What Now?

People keep asking me what I'm going to do now that I've finished my dissertation and gotten my degree. This question, despite its frequent occurrence, always catches me a little bit off guard. I'm not quite sure how to respond, because not much has actually changed. I'm still continuing my same old work. After my defense, friends who had been in the audience expressed surprise at comments made by committee members about what I should do and read now. But when you're a researcher, that's what you do, you continue doing research. The dissertation, it turns out, is just like one big article. Once you finish it, you start on with the next one! Today, for example, I'm spending a lazy Sunday at home in front of a nice warm fire reading Trauma by Patrick McGrath because I have to come up with an abstract for a conference by December 20th. This morning I corrected the typos in my dissertation because I have to get the two copies printed this week to send to the examiners who will decide whether or not to grant me the grade of "Maître de Conférences" which will allow me to apply for senior lecturer positions at French universities. And life goes on ... more same than different!