The last time that I wrote a PhD journal entry was back in April 2020. Extending the theme of this blog, which is overthinking, it’s fair to say that the long gap was a result of overdoing things, as I was also maintaining a written autoethnographic journal of my research and sharing updates on my Lounge Ruminator (LR) podcast. Throw in all other aspects of life and naturally, I completely forgot to do it here!
Much has changed since my last update, in which I explained how I formulated a thesis question. I’ve written a lengthy, multidisciplinary literature review, a methodological chapter and an extensive discussion of primary research findings, which is drawn from the narrative interviewing in my Really Specific Stories podcast with producers and listeners in the open tech-podcasting community. Following a detailed ethical review and subsequent approval from my university (which you can hear about in episode 71 of LR), I found the podcast to be a joy and a challenge to produce; I had to schedule, record, edit and transcribe interviews with people in varied time zones and then transform those conversations into a written thesis discussion. I have been so grateful for my participants’ generosity in giving their time and sharing their personal stories as podcast fans.
The podcast ended early in 2024—at least, the first round of interviews that are formally linked to my study—and since then, I have written so much that I am approximately 30,000 words over the recommended maximum word count for my thesis… and there’s still a conclusion chapter to write! It took me quite some time to get all of this together as I balanced writing with my full-time work and associated travel, a stressful series of home repairs and renovations and, most excitingly, the birth of daughter, which has made us a family of four! This was all against the backdrop of a change in supervision, as my original primary supervisor, the wonderful Dr. Kate Bowles, decided to retire. I was sad to lose her but I am so thrilled that she has stepped into a different chapter of life beyond the stress of academia; I’m also thrilled to continue working with Dr. Christopher Moore, who has assumed the position of primary supervisor after having already been my co-supervisor for the project so far.
This wouldn’t be a Lounge Ruminator blog post without some rumination in it, so a key point that I’ve been thinking about has been what led to such a ridiculous amount of writing. I normally write way too much, but upon reflection, the problem was exacerbated by my decision early in the project to try a writing app that wasn’t a traditional word processor. I started with Ulysses, then made the shift to iA Writer, and although I have loved the focused, minimalist interface of that app and its powerful tools for organisation, linking and integrated Markdown, I worked out that it was too good at encouraging extensive writing. Without the clearly delineated pages of a word processor, which remind you constantly of how much you’re actually writing, the more abstracted nature of an endlessly scrolling writing window enabled my verbosity and over-writing. I do not wish to blame the app entirely, as I’m responsible for my own writing, but it did feel like there was no limit and I’m now dealing with the repercussions of not staying brief and editing myself enough. Let this be a warning to any people out there in the community of Mac fans who are excited by such apps: they are of excellent quality and show a great deal of design and care by committed developers; however, you may enjoy it so much that your writing explodes.
Anyway, I feel energised to have converted my interviews into written material and look forward to editing things based on supervisor feedback. I hope to complete the project in early 2026. It will be lovely to reflect on this experience, and I’m already so grateful to everyone who has contributed and supported me, spanning participants, friends online, colleagues and managers at work, and, of course, my wonderful family, specifically my wife, sister and mum, who have heard way too much about this project over the last six years. And yes, I am fine with admitting that I have had at least one minor breakdown during the project, which happened to occur in the style of Anchorman last year, as I rang my wife from what can only be described as a ‘glass case of emotion’ in the university library.
Whenever you undertake a long project like this one, despite whatever scholarly contribution you intend to make, you need to accept that there is selfishness involved in your research commitment and that it will affect others around you in some way. Kate did warn me at the beginning of my PhD project that life would change significantly, particularly as a part-time student. I was thankful for that, and she wasn’t wrong: my working life has changed considerably and I’m now a father of two children who didn’t exist when I kicked off my research. I’ve learnt just as much (if not more) from the experience of balancing the PhD with other aspects of my life as I have from my associated reading, writing and podcasting.
Thank you as well for visiting and reading this update.
Lounge Ruminator 