10 days since my last post. I had to take some time off from my paper and catch up on the many, many other things I had put to the side while I worked on my paper almost exclusively. However, since then, I’ve gotten back on track and put in a few marathon sessions of editing. I printed off a copy of the draft and hand-edited. I then reconciled those edits with the document. A lot of my comments to myself were clarifications, improved transitions and spending time to unpack some very dense writing.
I also had to redo my references (I used Zotero and the MS Word plug-in – it was pure magic, not completely painless…but the least pain I’ve had with referencing a paper). I also had to create a dozen or so screen shots for examples throughout the paper. I received early feedback from one reader, my game design expert, which was very helpful. No major conceptual or theoretical problems, but some very helpful refinement of my examples and some work to make the first half less boring <grin>.
I have submitted the draft to my Advisor. It was very had to hit send. The compulsion to make just one more change is so strong. What I had to do was focus on the fact that this is a first draft. I’m going to be a wreck when I hand in my final draft <grin>. I have also sent a copy of the draft off to a small army of supportive and crazy friends who have offered to read it and let me know what they think. I am very grateful for this amazing support and for their guaranteed brutal honesty…<smile>.
In any case, it’s a done deal now. I’ll start copy-editing and fixing up some screen shots in the mean time, but basically, it’s just waiting now to hear back from my readers before I wrap up this paper and finally finish up this degree.
Whew.
