Two Months of Hard Work?

I have not been able to find the time to work on my music preparation for second semester.  Now, second semester starts January 11, so I still have time.  And yes, I have the music picked out.  And to be fair, I've looked at all of it and have started marking some of it.  And some of it is easy to prep.  But still, I would like to be able to spend more time on it over the next week without compromising the time I write my dissertation.

Speaking of which, I'm almost done with the first draft of my second chapter.  And then- I plan on hitting my third chapter hard this month.  Then when that is done- great!

I will be quite irritated if anyone on my committee wants me to change the entirety of how I arranged my chapters... or if my topic isn't approved as I submitted it.  Because I wrote my proposal in June.  And submitted it in August.  And I don't have time (really, the patience) to let it continue at this pace.

I feel very helpless in moving the process along.  I'm working on my stuff, but I'm waiting on others. Unfortunately, when my stuff doesn't get done, the onus is on me, no matter if I've done my work.  And it's my future and my career that is affected.  It's those jobs I don't get or become unqualified for if my dissertation defense is pushed off another semester.  And it's the almost $500 of student fees on top of my dissertation credits that I have to pay a semester.

So, music preparation.  That's my focus.  And my dissertation.  And then come March, I'm taking a little more time off.