When I first started working on my PhD three years ago, I would look at all the pale-faced drone-like 3rd and 4th year PhD students with a mix of pity and fear – they were pulling their hairs out, had no or little private life, and avoided talking about when they would finish the PhD. Some of them probably thought it would be more likely that the world would end than submitting a finished draft.
I had no idea how someone like me, who was so excited about my topic, about mobilities, about Intimate Tourism, about all my ethnography, could ever be in the same situation. But then something happened to really really distract me from writing. And no, I didn’t get pregnant. Or get married. Or move to Bali. I became an indie folk pop star.
Ok, perhaps ‘star’ is going a bit far. But after moving to Warsaw to lecture back in 2009, I started singing and playing my violin with a friend of mine. That bit of singing turned into small concerts, which turned into larger club concerts, which turned into other band members joining us, which turned into recording a demo, which turned into getting a manager, which turned into being booked by the biggest summer festivals in Poland, which turned into playing in Germany and Iceland, which turned into getting a record deal, which turned into recording an album, which now turned into being on various ‘top 10′ lists, which turned into being nominated “Person of the Year” by a few cultural newspapers, which turned into tour dates and interviews and even getting national airplay in Canada and the US and being in Guardian’s “World Sound of 2011” list.
So how the heck am I supposed to finish this PhD? You tell me. I am only a few chapters away from finishing the first draft. This is realistically just 2 weeks of sitting and punching away on the computer. I am now contemplating locking myself up in a cabin somewhere. If anyone is reading this and has any tips or ideas let me know.
Because it’s now gotten out of hand. My academic career. And my pop star career, that is.
And if you’re procrastinating from writing your own PhD, here is a link to our music: www.paulaandkarol.bandcamp.com
Recent Comments