Bet my stats are more creative still

Leone - can you explain the structure of you PhD a bit more? How is it constituted around the novel writing?

I work a lot from home and get this to. I just got a message the other day asking me to come over to a friend's on Friday - as though whatever 'work' I have can just be squashed into a few evenings and I don't really need to work during the day.

This topic is a sideways/diagonal move - from lab-based molecular biology to psycholgy/genetics/evolutionary biology.

I was not really interested in my first PhD project - I was just so happy to be offered it that I had to take it. I had no idea about sustained effort bladiblah. My supervisors were very nice but too hands off and didn't say anything at all about my diabolical behaviour until the end of my first year.

I've had some tough jobs since then and I've learned that it's OK and normal to have to work hard if you really want something and that you can crash & burn but then recover. I really didn't think I would ride this horse again............. but I just really badly wanted to do something more interesting.

I've met quite a few 2nd timers over the years so it's worth keeping in mind if you're still interested.

What I was trying to say is that for me personally, being older than most students, I have found my other life experiences give me a little distance and a lot more focus. I dropped out of a PhD in my 20s and at that time I was much more easily overwhelmed and disheartened - and also had rather poor 'working' habits.

I also don't think you have to love what you do - at least not all the time. I certainly don't love it right now. I just want to get it finished. I think people can worry too much about whether they are enjoying the process rather than just getting on with it. Of course you must enjoy some of it some of the time (or what's the point?) - but not all of it all of the time.

I'm under too much time pressure and consequently too anxious to slack off for long spells at a time - but lot and lots of days and parts of days.

Also - don't assume that they will have considered anything you can come up with - they are not spending as much time thinking about this as you and are not as invested in it. Whne you start talking through some option you might find other things suggesting themselves.

I had my daughter at the end of my 2nd year but I think the best plan I have observed (many times) is to give birth after submission but not necesarily before the viva. Can backfire if the pegnancy is very diffiult or baby comes before final draft. I do find it hard to juggle both now I'm in my final year - even though I took 2 years out to spend time with her. But in many ways it is more flexible than a job - just the final months to submission are tough.

Sounds like you should talk this over with your partner.

If your supervisors have no ideas either than I don't hink you can be held solely responsible for your situation. Inevitably, sometimes expts fail and promising leads go nowhere. The critical question is then whether the initial question was a good choice - as I have learned the hard way - science is the art of the possible. If the initial question was perhpas ill-judged or just too tenuous to risk a PhD project then again one has to wonder why your supervisors sanctioned it. Perhpas you need to take a very different direction - could you take some time out to make a new plan of action?

Something similar has happened to me - I laugh bitterly when I reread my own project proposal now. In my case the data is proving very difficult wrt both quantity and quality and I am trying my best to extract something from it.

Just this one.

I REALLY want to submit by Xmas so that will define the scope to a large extent. I expect there will be analyses I will extend/come back to later - if I can stand it! My aim is to do enough but not everything possible - there just isn't time. How to judge that though will be tough and I don't think my supervisor is sure about that either.

Congratulations!

However, my husband got me a new pc for Xmas and the new windows vista system was incompatible with all my software and it took about a month to upgrade, patch and sort it all out. had to get a new printer too, then that broke down, now just got yet another printer. perhaps he should consult me before getting this kind of surprise present.

May your hardware will bring you nothing but joy...

There are definitley people in my dept whose projects are suspiciously hilarious - a lot of utube I think.

Really, I have had most of my best ideas (which are basically bits of the same idea I guess) in the shower. Maybe they percolate overnight. I often think of them as popping up like toast - only a lot less predicatable.

This morning I dreamt I was smuggling guns in some guerilla war out in the Fens.

I think keeping regular hours helps stave off exhaustion. I can't do the increasingly late nights - late morning thing as I have an alarm clock that wails for mummy at 6-7 every morning. But actually that's good as I have to keep more regular hours and just can't afford to lose too much sleep or work too late at night.

So I recommend keeping as regular hours as you can. Hard I know as I never used to either.

Hey Rosy - I also do my best thinking in the shower!?

After a certain minimum I don't think the quality of PhD depends on the hours. Also, unfairly, some projects just need more hours than others. I'm in my final year and I do, at best, the equivalent of 4 working days (working around looking after my daughter etc). I think it can get very intense for short spells before deadlines.