What makes someone special enough to earn a PhD? Is it really that hard? After all, to earn a Master's degree in French literature, one writes many long papers on various subjects, so wouldn't a doctorate be a similar process. Well, except for that dissertation bit, but if one can write, it's just a much longer paper.

Or is it? First one must find a subject.

Ok, check. I'm interested in multi culturism in Francophone writers, and how their own multi-culturality transpires in their writings. If they grew up in one country, but now live in another one, surely a bit of both cultures shows up, right? What about if their parents come from different countries, it affects a child, doesn't it?

That wasn't too hard. An interesting (to me) subject, now I just have to read and see what I find. Oh, yeah, I forgot. Is there a difference between the women and the men? One should be affected more than the other, I would think, maybe?

Now what? Oh, right. Reading. Where do I start? How do I know what francophone author has a "mixed culture"?

Some authors are recommended, so I start there. Then I look through a few books about francophone literature, and find more authors. I read some more. Good books, interesting books, weird books, bad books, depressing books. 

But wait! Just because they are writing in French, and they are from a country other than France, doesn't make them relevant to my study. A Canadian author is just that, Canadian! Unless he, or she, has some other cultural tie to another culture, he's not who I'm looking for. How many books did I read before I realized that? About 4, or 5, or 6.

So, back to square one. Actually back to square two. The list of francophone authors is important. I just have to take the time and research each of the author's background. Multi culture? Yes, I want to read your stuff. Only one culture? Sorry, I enjoyed your books but you don't matter to me, for right now.

So another list is drafted. Check with the library to see what is available for a starting point.

At some point I need to also do some research on what has been written on those authors. Has anybody else looked at the multiculture in francophone writers? How am I ever going to find all of this?

Panic is setting in. Do I have it in me? Can I actually do this? Deep breath. In. Out.

How do you eat an elephant? (What a bad image! The elephant is our mascot. Ok, just a detail) One step at a time. And right now I'm just charming the elephant, trying to decide if I want to eat it. No. I know that I want to eat it. I'm trying to decide how I want to eat it. What is the first bite I want to take, that's what I'm trying to figure out. And I need to chill on worrying about the seasoning and how I want to cook it. First, what part to eat? So I need to keep on examining the different parts of the elephant.

So back to reading I go!