This week I’ve been using the comment feature in word to mark up bits of my work that I’d had ideas about, or needed to do a bit more digging on. It was a new idea, brought on in part by a lack of confidence that they way I’d been working, the way I’ve always worked, was no longer quite up to it. I thought it might stop me forgetting things that I’d thought of, which was happening a bit, even though I keep a PhD notebook of ideas that I carry around with me. With the notebook, it relied on me checking it regularly. Putting the comments directly onto the work keeps them in mind. The downside is that as I can see them all the time, I’m getting a bit overwhelmed by them. There are so many little things that need doing that I haven’t been sure where to start.

Still, this morning I was looking at Thomas Stafford’s rebellious taking of Scarborough Castle in 1557, and making my way through the state papers relating to it. Much more fun, as I’d been getting a bit bogged down.

I reckon that in terms of my chapter, I’ve written about a paragraph this week…