular chapter. But did I bury it in the back of my mind?! And did my subconscious mind direct me to the library to get this book out months before my conscious brain thought I needed it! It was altogether very weird, but a nice kind of weird! So I guess all I need to do now is get some leads and wire my laptop to my brain and I should be able to write the rest of the thesis in my sleep!!! Nice and easy from here on in then!

Since my last post, and before the chapter drafting began in earnest, I met with all my supervisors and we sorted out a bit of a timetable for my completion which seems reasonable. They also gave me some very positive feedback on the main bit of my theoretical framework which I redid a few weeks ago. It was nice to have progress on that particular one and I also got some feedback from the talk I gave a few weeks ago.

I also had a trip down to London a few weeks ago. Officially for a talk on ‘Is Europe still Rescuing the Nation State’ which was very useful. But it was also good to meet up with a friend from home as well as to go to a nice Portuguese cafe for coffee and cake. It was also a beautiful day in London and I had some time to kill, so I did lots of walking round looking at the sights. And because it was a cloudless sky, I thought I’d never get a better opportunity to go on the London Eye. So I did that and became a tourist for a day. But a politics tourist, which means taking particular pleasure at trying to see into David Cameron’s back garden from the London Eye and getting all excited when the only celebrity I saw that day was the BBC’s Nick Robinson! Sad I know.

So, I’ve only got two weeks now before I’ll be back home again. Hopefully I’ll have drafted my chapter by then. Anyway, expect a blog post upon my return home to Suffolk for the Easter holidays.