Thanks for the guilt-easing comments about finishing early for the day Rubyw and Armendaf.
Unfortunately, it is now four days on and I haven't made much progress, hence the lack of posts (embarrassment). I seem to have had lots of other things to do, not to mention difficulty getting going in the morning (that old chestnut). Maybe going out every evening hasn't helped :$
I think it's also because I'm getting in a theoretical tangle again, and the revising of Chapter 7 wasn't quite as straightforward as I thought, so maybe taking more time and effort is necessary.
Despite this slow progress, I'm still feeling kinda positive, so can't really complain. Right! Back to work!
Loved the image of the 'paper' bag lady Rubyw!! I empathise...

Just want to say well done to all who have recently submitted, (and to those in other threads too). And to tokyorabbit and ruby good luck, you'll get there too, and then you can wait for the rest of us to join you (hopefully, in a couple of years time!) :-)

Wookie, thank you for your very nice words!

Tokyorabbit, I know what you mean about lack of posts and embarrassment, that's the other side of this thread lol! I'm the same, you can keep your guilt about not getting much work done to yourself and no one knows that you've been a bit patheticly unproductive, but tell other people on the internet??? Well, maybe not! Hope your theoretical grappling works out soon, I've found that chapters that I thought should have been straightforward to rewrite were actually really complicated when I started on them. I comfort myself with the idea that my critical thinking has become soooo sophisticated since I wrote the previous version of that chapter that of course it's going to be more complicated to rewrite now! :-) Mind those wild nights out though, you're only going to be finishing a PhD once in your life (thank goodness!) so make sure you get enough sleep!

Ah well, I've turned into an old fogey and wild nights aren't quite my thing. I was meaning more just extended supper sessions, oh and one gig (very uncommon these days), but still, they take a toll if happening every night! But good advice -one thing I never skimp on is sleep!

Well I haven't posted for a while. We've had 3 days holiday here in Japan and although I made it to the library, I gave up since it was such nice weather and I couldn't seem to untangle the problem I was trying to write about, so thought I'd let it unravel in my subconscious. In the library now however, still trying to finish dastardly chapter 7 before visitors arrive for two days tomorrow. There goes my Dec. 2 deadline for the final draft - I haven't even started the Intro and Conclusion chapters. Now I have given myself a Dec. 12 deadline - there, it's official. Actually, if I don't meet it, then my supervisor won't have time to get back to me and I won't have time to make the corrections for the ultimate goal of handing in first week of February.
So, doing a countdown, I have allocated 4 days each for writing the intro and conclusion and 3/4 days for revision reading and planning. Then that leaves a buffer of 3 days (optimistic!) for reading through entire thing for consistency, formatting inserting diagrams, references and so on.

How was other people's experience with handing in the final draft? Did you have to make major changes afterwards before submission?

:-)

Oh dear! Visitors went yesterday and I still haven't finished chapter 7. And what's more, I lost an hour's worth of writing this afternoon when I overwrote the wrong file.
BUT trip on Dec 13 has been cancelled, so now I have a few more days for work! Isn't that sad to be glad about a cancelled trip?

======= Date Modified 03 Dec 2008 15:09:04 =======
============= Edited by a Moderator =============
where's my post gone??? Did I hit a word limit or something???? Can I be bothered to type it all again??? Hhhmm, no I think I'll have some dinner instead.

(ADMIN and RUBYW are working on this together to solve this problem)

That's a pity, I would have loved to read it. How are you doing Ruby?

======= Date Modified 03 Dec 2008 17:48:26 =======
No, it was tired but happy and relieved waffle Armendaf, nothing worth reading really!! Which poses the question 'why write it?' Well, because I gave my second draft in yesterday!!!!! 8-) Am knackered but pleased with it, and it was quite a good trial run for the final thing in the new year. I decided to do a cheapo plastic spine bound version and had a bit of a scary moment nipping up to kallkwik in the rain, as I dropped the box that all the printouts were in, and felt quite sick as I watched all the copies of my thesis slither onto the wet pavement. Luckily a nice passerby held an umbrella over my head while I scooped it up in the right order, and the wet bits weren't too crinkly when they dried. That's a new unforeseen problem for anyone submitting - accidentally pulping your thesis in the rain, with no time to print it out again!!

Lessons I ought to have learnt from these stressful few weeks???? (ought being the operative word....)

*Don't back up work by copying files backwards and forwards between my various USB sticks late at night, as mistakes can happen with overwriting new stuff with old stuff!!

* Try to change the habit of a lifetime by pacing myself a bit better with the time left after I get feedback - well it's definitely worth a try, I know I've said it all before but *must* be strict with myself or I'll make myself ill.

It's funny really, but doing that draft is the first time I feel like I've actually got something tangible to show for all these years of work. It's the materiality of it, someone said! I think it's the first time I've thought yeah, that looks like a PhD thesis, loads of work to do on it still, but hold the fraud squad back because I no longer feel like an academic imposter! Well, and about time too. So now I am very tired and looking forward to getting an early night without feeling like I have some urgent PhD thing nagging away at me to be finished. I think I'll get feedback from my supervisors in the next couple of weeks, so will have a PhD rest till then. And I'm also going to lump that big fat draft off home with me to show my nearest and dearest, to prove I really have been doing a bit of work now and then!! hehe!!

:-)

Armendaf, how are you getting on with your viva prep? I was wondering about you, Lara and Tractorgirl.....

