Cash and the new year

End of 2009 is now fast approaching so its worthwhile me updating you all on the cash crisis - which needless to say continues.

I've managed to eventually find one funding application I should be able to apply for, but its a tough competition and I have absolutely no faith that I'll secure the finances needed. And if I do, there's a good chance that that will cause more problems for me in terms of my other employment. I'll cross that bridge *if* I come to it.

As I'm still juggling finances I've had to cut back on some of the research work I wanted to do. There's still a few collections out there and archives I need to raid, which I hope to do between now and September 2010. Then with maybe one or two additions I plan on simply writing and finishing my draft thesis for the 2010/11 academic year. Unless of course I stumble upon a new archive collection or something...

My attempt to raise funds via fundable was a mixed success. I had quite a bit pledged, but as I didn't reach the target it was never processed. Although one of my pledgers did very kindly donate via paypal directly  - money which was swiftly used on some vital digging.

If you do feel like donating, there's a paypal donate button on this page, and everything is welcome. I'll keep to my promise of copies of the thesis for big donors, and regular updates for anyone that gives to the fund.

I've a pile of paperwork culled from my last research jaunt to London to go through over Christmas - some of it very juicy, and fascinating. Fingers crossed I can make sense of the partial records.

New structure... new domains...

First of all, thank you to those who pledged support to the PhD last month. We didn't hit targets so I didn't collect any money however :(

Over $300 was pledged, which would certainly help pay for a few research trips to Dublin, or a day or two of work in London! A couple of peeps have donated directly, and you still can - just use the donate button on the blog to the right, or drop me a line by email if you want to send cheque or other method of payment. I'm still desperately in need of finance to keep going, and juggling cash is getting harder and harder. Why can't I find a sponsor?!

On to other things...

I've restructured the PhD project this week, which is helpful. Waiting for feedback from my supervisor, but have bullet pointed the main chronology and the areas I want to look at and topics for discussion (as well as some of my theories). The emphasis is much more on the 1930s and 40s now but should still be taking in material from 1911 through 1966 and a chapter on the present day. Rather than regurgitate old material I'm trying to incorporate as much of the new material I've found so far as possible. Is certainly a challenge but I'm fairly hopeful - gives the project more meaning. I'm just hoping I can find the right linking devices as the piece comes together.

As part of that I've decided to try and write a couple of articles with a view to journal submissions, and then expand them for the thesis. The first is something of a revisionist approach to Hammer history which should challenge a few expectations. The second will be an examination of some of the orphaned films - Exclusive/Hammer films which have been forgotten. I have a list of something like a dozen so far which I'm 75 - 95% certain are Hammer/Exclusive films, but which have gone unacknowledged for years.

I'll let you know how I get on... and with some more detail.

Been spending a fair bit on books lately too - can't even indulge in material for pleasure. Nine out of ten purchases are directly linked to the PhD at the moment. Expensive, but is too difficult to get down to Dublin and raid Trinity Library, or I find other material which needs constant use. I'm writing to people I can find who might be able to shed light on material too - trying to secure data, leads and interviews. Painfully slow process.

As for new domains - well, I've now got several domain names bought for use on the resulting research website(s). You'll already know about www.exclusivefilms.co.uk (sorry folks, nothing really there yet), but I've picked up a couple of others too rather than let them go to waste. I hope to be able to build a real collaborative information source through the PhD, but you'll have to wait a while yet before I can start publishing the content. The problem with these sorts of projects is that things need to be published the right way if you want your work to be counted and accredited. One or two might even hold until the post-doc project. Yup. I already know what that should be, and if feeds straight into this one :)

Back to the grindstone. More letters to write, and books to read and articles to prep.