That sounds like a very good plan! Hope it refreshes you for tomorrow!

I've just done a huge spider diagram of the major themes I've identified from my interview schedule and two sample interviews - scary! There's so much there, it's a bit daunting, and that's only on one very quick go-through, if I look closer I'll find masses more stuff I'm sure. Not entirely sure how I'm going to distill this all down, but we'll see how it goes!

The last interview yesterday was ... interesting. Let's just say the person I was interviewing was not the sharpest tool in the box. And he couldn't half talk! I dumped half my questions and it still took twice as long as all the other interviews! Oh well, it's all over now, and apart from some follow-up interview/discussions with a couple of key people in the organisations I'm studying I won't have to do any more.

Anyway, I only have two goals for today. The first was to go swimming, which I've done. The second is to carry on with identifying themes from my interview transcripts. (I'm on campus today, so I'm saving transcribing the final two interviews for when I work from home tomorrow.)

Hope your day goes well!

Ooh congratulations, thast's great news! Hope you enjoyed your celebration last night! And really interesting to hear another person talking about overpreparing for the viva - maybe it really won't be as bad as people say?!

Hi Matt

I agree about the holiday thing - they are necessary, a PhD is a long process and we need breaks to recharge batteries and to get a little distance from our work to help think things through. Did you mention before you took a few days off that you were planning to do so? It might be worth doing that in future - just so you can ask if there's anything coming up that you'll need to be prepared for. But maybe that depends on the kind of supervisor you have - mine frequently remind me to take breaks. If I just take the odd day off here and there I don't mention it to them, but if I'll be away for a week or something I tend to tell them, and also reassure them that I've got a plan for managing the workload around that break. It shouldn't really matter, but in your situation maybe it would be wise.

The general work/deadline thing, yes, that is tricky. It sounds like you are working very hard, but sometimes that in itself can cause a problem. It's easy to feel overloaded. I'm in my third year now and probably the biggest thing I've learned about my own working processes is that the time when I feel like I really can't take a break because there's so much to do is generally the time when I really should take one, and allow myself the breathing space to put it all back into context and see the bigger picture.

Working every weekend and every evening is beyond what's expected, I think. The suggestion of going to your supervisor with a plan of how you can achieve things, as a starting point for a discussion, is a very good one. It can be intimidating - but just remember that your supervisor will want you to complete the PhD, it's not in their interests to have you quit. Part of the PhD process is about learning to manage your own research schedule and to gradually take control of it yourself - coming at it from this point of view, your supervisor may well be delighted that you want to take some control of the management side of things. So don't worry too much.

And another thing is that everyone feels that fear of being found out as unworthy - it's imposter syndrome and we all suffer from it to one degree or another. So don't beat yourself up about not being good enough - you are, you're just too close to it to see that at the moment!

Morning Button! I have the same slightly miffed feeling... but hopefully it's all going well for her!

Today I'm conducting my final two interviews. One done this morning, which went very well, and then one this afternoon. It's made the day very bitty and disjointed, so in between I'm just doing some admin type jobs. An easy day really. Back to proper work tomorrow!

Good luck with your work, sounds like proper brainwork (but also the kind that will be satisfying to have made a good start on).

Phew, finally finished my bit of rewriting on the journal article. It's taken me over two days when I thought it'd take a morning. Just goes to show. I did do some other bits in that time too, so it's not as bad as it sounds, but all the same - phew!

I should press on with more work, but I really can't be arsed now. So that's it until tomorrow. And it's nearly pub o'clock!

Oh, have a fantastic time, Lindalou, hope it's all as wonderful as you imagine.... So happy for you! (up)

And Button, hope you have/had a good weekend too, we'll have to keep each other going until Lindalou returns!

Ooh Linda, good luck today, that's so exciting! Maybe you should just make some notes about the things you've been thinking, so you can put it all out of your mind while you're away?

I didn't finish rewriting the conclusions of my journal article yesterday, I hit a block so swapped to reading for the last hour or so of work. So today I ansolutely have to finish the conclusions and send it to my co-authors - I'd like to do that by lunchtime, and then make a start on identifying themes in my interview this afternoon.

And then it'll be the weekend. Yay!

Hah, Lindalou, I bet you will think about it. You'll jerk awake suddenly one morning in a panic because you haven't been working on it for a few days. And then you'll remember that you don't have to, and you'll be all peaceful and serene and have a wonderful day as a result.

