Project Management

I have been busy over the last couple of weeks setting up my dissertation. This includes a schedule (on a rather snazzy spreadsheet) which sets out the key milestones for the next five months. It's a good thing I did this as I thought it was a long period of time before I calculated how many words I need to write per week.
I have also amended my novel plan following feedback from a workshop and my first tutorial. I have two protagonists (one contemporary and one in the past) and the feedback I received was that the contemporary character was a 'frame' for the other rather than a key character in her own right. At first I didn't get it but that many people can't be wrong. Then I realised that although the contemporary character was alive and kicking in my mind, the reader did not get time to know her at the start of the novel before the inciting incident and therefore would not understand the impact on her. I was caught out by the belief that the novel should start 'in media res'. I have now added a couple of scenes to the opening which add a further thread to the plot, making the whole thing stonger (I think!).
I have also worked on character profiles - not everyone likes this much planning but it helps me to go between these and the plot before I start. Character profiles, by the way, are not about appearance or what they do for a living, rather they are about the character's key qualities and desires.
Finally, I have researched other novels that are similar in form, genre and subject matter and ordered them (I seriously need more bookshelves) as these will feature in the writer's journal that accompanies the novel.
And yes, I will now start writing...