Six years. 362 pages, including 35 pages of bibliography. 40 Icelandic sagas. Over 93,000 words. Hour after endless hour of agony, analysis, translation, weeping, thinking, thinking, thinking. And more weeping.
And finally, FINALLY, THE PHD IS FINISHED!!!!!!!
Writing this PhD has been the hardest thing I have ever done. EVER. And, fingers crossed, it will be the hardest thing I ever have to do. My friends (those I see in 3D and those I visit on Facebook) have shared my PhD-finishing torment, and have offered much wonderful support over the past few years. To all, I say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for sticking with me, even when I was a whinging wreck. At last I can stop filling my status updates with mundane comments about how much I hate my thesis, how long it’s taking me, how I want it to die, die, die!!!!!! It’s now almost officially dead!
I have an excellent proofreader looking over the final draft as we speak, and my primary supervisor is double-checking my Old Norse translations to make sure I haven’t muddled them too horribly… But, really, the Albatross is Dead.
Submission is imminent.
I couldn’t feel more relieved.
I’m going to celebrate my completion by having a freakin’ fantastic time in Perth next week. Everyone at Swancon will feel waves of relaxation and joy emanating from me each time we meet, and I hope to raise many a glass with great friends to celebrate while I’m there!
And I reserve the right to jump for joy without any notice. Be prepared.
Lisa L. Hannett 
I noticed this late, but still wanted to offer my congratulations.
We don’t seem to bump into each other on campus, so here seems as good a place as any.
I always knew you had tens of thousands of words of polished prose in you. 🙂
Enjoy a well-earned break, or if not that, whatever comes after finishing a PHD.
Thanks so much, Nick! I’ll happily accept congratulations for this, late or otherwise 🙂 Hmmm, why *don’t* we bump into each other more on campus? You hiding/reading/conspiring with Prescott? Or polishing thousands of words yourself? (I bet it’s the last one…)