iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

What happens when a supposedly flexible part-time PhD meets an inflexible teaching timetable? I’m already learning that doing doctoral research isn’t quite the same as *feeling* like a doctoral researcher. @academic-chatter.bsky.social

substack.com

Teaching Vs the PhD - PhD Diaries #8

When a part-time PhD meets an inflexible teaching timetable

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It was the official first day of my PhD today! There was approximately 300% more admin than I anticipated 😅

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This week’s PhD Diary is about why I’m trying to write from the very beginning of my PhD using low-stakes, exploratory notes to think through my research, develop ideas, and rebuild my academic writing muscles after ten years away from university. @academic-chatter.bsky.social

victoriaaddisreads.substack.com

Writing as Research: How I Use Exploratory Notes - PhD Notes #7

Using low-stakes writing to think through my ideas

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

My back-of-a-church-hall set-up 😂 Consolidating a few research notes while my daughter has her dance lesson

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Officially registered for my PhD this week and accessed a University library for the first time in ten years!!

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Two weeks of close reading and only 76 pages into Middlemarch. Is this too slow? Or is learning when slowness is still doing useful work part of becoming a researcher? My latest PhD Diary #phdlife @academic-chatter.bsky.social substack.com/@victoriaadd...

substack.com

Close Reading, Slow progress - PhD Diaries #6

The pleasure - and panic - of slow reading

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Turns out “teaching Monday and Friday, PhD Tuesday–Thursday” looks considerably neater on a timetable than it does in real life. 2.5 weeks until my PhD begins, and my glorious plan is already being revised! @academic-chatter.bsky.social victoriaaddisreads.substack.com/p/road-bumps...

victoriaaddisreads.substack.com

Road Bumps to Research - PhD Diaries #5

2.5 weeks to go, and life is already refusing to fit neatly into my timetable.

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

All ready for my first full study day now my daughter is officially back to school! 🎒😀

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

My PhD looks at representations of female genius across Victorian & modernist fiction and how women navigate this contentious and often male-coded category. A little more about what I’m actually researching in my latest #PhDdiaries post @academic-chatter.bsky.social substack.com/@victoriaadd...

substack.com

What am I actually researching? - PhD Diaries #4

Introducing my PhD on women, intelligence, and the gendered idea of genius

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Reposted by Victoria Addis

Huge congratulations to Joanna Turner on the publication of her new book, Marie Corelli, in our Key Popular Women Writers Series!! 🎉 The book explodes the myths of prior biographies, revealing Corelli the performer, her working-class roots, and her hidden periodical publications of the 1870s.

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British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Happy birthday to Mary Shelley, born on this day in 1797 📕 At 18, she began writing Frankenstein, helping to invent a whole genre and giving us one of literature’s most iconic monsters. Not a bad legacy.

Black and white etching portrait of Mary Shelley. Her portrait is set in an oval, she is wearing a black off the shoulder gown. Her hair appears to be a dark brown and falls around her jawbone.

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

How do you stop your day job from eating into your PhD? As I prepare to start my PhD, I’ve been thinking about how to stop my teaching job from taking over my research time. I’ve written about the boundaries I’m planning to put in place here: victoriaaddisreads.substack.com/p/making-the...

victoriaaddisreads.substack.com

Making the PhD my Primary Job: Reorganising My Working Life for a Part-Time Doctorate - PhD Diaries #2

The last six years of my life have been dedicated to my teaching career and to raising my daughter (now 5).

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

"Shutting out the view, Milton's bogey cuts women off from the spaciousness of possibility" — Gilbert & Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Using the PDF++ plugin on Obsidian is another game changer. I can highlight and clip passages directly from my PDFs into my research notes, creating a link between them. For literature research, this feels revolutionary. #academicsky #phdlife

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William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 25/08/2026

[Exit Queen.]

