It turns out my secondary advisor’s promise to get back to me in “several weeks” turned out to mean about two. Glory Be! And to top that, he called my ER chapter “superb.” I’m thinking of creating a blurb page from his comments on my chapters. Three out of five have gotten the most positive comments he’s given on dissertation chapters, according to Primary.
And now the bad news. He wants even more revisions to Arc. I have revised this chapter more than 10 times; many of those times it was significantly rewritten. It has changed shape more times than I care to count. I knew my revision was risky–I don’t think I changed the argument as substantially as he desired, but I did frame the argument to justify its place in my dissertation. Alas. And to sink even lower, he’s mailing his handwritten comments, so I can’t know the damage yet. But–glass half full, now–I can use this time to polish up the other chapters so I’ll have everything else done and ready to go. And I still have twelve days to work things out so I can have my dream defense date.
Speaking of polishing things up, I should get started. (Note to self: Just keep thinking, “superb!”)
Writing Account 
Superb, indeed! That is so awesome. Shouldn’t one superb chapter mean that a weaker one gets a pass? Either way, I hope you’re feeling confident about your ability to do a great (dare we say superb?) revision.
Yay!
I’m hoping that THREE stellar chapters will compensate for a strong chapter that doesn’t fit seamlessly into the dissertation (he said it has fine literary analysis). I suppose my other option is to cut it, and I might be able to get away with that. Or Primary will go to bat for me. It’s not a fight I can take on by myself.
Thanks for the pat on the back. 🙂