Post-comps life (aka what now?)

If you're like me and you've ever wondered why so few people talk about PhD life during coursework, I now know the answer - THERE IS NO TIME. With some periods being more productive than others, I've only managed to sporadically post so far. Between a full course load, 2-3 jobs at any given time, my own research, and attempts at a personal life, this cherished blog has just taken a backseat to all those other pressing tasks. 

BUT NOW! I just took my comprehensive exam last week and am taking a little less than 2 weeks of staycation to get my life (i.e. apartment) in order and plan my summer/potentially a lot more than that. I won't know until mid-June if I passed the comprehensive exam or not but in the meantime I've got all the writing to do plus work-for-pay things that are actually quite a bit of fun.

This now brings me to my title of the post - what now? I haven't registered for any fall courses (I won't be able to register for dissertation credits unless I've passed comps), though I do know I'll be continuing to teach the same course as last semester and I'll be at the current fun job of course. This summer is largely dedicated to 3-4 manuscripts that need all the love and attention they didn't get during the semester (including one that MUST be out of my life by July per my advisor). Then in the fall, assuming I pass comps, I'll have to work on finding funding/developing my proposal. And I've got an independent study I'm interested in doing with the work wife so that we can develop a course on criminalization and health.

I've got no lack of things to do (not that I've ever really been one for being bored), but that's a double-edged sword - there's a small part of me that's a little concerned that I'll get so distracted doing all the things that I won't make the progress that I need to make on my dissertation so I can finally reach the end of the rainbow. 

I guess we'll just have to see how things go. Hopefully now that my time is less structured, I'll be able to post updates more regularly (especially since the structure that I want to add includes regular writing time).