======= Date Modified 04 Dec 2008 01:31:46 =======
First of all my deepest apolagies for dissapearing !!! after i took a week off, i got completely distracted, i had so many weddings to attend, every weekend!! and then i travelled up to sheffield the other week to attend my friends wedding, and spent a few days there. so i've been busy catching up with friends and family, and also working on my photography. its a hobby of mine, and because i took so many photos at the wedding, it took me ages to post process them. and just been relaxing and taking it easy.
i was going to start viva prep this week, but then had a dental emergency! i cracked a tooth early this week. i was quite upset and disturbed by it. went to the dentist this morning and she told me i had a cavity, and i had my first filling today!! i havent been to the dentist in about 10 years i think. bad me!! so today i was nursing myself and taking it easy.

today my supervisor emailed me with the final proof of my 2nd paper. so today was the first day i did anything related to my phd! lol i just spent the last couple of hours reading through the paper and spotting errors.

what else have i been doing - well i managed to sort out my desktop computer, putting the programmes back on it and backing up stuff to dvd. my study room is still a mess though with papers everywhere, which i am now going to sort out tommorow.

i bought a gigantic whiteboard! to help me brainstorm for viva prep.

the book "how to survive your viva" arrived in the post last week.

i did think about you all and kept thinking i must log on and see how you all are, but kept getting distracted.

well done Ruby on handing in your second draft, that is such a great achievement ,and i know what you mean about it feeling like a thesis now. that's really great! you should take a well earned rest now!

Thanks so much Tokyorabbit, it was nice to hear from you! and i've caught up on the messages, and sounds like you and Ruby have been working super hard

Hey Armendaf, I am so impressed you have been preparing for the viva! well done you. i've been naughty!!

Hey Tractorgirl, thanks so much for your kind words and message, i hope your job is going well and your viva prep

well folks i'm back in hibernation now. i'm going to start studying for my viva everyday, but not work crazy hours, i want to have my evenings off to relax. so going to start a good routine of working from like 10am till 5pm or something like that. what Ruby said, was spot on, consistency is key.

right now, i feel i dont know anything about my phd!! at all. but i should just start off slowly and start making notes. i'm not going to stress myself out about it and just take it one day at a time.

well i just wanted to say a quick howdy to everyone!! look forward to chatting to you all regularly now :-)

take care and goodnight!

Rubyw! Well done! You put me to shame. I'm still nowhere near finishing my second draft, even thought we initially had a similar deadline. I felt rather demoralized when my tutor said that it would take about 6 weeks to do final bibliography, pictures, formatting, footnotes etc. which slowed my progress this week. I was hoping to hand in in February, now it'll be pushed back again taking these 6 weeks into consideration.
Ah, it's been a bad week altogether for me!! My supervisor wants the complete second draft to read so I haven't had feedback on my revisions for months, and they've been quite major revisions. I'm worrying that I've gone off in the wrong direction, or made the thesis worse.
Need some festive cheer and encouragement perhaps!
Lara, hope you get started with the viva prep fresh from having had a break!

Thanks Tokyorabbit!

Actually I didn't have a choice of pushing my deadline, as I needed my supervisor's feedback before they break up for Xmas. I can't afford not to make best use of the next few months, as I have to submit in Feb, there's no alternative as I've reached the end of my registration period. I'm horribly aware of what I didn't manage to finish though, I ended up putting footnotes in that showed where extra things had to go, what I've not done but know I must do, so at least they know I'm aware of some of the gaps. 6 weeks sounds a lot of time though, for all your images, formatting etc - it depends on what you've done so far, I'd imagine? I had a few extra pics to scan in and edit, but there were over 100 in the end, that I'd already done for past chapters. I didn't embed them properly in my text for my draft though, some were slipped in as extra pages, but I got sick of it as they kept moving about in Word and I ran out of time (and patience!!!!)

Can you still get a draft to your sup before the mid December? It might be worth trying, even if you know it's not complete, but it's never going to be complete as it's a draft and work in progress. I hadn't had feedback on some chapters I did before the summer, and got quite anxious about them for this draft as am not sure if one of them works or not - I did feel like deleting the whole chapter at one point, as I decided it was crap! I didn't delete it in the end, but am prepared for a LOT of feedack on it.

To be honest I feel a bit ill now, I'm so exhausted that I feel like I'm sleepwalking and really need a few days proper rest, but there wasn't any other way to do it, as time is limited now for me. Plus I have to go to work, which isn't restful.

Do what you can though, but you might feel better of you get feedback from your sups sooner rather than later... cuts the anxiety down and you know where you are with things.

Hi Lara, no need to apologise for having a life!!! Sounds like you had a great break, and very well deserved too, if I may say so!
See you around here again soon, no doubt! :-)

Hello Everyone,
i thought i would pop in to say a quick hello..i have been reading the posts and am amazed at how much you all have progressed over the last 2 months...rousing cheers for all!!!!
As for me the last few months have been hellish with 8-10 hours of teaching a week....PhD has been on the back burner but am getting back to it now ..plodding on with the analysis ...and goshhh... i have really missed being on this forum ...

look forward to catching up soon!!!

(up)

mira

Hi everyone!! It has been a while since my last message in this thread. First, congratulations Lara for submitting your thesis ;) I'm so proud of you!! And the same goes to others who have submitted :) To rubyw, well done for submitting the second draft of your thesis ;) and I totally agree with you, it doesn't have to be perfect because it is a work in progress...

As for me, I am still awake trying to complete the corrections based on my supervisor's feedback on the first draft of my thesis. It's almost 4 am in Brisbane and I have a chapter to revise. On top of that, I need to improve my conclusion and the abstract. I'm supposed to submit the thesis to the Faculty by 4 pm later. I hope I can manage all the corrections by 9 am and do the printing and binding in time for submission. I am tired but the thought of finally getting the thesis done gets me going.

All the best people ;)