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I've only been using Obsidian for a short time, but I'm already wondering how I ever managed research notes without backlinks! I wrote about my first impressions here 👇 And anyone with more Obsidian experience: please let me know your top tips! victoriaaddisreads.substack.com/p/is-obsidia...

victoriaaddisreads.substack.com

Is Obsidian the Holy Grail for Literature Research?

Obsidian may just be the holy grail for literature research.

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Places I've studied as a parent preparing for a part-time PhD during the summer holidays, but getting increasingly unhinged. #phdlife #academicsky #academicchatter

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Corbin J. Standley, PhD @corbinstandley.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I love seeing the first day of #gradschool posts and pics! No one asked, and I don’t have all the answers, but for those starting this journey, here’s some advice and things I wish I’d known sooner. 🧵 [This is getting new attention on the bird app, so I figured I should post here as well!]

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Jason P. Chambers @jasonpchambers.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

That you may end up with an entirely different topic for the dissertation than what you thought you’d have. Finding out that there’s some area immensely more interesting to you is just part of intellectual journey.

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I feel like this is good, kind advice. Thank you.

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Dr. Bex @drbexphd.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Work with publishing in mind of you want a tt job. I mean publish before you graduate. I thought I could just focus on my dissertation and it wasn’t enough.

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Question for humanities PhDs: What do you wish you'd known before you started your doctorate? My PhD begins in October and I'm in that slightly strange period of preparing without actually having begun. #PhDLife #AcademicSky

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I think I’m an Obsidian convert. A few days in, and the ability to map connections between texts feels incredibly well suited to literary research. Is Obsidian the holy grail for literature research? My first impressions 👇 victoriaaddisreads.substack.com/p/is-obsidia...

victoriaaddisreads.substack.com

Is Obsidian the Holy Grail for Literature Research?

Obsidian may just be the holy grail for literature research.

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

8 weeks until I officially start my PhD! 🎓 My first PhD Diaries post is about preparing to begin: reading George Eliot and Jacqueline Rose, experimenting with Notion, organising my research, and (obviously) buying stationery. open.substack.com/pub/victoria...

open.substack.com

Preparing for a PhD - PhD Diaries #1

The countdown is on!

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Currently reading: Women in Dark Times by Jacqueline Rose. “If the women of this book are for me types of genius, it is because of the way that, as part of their struggle to be fully human, they invite us into the gutter” Intrigued by this perspective on female genius, and how it will develop.

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I’ve started a PhD diary on Substack. Put the kettle on and come along for the ride! ☕📚 #AcademicSky #PhdLife open.substack.com/pub/victoria...

open.substack.com

Introduction: PhD Diaries

My experience studying towards a PhD in English as a part-time teacher and mum.

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

My school didn't close at all during this heatwave and it was carnage. Classroom temperatures reaching over 30 degrees and not so much as a desk fan between us. We had nosebleeds, students feeling dizzy, students fainting, and someone was sick in a bin. 0/10 do not recommend.

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Hilltop and the World of Beatrix Potter

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Animal pottery workshop with the Little Miss 🐇🥰

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

My poem "Wuthering" is in the latest issue of Magma

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Incredibly proud to have a poem in the latest issue of Poetry Salzburg Review. Inspired by our own two-time escapee hamster, Tag 🐹

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

An incredibly helpful bank of resources for anyone looking to write a book proposal (bookmarked for future reference). Thank you for your generosity @eve.gd

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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 05/12/2025

"Of the 991 history exam questions set in 2023, 357 featured a named individual, but only 31 were women – and nine of those were references to Elizabeth I or her reign." Dr Natasha R. Hodgson of Nottingham Trent University writes this week in The Conversation bit.ly/49ZqTiq

bit.ly

Women are still absent from how history is taught and assessed in England

Over a third of GCSE, AS and A-level exam papers in 2023 made no mention of women at all.

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Victoria Addis @victoriaaddis.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

The prospect of returning to research after over a decade is daunting. Not sure how often I will be posting but I will be haunting the Victorian and modernist niches of academic bluesky for inspiration and community - any recommendations for accounts to follow gratefully received!

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