Back on the wagon, thank God.
It took working til 4am but I have finally re-started writing. Word count is a piddly 16,192 but I don't care, I'm just so hugely relieved to be out of no-mans land for now. I was getting scarily close to a bit of a breakdown but I'm sure that if I can keep working I can keep some semblance of sanity.
The next two days will be travelling and other work so I'm debating whether to just take papers or lug my laptop in the knowledge that I can get little done without internet access and a weight-prohibitive stack of resources. Hmmm, sod it, laptop it is, I'm hungry for more word count!

Excellent! Welcome back to the wagon - I was off it sick for a while but now I've found a comfy seat and I'm ready for a long ride :-) Enjoy lugging the laptop around - hope it helps you work lots and keep the wordcount ticking over.

Hey Mathkitty, thanks for the words of encouragement :-) I actually did get some work done on the train today, something of a miracle given I was out last night (celebrating a friend's viva success no less!).

How's your stuff going? I have a delightful image of a little anime-style cat batting at numbers and equations as they swirl around her desk...... hmmm, I think I've been spending too much time with my cat recently!

Hee hee hee not too far off the truth, everyone I know says I have cat-like tendencies. Also usually say that I 'play with' whatever I'm supposedly 'working' on :) Working on writing up a piece of work at the moment, but still have parts of it to finish too. It's a nice mix of writing, typing, corrections from sup and nitty gritty maths with abstract themes.

I wish I could enjoy maths rather than being intimidated by it, I totally get why it should feel like "playing". It was my favorite subject when I was little, then I had a truly horrid teacher and became afraid of numbers.

Total word count so far is 17,345 - even allowing for the cutting I did that means I've written ~6000 words in a month - that is seriously too slow. I have got a lot of pictures though....pretty pictures (sprout) Still, on the plus side the first three chapters are nearly ready to send to my sup for red-penning, so at least it'll feel like I'm making some progress.

Now if the man from Everest windows would finish up and leave (he's currently sitting opposite me working out the dimensions of our new door) then I might actually settle to my work.

Yeah. I got distracted all of today so far. Looks like I'll be a busy girl tonight. Also trying to work on finishing up some stuff to send to sup so that I cna be waiting for feedback. Working far too slowly at the moment. It takes me days to get pages and then sometimes I've to go back and take out an entire page or two. Sometimes even start from scratch again. I'm intimidated by your word count - it seems immense to me!

ps. bad teacher in the past can always be made up for later. When you're ready the numbers will be just as fun as they always were. Just imagine them in little fluffy hats and booties :)

Haha, I can see a whole stream of chunky red numbers, dressed in booties and dancing before me :-)

Today I clocked up over 1000 words and a fair few figures, so that's made me feel rather better (classic discussion section, all waffle!). Hope you're not working too late Mathkitty, and don't worry, I imagine maths phds are rather lighter on the word count! Besides, with only a few months to go I should have reams more than this.

Well the word count has gone a bit negative on account of editing, but I clocked up over 1500 fresh words today so that's a good feeling :-) Needed to as well given yesterday was a staring-into-space fest.
Want to see if I can get this next chapter done (well, all except the missing data bit) by the end of the month, then head back into the lab for final experiments.
But for now, some rehab in the pool and then dinner with friends.

Drat, got a bit pleased with myself on Monday and then totally wasted yesterday. Every time I open the dreaded T I have a hideous moment when I can't help but think of the document in its vast entireity *shudders*.

Still, need to work on chapter 4, as a bare minmium I want all the methodology section done today, preferably a chunk of results as well.

It can be so hard not to rest on your laurels when you feel you've done well. Important sometimes though. Last two days disappeared in a puff of smoke for me. Too many distractions and exhaustion. Trying to get back to it today but it's hard. Hope you fare better with your chapter 4. I've not created a thesis file yet. Think that would be far too scary. Using LaTeX instead of Word or such means you can write each piece separately and then join them into one easily with almost no work. It's the best type-setting ever. Especially for maths. Getting really confused between home and uni computers at the moment though so I'll probably have to waste some time sorting that out. Gah.

Congrats on the wordcount. Keep at it !

There you are mathkitty, I was starting to wonder if the dancing numbers had eaten you alive!
I've heard a bit about LaTex, came across in late in the phd though and figured I'd spend more time trying to learn it than I would writing, can imagine it's great when you're typing lots of formulae though.

ch4 hasn't really gone anywhere, had a bit of a crummy day and spent most of it ranting on here about how I don't want a phd anyway :$ oops. Trying to get back on now though.

Make sure you don't work too hard, exhaustion can be really destructive if it builds up.

ah, Latex - (not the S&M kind), I had a look and was very impressed with the finished product, but like you Teek, didn't fancy learning it. Plus my supervisor would hate it and want me to copy it all into word anyway so she could crash about my text like a giant with a tippex pen. I don't think journals in my field would take the format either (although I assume they change it into this anyway)

Ah sneaks, the mental image of your lumbering supervisor stomping about with a column of tippex in hand has just made me giggle through my tea. Unattractive but pleasing.

hee hee what fantastic images :) It's pretty much essential in my field. The finished piece can be a pdf which is great. Also amazing for referencing. Was brilliant for Masters Thesis. Now back to being swallowed up by the little numbers :)

Things any better today Teek?

My bro announced he was visiting for the weekend, so I've spent all morning cleaning, washing bed linen and going food shopping, because all our meals are for two, not three! have walked the dog. Now I'm going to have a quick cup of coffee and get on with some quote finding before hubby gets home.