Dissertation Update: White Flag (the NASCAR kind)

Okay, so I was lying awake during the night, about to reenter the "panic" mode on my dissertation (which I seem to be entering a lot lately, given that my original 70-page proposal is now serving as drawing paper for my 15-month old, I'm paying course fees until I finish the darn degree, my ten-year limit for finishing the degree is a lot closer now than it was six years ago when I started, and with all the play dates, story times, diaper changes, and laundry loads I seem to have completely lost site of the fact that I've completed a bachelor's, master's, and 5/6 of a doctoral degree), and I realized that I don't have my assignment sheet. 

In teaching, especially in my Pre-AP classes, I always gave my students an assignment sheet detailing the expectations for the essay they were about to write.  They had all the details of the expectations for the assignment, and they were to refer to it throughout their writing.  My advisor gave me an especially helpful assignment sheet when I was writing my 40-page qualifying paper. 

And just why couldn't I write myself my own assignment sheet?  After all, the dissertation is such a personal assignment that I'm really the only one who can make the assignment sheet, anyway.  Oh, and I must add that in many ways the assignment sheet--especially those written for my developing high school writers--is a sort of scaffolding; the instructor outlines his/her expectations in a way that gives the student a very clear message on which way to take the paper.  And since my attempts at an outline have left me completely overwhelmed, why not start with an assignment sheet?

So I sat down here to try to create one.  I was well on my way when I decided to go back and format the paper.  Whenever I created handouts for my students I made it my signature to include the title in a catchy font and a graphic to help guide the visual learners.  After trying every font in my expanded list of fonts (and declining my own offer to find and download a font especially for this purpose--I'm a procrastinator, remember...), I settled on one that was more academic--hallowed halls of academia, that is--and less frilly (I wanted to send the message to myself of how important the task is.).  I then set out to find my graphic. 

Liking the clip art of the ladder stacked against the tall pile of books with the diploma on top, and thinking I could put a "You are Here" arrow at the second-to-last rung to show how far I had come--and how little I had to go, really--I decided I would edit the clip art to make it all more in harmony with the school colors (UNT's colors are white and green.).  After all that, I didn't like the way the art looked on the assignment sheet.

Then I decided I just needed a flag.  You know, the kind that is waved in a car race when the drivers start their last lap.  Like NASCAR.  Except I don't know the first thing about NASCAR.  So like any other procrastinating writer, I went to Google.  And I learned the most interesting, troubling thing.  The flag for the last lap is white.  White?  Like "We surrender!" white???  No way.  Who thought up that???

Anyway, at that point I decided I was tired of looking at the assignment sheet, decided to save it, and figured I'd come back to it next time to add some more scaffolding for myself and maybe find the world's best white flag clip art. 

I am excited that I got a few points down on paper.  That is, after all, the goal.  Just 110,000 more words or so, and I should have a finished paper.  I'm really annoyed about this white flag thing, though.