False Advertising

OK. I’m a sucker, I know. But how could I resist a book called Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day?

I’m not completely stupid. I didn’t actually expect to be able to shorten my work day down to fifteen minutes, but since mine’s more like fifteen hours than fifteen minutes [hyperbole alert], I figured author Joan Bolker might have a few tricks up her sleeve that I could use.

My hopes were soon dashed. Before I even got to Chapter 1, right there in the Introduction, I found this disclaimer: “One of the most important pieces of advice in this book is, Do some work on your thesis every day, even if it’s only for fifteen minutes. Although I’ve known people who have produced finished theses in widely varying lengths of time, anywhere from six weeks to ten years, I don’t actually know anyone who’s done it in fifteen minutes a day. But I do know many who began the process that led them to complete their dissertations by writing for only a very short time every day.” Duh.

I guess Pope was right. Hope does spring eternal.