I recently finished my thesis, which explored transgression in the fiction of Bret Easton Ellis, Poppy Z. Brite and Chuck Palahniuk. My long-term ambition is to publish this text as a monograph (eventually…). Some of the chapters need heavy editing and I am considering adding a few chapters which focus on different writers, to expand the scope of the text and make it work as a book. With more research and writing to be done, it’s unlikely I will get bored any time soon.

It shows that research is never done. The “unfinishedness” of it all used to bother me. It made me feel I was never quite “good enough”. Now I see research more as a journey through unexplored territory: there’s always more to explore, and that’s great, even though there’s nothing wrong with taking a short break to enjoy the view.

Needless to say, I have folders and folders of bits and pieces that did not fit into the thesis, and that are now screaming at me: “Develop me! I am interesting too!” I was expecting to feel a sense of emptiness or completion after finishing such a big project, but no. There are more questions waiting to be asked that ever before. I feel like I’ve spent the past few years climbing a mountain and now, upon reaching the top, I am looking at what looks like… more mountains. And I can’t wait to climb them all.