On Deadlines and Wrapping Things Up

I've been reading Harry Wolcott's Transforming Qualitative Data: Desription, Analysis, and Interpretation. In it, he talks about moving from descriptive accounts into analytical accounts and interpretive accounts. He stresses the importance of time for extended reflection to enable a researcher to move to interpretation. The essential element of time is clearly illustrated with an interpretive account he wrote to "finish" his dissertation 25 years after he turned it in. As he introduces this work, he cites Clifford Geertz who "reminds us that we never really complete our studies, we only abandon them." That really puts this dissertation project into perspective for me. I may not have everything finished, but I plan to abandon it some time in March.