“How do I get out of the starting gate?”

“I’m in a conceptual conundrum.”

“What’s being asked for feels impossible.”

“How do I keep my integrity and meet deadlines and standards?”

“Something’s missing.”

“Where am I in all this?”

“What kind of ‘relationship with the literature’ do I want?”

“That’s too much to accomplish in the time allotted.”

“How daring am I willing to be?”

“I’m feeling like I’ll never get through!”

“The sacrifice is so great, I’m thinking of quitting.”

“I have vertigo from all my ideas and materials.”

“How, and when, do I stop?”

I prompt you to widen the gateway to your original thinking.

I inspire “detailed, careful, and deep distinctions” to enliven expression of your ideas. (See “ABD Writers Say.”)

I listen and help refocus your scholarly intention when you need to clearly see your capacity for forward movement.

I assist you to make more room in your life for your dissertation work.

I prompt you to transform your creative impulses into tangible action and form.

I reorient you when you lose sight of your abilities and talent and how to enjoy and use them productively.

I hone in on immediate concerns so you sustain your writing momentum.

I help the thaw when your creative waters are frozen.

I celebrate your “aha’s.”

I act on my belief that creating a dissertation requires courage and sometimes the “grace of necessity,” when you’ve gone too far to turn back. Staying engaged challenges integrity and summons wisdom. Rigorous work goes into bringing a dissertation to life.