And Button, good news about your brother's/solicitor's letter, hope it stops the phone calls!

I'm making painfully slow progress on the bit of the journal article I'm rewriting. It's a mess, frankly, and is way more work than I imagined before I looked at what the other two authors have done to it. I'm restructuring it to address a problem one of the authors has spotted. I want to get this finished asap so I can get on with actual PhD work but this may take the rest of the day. Boo.

Oh, that sounds seriously irritating! I hope your brother can find a way to stop them, they sound like a nightmare. I get lots of recorded phone calls from those companies who get money off banks for payment protection miss-selling - I get about eight calls a week, and that's frustrating enough (especially as they're recordings, so they just blithely keep talking while I'm ready to scream and swear about being dragged away from my work again), but it sounds like they're being way more disruptive.

Oh, well done Button, that's great progress. And Lindalou, you've made a great start so don't feel disheartened! :-)

Lindalou, it sounds like you're in a great position to get it all done by your deadline. I agree about R&R but with time at the end of the process you should be able to iron out anything major that would lead to that. I think my supervisors overestimate my writing skills, they seem to think it's quick and easy for me, which it isn't at all, but it does mean they're not too worried about my progress, despite not having long left to get it all done! I really didn't want to overrun but I think realistically I may well do, by a month or so. Oh well, there are worse things - MrBatfink and I have figured out the finances more or less, in case that happens.

Anyway - today's goals.
1.) Go swimming - DONE, and I feel great!
2.) Work on journal article conclusion and send to co-authors
3.) Read a journal article I've prioritised
4.) Start identifying broad themes in interview transcripts
That's quite a lot for one day, so I'd better get on with it!

Wow, Linda, it sounds like you're really well ahead of the game if you're not planning to submit til December! From what you say on here you sound way ahead of me, and my funding runs out in October.

My original plan was to submit this summer (August-ish) but I really can't see that happening (and I'm starting to think it might be a good idea to delay my viva by a couple of months anyway and spend the extra time writing journal articles). That's partly why I'm moving in with MrBatfink - so when my funding runs out I'm not homeless!

And I too have a bit of a sore head. I went out last night to see my best mate who I haven't seen for a month, so it was a nice night. And then I had a long lie in this morning, reading a novel that I really don't have time to read. But I don't care! There's really no point getting completely stressed out by all the work, it'll get done.

Oh well, I'd better get on with some work. The plan for today is to go over a journal article that's already been revised by my two co-authors to go through bits they've left for me to work on (thanks, guys!) and to look for other improvements.

Ooh yes, references are a pain!

My second transcription is done now, so that's the end of the work I set for myself. Time to go food shopping, then do some packing/sorting/chucking stuff out. Very happy to have got through those transcripts!

And yes, it's the first time I'll be living with MrBatfink, though we do spend every weekend together at the moment. I know it will be different when I don't have my own place to go back to, but really, timewise etc, it won't be that different. The biggest thing is making sure he gets to have lads' time with his mates when he comes back at weekends - at the moment I can tactfully leave him to it! Oh, and making sure I don't enjoy city centre living so much that I can't get my PhD finished!

Well done Lindalou - always good to achieve that kind of goal!

And Button, I hope you've managed to get your chapter read.

Moving in with MrBatfink, yeah. Sounds like a big step but isn't really, because he works away Monday to Friday so we only see each other at weekends anyway. But his flat is in the centre of the city that I live in the outskirts of (if you see what I mean) so it'll be an exciting place to live. And my university is in another town so I already commute (it's an hour and a quarter door to door, by train and bus) so all this move does is add ten minutes onto that journey. I can live with that! Especially as it'll save me a fortune in rent etc!

Anyway, I've done my first transcription, so time to get on with the second one now.

Hello Lindalou, and I can certainly see why thoughts of the next couple of weeks would be a little distracting....!!

I had a good Easter break too and feel much better for it. But it also helps that this is another short week, I'm looking forward to the weekend already (and I don't even have anything in particular to look forward to!)

Today, I want to get my transcriptions finished - I only have two left to do (apart from two more interviews that I haven't done yet), and I'm half way through the first one already, so this should be very manageable. But I also need to go food shopping and do some sorting out in my flat (I have to get rid of loads of stuff before I move into MrBatfink's flat in three or four weeks) so I'll probably call it a day after the two transcriptions.