Getting into research

I've got 10 days off work to get stuck into my research & weirdly enough, I'm starting to enjoy it. I'm finding the same writers' names in my research around Jung and his shadow theory, so I'm thinking that I'm on the right track.

Even better, I'm really starting to see how this research can give my writing more depth. As I write down notes from the books/papers I'm reading on one page, on the opposite page I jot down random thoughts about how these ideas can apply to the characters.

One character I'm a little concerned about at the moment though is Mrs Steppa. At the moment she seems to be working as a caricature, a plot device rather than a 'real flesh & blood' character. I'm hoping that during my research I can find something to make her come alive. Otherwise, she may drop off the pages and cease to exist. I'd be sad about that, because I kind of like her. Maybe I'll just have to listen a bit more closely to what she has to say.

How do you eat an elephant?

...one bite at a time. My good friend Helen gave me this piece of (somewhat strange) advice many years ago and it's something I need to pay attention to right now.

Last Saturday I spent almost 5 hours in a lecture theatre listening to an information overload on research and thesis writing. Am I freaking out? Am I thinking I've bitten off more than I can chew? Am I ready to run for the hills?

Yes, yes and yes!

But I'm going to sit back for a minute, think of Helen's advice (which, of course, really has nothing to do with the rather perverse idea of eating one of our planet's most amazing animals) and work out which tiny bite I need to take first.

Any words of advice/encouragement will be gratefully accepted :)